Albatross Task Force instructors have many responsibilities that include but are not-limited to working with fisheries. Of course, our main objective is seabird conservation and we do that by finding ways to work together with the fishers to reduce bycatch levels in the industry. This objective is facilitated through our educational and awareness workshops and continuous at-sea monitoring programmes.
Our responsibilities extend beyond fisheries and often deal with the social aspects of the community. We conduct school visits and educate school kids about seabird conservation and issues that revolve around nature conservation. We use these visits to encourage learners to start developing an early love for nature and species conservation. We believe that to win this fight for seabird conservation, we need to groom these young learners about mitigation measures in preparation for the future.
In addition, we teach them how to take care of the marine environment within which these seabirds forage. We also teach them how to handle stranded seabirds that may have been pushed onshore by strong winds and ferocious storms. To do that, we use visual demonstrations by way of cartoons to get the message across. In so doing, we are trying to convey to them that anyone can make a difference in protecting the natural environment while having fun.
In our respective communities, we encourage people to make an effort in keeping the environment clean. We educate them to use reusable-carrier bags rather than plastic ones when visiting beaches. These plastics contribute to marine pollution and we therefore explain the dangers of littering. The message we want to get across is that marine pollution is a real threat to seabirds as some species tend to ingest plastics and die as result. Apart from education and awareness, we work with other local NGOs towards the common objective which is to conserve the natural environment and its precious species.
Our underlying objective is to reduce seabird mortalities and promote seabird conservation amongst the fishermen and the entire public. We believe that this is possible but we also realise that the task at hand is not an easy one and it would take a collective effort from the fishing community and the entire public to achieve our goal.