I have just returned from another trip with Projeto Albatroz, this time with the 22 meter King of Tuna, where I enjoyed many new experiences at sea and also shared information with the crew about our wonderful seabirds.
We left port Itajaí at 11:00 a.m with a full complement of nine crew members. The King of Tuna boat is operated by fishing master Juninho who targets swordfish and tuna.
We sailed for two days until we reached our fishing spot. During these first days at sea I spoke to the crew members about seabird bycatch that occurs on vessels that do not use best practice mitigation measures such as a tori line, night setting, and adequately weighted fishing lines.
Line weighting has recently become a new fishery regulation in Brazil, with this new measure the hooks sink much faster beyond the reach of seabirds, therefore preventing incidental bycatch.
The fishermen are aware that there are several different ways to prevent seabirds bycatch, and that apart from contributing to seabird conservation, they also stand the chance of catching more fish, as a hook with no bird on it is free to catch a tuna.
We are now using three measures in the Brazil fleet:
(Pictures below depict the three measures in order)
Happily, with these three mitigation measures employed onboard not a single bird was caught. We arrived back in port after fourteen days at sea.