Conservation success stories are hard to find. Rarely are they the result of simple, elegant solutions that are truly win-win. Now BirdLife South Africa have demonstrated just such a good-news outcome. Accidental seabird deaths during fishing is the single greatest threat facing many seabird populations. Albatrosses, in particular, are under extreme pressure with 15 of the world’s 22 albatross species threatened with…

Each year an estimated 400,000 seabirds are killed in gillnet fisheries, while no estimates exist yet for purse seine fleets. Little attention has been given to purse seine fisheries as it was thought they had little impact on seabirds. Alarming new evidence is starting to change that perspective.

The Albatross Task Force has been monitoring both of these fisheries in three countries, Chile, Peru and Ecuador as part…

The port of San José is a quiet village where everyone knows each other. Most of the people who live there are fishermen, so it is not surprising that everything revolves around fish. The fishermen in San José are divided into two groups, those who go out just for one day trips (called “chalaneros”) and those who go out for one week or more (called “cortineros”). This time Philipp Hofmann of local NGO ProDelphinus…

Fernando Valdez Ridoutt from ProDelphinus in Peru writes today's ATF blog:

It is not easy to figure out everything Peruvian small-scale fishermen go through to get their catch from sea to market. I have been discovering this in the port of San José, first hand. I have been working hard to collaborate with these fishermen and have been welcomed as an observer on several different boats.

Work begins between…

Going to sea is the most unique aspect of this job, and my primary duty – to go on deep-sea trawlers and collect seabird interaction data. I’m one of only three people in South Africa doing this. We are responsible for keeping our eyes peeled and our minds open but focused on the task at hand: seabirds and mitigating bycatch. Three weeks into the job, I landed on my first commercial deep-sea hake trawler.

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When I began working with the ATF, I always wondered what it would be like to be at sea during an important holiday – like Christmas or New Year. The idea of being away from home, working over such occasions did not fill me with enthusiasm. In the first five years working with the ATF my sea trips never coincided with national holidays… but there is always a first time. This year I was due to embark around the Christmas…

I remember each step I have taken with the ATF, at-sea with the birds as well as on-shore with my own kind - generally people directly related with fisheries. However, seabird bycatch issues can transcend the geographical border between open-ocean and coast and infiltrate our towns and cities. By doing so, it can pique the interest of the most important part of our society: the next generation.

In one of my previous…

I am working with the Albatross Task Force as a project through the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) Internship programme. Recently I had a great opportunity to meet other people in the programme, which felt amazing. Together we are a group of hundreds of young and inspirational people.  I met other interns who come from different backgrounds and learnt about their lives as they were growing up and how…

In the Albatross Task Force we are extremely proud of the dedicated individuals who perform a very challenging role for seabird conservation - working with the fishing industry, government and observer agencies both on-shore and at-sea to demonstrate, introduce and implement mitigation measures to keep albatross off the hook. It gives us great pleasure to announce that one of the stars of the ATF has received international…

Today I just want to pay tribute to my lifelong hero and role model Tata Nelson Mandela. His death really struck a chord in my heart that was never struck before. I guess it is true what they say when they say ‘you never know what you have until it is gone’. His death has sturred up emotions in me I never knew I had, it moved me in ways I have never been moved. In all honesty I just couldn’t hold back the litres of tears…

Today's blog is from Luis Cabezas, ATF team leader in Chile who explains some of the challenges faced this year with the small-scale fishing fleet in Chile.

Amongst the challenges ATF Chile faced in 2013 was developing a preliminary understanding of how the artisanal or small scale fleet interacts with seabirds, particularly the net fisheries. In Chile, the small-scale fleet is dominated by purse-seine vessels that…

Having spent close to three months on Nightingale and then Tristan da Cunha Islands last year I was struck by the incredible seabird diversity on the uninhabited and much smaller island of Nightingale. As many as 13 different seabird species breed on the 3 square kilometre volcanic island with a highest point of 400 m above sea level.

