The 2007 fishing season is finishing! As the Christmas holidays are coming, the vessels are finishing the last trip of the year.
During the year each vessel completes around 11 fishing cruises. From March until September, they fish around the Brazilian Continental Shelf, off the Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul states, sometimes reaching the Uruguayan border. From October until February, they sail to Rio Grande Plateau which takes five days of navigation to reach this amazing geographical point.
When they set out I always say to them that they are going to a place where they may see the albatrosses from the Tristan da Cunha group. Tristan albatrosses, spectacled petrels and Atlantic yellow-nosed albatrosses are seen in big groups, following the longline vessels. Obviously for the Albatross Task Force Brazil team, that is a big concern, because in these wonderful islands we find the third most threatened species in the world!
But with patience and a lot of respect for the fishermen, we are acquiring their confidence in Brazil, developing together with the Projeto Albatroz team an environmental monitoring system at the harbours.
Also, we asked for the skipper to fill out a logbook when the vessel has no observer on board. The skipper will fill these maps with the following information - date, fishing set, latitude, longitude, number of hooks, time of the beginning and ending of the set, sea surface temperature and if there was any seabird bycatch.
We also ask them to bring any dead seabirds to us, so we can study better their biology. Such information has a main purpose to strengthen the link between the skipper and Projeto Albatroz ideals. Most of the fishermen at the first moment became a little suspicious, but afterwards they started to trust in our work.
In November, the skipper Dinho from the longline vessel Quebra-Mar brought a dead, ringed Tristan albatross which was captured at latitude 35° 27, longitude 32° 54 during the 10th set. The skipper used the blue-dyed bait, but the dye had run out during the previous set; in addition, the albatross was captured on a full moon.
The ring had the following information: 'Inform safring University Cape town No J 15707', together with a yellow plastic ring inscribed 'A93'. With this result, we really must be 100 % concerned about the albatrosses, because during the summer time the Brazilian vessels fish in the same area that we find Tristan albatrosses, and during winter time wandering albatrosses.
We are working with lots of determination to save these magnificent seabirds and we believe that in 2008 they will have a better-protected year.
Merry Christmas to everybody.