Our fishing season normally starts in February of each year and runs through to December, spanning almost 10 months. For seabirds the highest priority months are from May through to September, when seabirds are more abundant in our waters.
We have two major fisheries that contribute significantly to our national GDP and they are hake trawl and tuna longline fisheries. The Albatross Task Force team has observed and identified causes of high rates of seabird mortalities within these fisheries.
This year many fishing boats have been on the slip (dry dock) longer than they expected to, compared to previous years. A lot of work is done on these boats to prepare them for annual Maritime safety surveys which are normally conducted prior to the commencement of the new fishing season.
Earlier in the year we therefore work with fishermen onshore by way of conducting harbour visits. We use these visits to speak to different fishermen and skippers about seabird conservation and any recent fishing activities. We also use these times to ask them about the effectiveness of our mitigation measures that are already in place such as ‘tori lines’ and we make note of any suggestions and feedback they have.
We use these visits to renew working relationships with fishermen as we consider them to be pivotal to our work. For some of these fishermen that are still new to the industry we acquaint them with information about seabird bycatch and the global problem of seabird population declines.
It is quite heart-warming to see how well our information is being received. We therefore take full cognizance of their suggestions regarding improvement to tori lines and so on. We will continue to conduct onshore interactive talks with fishermen and advise them on how they can help reduce chances of seabirds being caught and killed in their fisheries.
Below: ATF instructor Tshikana working in the port with various crew from the local fishing fleet.