Not too far away is the massive island of Tristan at over 200 square kilometres in…

“Lights, camera, action” - that has been the highlight of my month as I was interviewed about the work of the Albatross Task Force and BirdLife in South Africa. I found out that being on television is no easy business. First you have to deal with the intensely bright lights, as bright as the midday summer Limpopo sun. Then you have this group of people who are intensely focused on you all the time and if you are self…

The earth works as a system, any conservation effort from one environmental sector successfully aids in the preservation of another natural resource. Unfortunately, the same applies with regards to overexploitation.

I have been given the opportunity to work with the ATF in South Africa as part of a government intership grant and the above point was highlighted at a recent WWF-SA Groen Sebenza Interns Workshop Programme…

This post was written by Astrid Jimenez for ProDelphinus.

I spent the day in a boliche boat, or purse siener surrounded by what I consider a real life experience, the things that cannot be seen or heard, but that one has to live to fully understand them. Today, around me, the ocean seems to swallow part of a continent and as part of this landscape, a group of fishermen sail upstream in search of what will be their catch…

In nearly eight years the Albatross Task Force has published around 288 blogs in this community. These diaries have reflected part of the effort of our team from eight countries where the ATF is working for the conservation of our seabirds. These records, apart from letters and images are also leaving a trail of our experiences and feelings.

Amongst these experiences at-sea the ATF are breaking down barriers of language…

This blog was written by Sergio Pingo Paiva for ProDelphinus.

Going to sea on the north coast of Peru is always very exciting as with each trip comes many surprises. These waters are rich in biodiversity due to the influence of cold currents from the south and tropical currents from the north.

The purse seine boats I have been working on usually leave port at night, but a sense of excitement keeps the tiredness at bay…

As part of South Africa’s National Marine week BirdLife South Africa’s Seabird Division (of which I am a part) organises the initiative known as the Save our Seabirds (SOS) Festival. This annual festival aims to educate people about the threats that seabirds face. The focus of the festival is however not only on seabirds but also to highlight and address relevant issues that affect the entire marine environment.…

For many years leaving port on a Friday was seen as bad luck. Apparently not so on the Isabella Marine as this South African hake trawler leaves Cape Town harbour on a weekly basis, every Friday. This also appears to be regardless of the weather expected, which along the coast of Cape Town can result in a bit of a roller coaster ride on board. So we set out, the crew hoping for good fishing and me, well I was just hoping…

A year ago I had one of the biggest surprises together with my daughter Gabriela. It was through this simple conversation that I really understood the ability that children have to absorb information, soaking up all the things that happen around them.

Gabriela has been regularly exposed to the terms and images related to the albatross, marine fisheries and the topic of seabird bycatch. In her own way she has developed…

As my fingers start typing, my hands trembled, tears fell down my face, my brains went blank, then it finally hits me that it was time, time to accept that I am moving on. Although, it saddens my heart to leave the ATF, I am however confident that I came to the formidable ATF team and I made an important contribution to seabird bycatch research. Today I stand tall and proud to say thank you to all the ATF teams and the…

The ATF in Brazil, in collaboration with the local host organisation Projeto Albatroz, has been conducting Hook Pod experimental trials in the pelagic longline fishery.

The Hook Pod is an innovative mitigation measure that protects the barb of the hook during setting operations. Once the hook has sank down to a depth of 10 m, beyond the reach of albatross, a pressure sensitive mechanism is triggered, opening the pod…

This iconic species is the largest of the great albatrosses, one of the largest bird species in the world, and even one of the best studied. During the winter months these magnificent birds venture close enough to the South African coastline to be seen on pelagic trips or from trawlers fishing for deep sea hake.

Due to the bad weather with three cold fronts coming through in the same week my last trip again took me up…

An exciting and successful project has been underway in the South African deep-sea trawl fishery since 2011...it is known as the Bird Mitigation Plans (BMPs) project, which is based on a similar concept from New Zealand. Up until recently it has been run through the Responsible Fisheries Alliance and a service provider but BirdLife South Africa’s Albatross Task Force has taken responsibility of the project as it moves…

In the Albatross Task Force we have the opportunity to see the world through a different lens. We go to sea on commercial fishing vessels and observe how the marine ecosystem is impacted by industrial fisheries. We can spend anywhere from a few days to over two months at-sea on these floating fish factories, working toward improving the conservation status of seabirds.

It is truly rewarding to witness how boats, birds…