I have worked as a fisheries observer since January 2008, while finishing my studies towards a diploma in Oceanography. I recently joined the Albatross Task Force as one of their instructors and am very excited as I love seabirds and love working at sea. Meaning this job is perfect!
I’m also really looking forward to working with the various fishers and fishing industries in an effort to reduce the seabird by-catch.
My first trip to sea with the ATF was a training trip with my colleague Bronwyn. It was wonderful having the female company, as most of the times I’ve been to sea I’ve been the only woman on board! Not that the men on board aren’t good to me, on the contrary, they have always been very friendly, helpful and looked after me as one of their sisters!
Bronwyn trained me well on how to collect all the data that we need on seabird abundance and the interactions with fishing gear. Fortunately, my seabird identification skills are good so I was able to keep up with Bronwyn.
I managed to get the first photographs ever (although not too good) of an adult Salvin’s albatross off southern Africa and even saw a spectacled petrel on our last day! As part of the trip objectives we distributed reading material and chatted with the skipper and crew about what part they can play in the conservation of our seabirds. They were very keen to be involved. This is very positive news as this company has not had as much seabird coverage as others in South Africa.
On my second trip I saw and managed to get some photos of a Sub-Antarctic skua with a longline hook sticking out the side of its mouth. This was a sad and important reminder of how seabirds are impacted by fisheries and shows that even discarded hooks have negative effects on the birds that follow fishing vessels. Part of the work of the ATF is to educate the fishers about not discarding fish remains with hooks still attached to avoid these negative interactions.
The fisheries observer work was very different to the seabird work but I really love our beautiful birds and am very happy to be part of a very dynamic team making an effort to conserve them.