Money has been put up for New Zealander Malcolm McNeill and Jakob Hals from Norway to go to La Réunion in the Indian Ocean to work with French longline fishermen on techniques to reduce the number of seabirds killed by hooks in the Southern Ocean.
A.S. Fiskevegn, the Norwegian fishing gear manufacturer put up the cash through its New Zealand and Australia agent, Gourock New Zealand, to cover the two men's costs. Liaising on the project is Southern Seabird Solutions, a coalition working to prevent deaths from longlining among seabirds and its Janice Molloy, who also coordinates the Department of Conservation's seabird conservation programme, says that international exchanges are important.
McNeill is a former deepsea, longline skipper and Vessel Manager for New Zealand Longline (Sealord and Amaltal). Fiskevegn's Hals attended the second International Fishers Forum in Hawaii last year where accidental seabird catches were on the agenda.
Southern Seabird Solutions' current and proposed projects include:
* Fostering exchanges of crew and technologies between fleets in different countries
* Developing and testing new technologies such as underwater, bait-setting capsules
* Hosting national and regional fora of fish industry workers for the exchange of ideas and information between different fleets
* Employing advisory officers in South Africa and South America to work alongside skippers and crew
* Encouraging countries to join the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels
* Gathering and reviewing information about where birds feed and the overlap with fishing grounds.
