Yesterday Nahuel and I were with testing new improvements to the Tamini Tabla design, giving some final touches to the towed device which stabilizes and maintains bird-scaring lines in place during rough weather on trawl vessels. We expect this to be the final version!
We made some changes in the structural design to improve weight distribution so that the towed device behaves more consistently in the water under all weather conditions. We also added thick rubber bumpers to provide heavy-duty protection for the edges of the device as during deployment and retrieval it tends to get knocked about a lot on the side of the vessel. Lastly, we have filled the buoyancy chamber with polyurethane foam (the kind of expandable foam used in heat insulation) to make the entire device more solid.
We then conducted tests to ascertain how these improvements help the towed device to move through the water at trawl speed in a more uniform and stable fashion. The results were excellent!
The next test will be further at-sea use under different sea-states to really confirm the functionality and practicality. It is all just another chapter in the history of the towed device which is shaping up to be a massive improvement for bird-scaring line use on trawlers worldwide!
Below: Leo adjusts the weights on the new-improved Tamini Tabla