Three days have already gone by since we left the harbour, and I'm realizing that I have a great relationship with this crew - they are a respectful and polite bunch. And with sea conditions also pretty good, it is so nice to have left the harbour and not have to face a turbulent sea!
On this vessel, I feel very much 'amongst family'. Many crew members are actually related. Brothers, cousins, brother's friends, cousin of the friend of the brother - for me it is very confusing to understand who is who!
Interestingly, I've met people from the Northeast of Brazil onboard, especially from Rio Grande do Norte state, in a small city called São Miguel do Gostoso. For these people, the words 'tori line' and 'mitigation measures' are new for them.
The skipper, Dirceu, is always very calm and dedicated to his work. As a great coincidence, I knew his sister when I was at university - we lived on the same street and she cooked meals for me and other students. This has helped us create a strong link of friendship. Everyday we drink a tea called chimarrão (a type of very strong tea made by 'herba mate' that the Argentineans, Uruguayans and Brazilians from the south have the habit to drink every day, like the British drink afternoon tea), and during these moments, we tell stories about life, politics, relationships, and (of course) soccer.
But we also have to work! And that's when I start to worry, as the setting of the fishing gear started at 4 pm, earlier than usual, so there is still lots of sunlight and good visibility to help the seabirds see the baits, which in turn raises the chance of catching birds.
However, Dirceu kept saying to me: 'Easy, Fabiano, we are going to use the tori line and we will have a peaceful fishery.' We finished around 10 pm, and then everybody went to sleep. The hauling was very hard work, it starts at 4 am.
I share my cabin with the chief mechanic, and to begin with I found it hard to cope with the strange times he got up, but after only a few days, I adapted very well.
Our luck with calm seas didn't last as we heard from Brazilian Marine radio the news that we would suffer a big storm. In these moments, we always think about the famous expression on the high seas 'What are we doing here?' But we still keep fishing.
The wind was very strong and bought with it rain, and a very different visitor on deck: a Wilson's storm petrel, with his feathers soaked. I introduced him to all the crew who gave him a nick name: Sir Wilson.
To help the poor bird dry off, I put him near the vessel's warm funnel. Meanwhile, the fishing operation did not stop and while one team was resting, the other was working. The guys kept asking me about the new visitor, and how was his health. Sometimes a fisherman visited Sir Wilson just to check if everything was all right.
I took the opportunity of Sir Wilson's visit to explain all about the biology of these birds, about the species distribution, reproduction, breeding areas and also some curiosities: how do the seabirds drink the water if it is salty? How they can fly under a storm if they are so small? And why they have such long legs? (Do you know it?). Once I started to explain all this, the interest in seabirds began to increase!
At the end of the fishery that day, I went to see Sir Wilson and realized that he was willing to fly. All the fishermen became anxious to see if the small petrel could really fly. So we decided that moment was perfect to release him and because there were stronger winds, it was easy for him to return to the marine environment.
The cruise was extremely successful. Skipper Dirceu helped us to test our tori line in almost all sets. It is so important for us and for the birds when we meet someone with goodwill. Good examples shown by Skipper Dirceu are proof that the solutions we suggest for the conservation of petrels and albatrosses really work. If each one of us could think and act likes this, the world could be much better.
Until next time. Thank You