Good Samaritans get first-hand sight of fruits of their work
MEMBERS of the Ocean View Association for Persons with Disabilities (OVAPD) earned a well-deserved token of appreciation for saving birds and other sea life recently: a trip to Seal Island, seeing first-hand the birds and ocean environment their work affects.
The project, involving about 10 members of the centre aged 20 to 70, builds bird-scaring lines to reduce the number of seabirds killed each year due to commercial fishing.
“They were very excited to come into the field and very are proud of being associated with the global safety of birds,” said Johan Gonsalves, of OVAPD.
Longline and trawl fishing kills thousands of seabirds, including endangered albatrosses and petrels. Most deaths occur when birds swallow baited hooks during the setting of long lines, or get entangled and drown in trawler nets.
Birdlife South Africa has since the 1990s worked to find ways to stop seabird bycatch and save endangered birds from extinction.
Bird-scaring lines are either flown behind vessels where the birds are most likely to dive for the bait and get hooked, or alongside the cables that hold the net in the water during trawl fishing. The lines are brightly coloured, with streamers attached to a mainline that flap and deter the birds from any potential danger areas.
“There’s huge community upliftment,” said Bronwyn Maree, Albatross Task Force leader of Birdlife South Africa. Team members from OVAPD suffer from various physical or mental handicaps and use the centre to develop valuable skills. So far, the programme has seen people gain permanent employment.
The project started in 2006 as a joint venture between WWF South Africa, the Kommetjie Environmental Awareness Group (KEAG) and OVAPD, part of the Western Cape Association for Persons with Disabilities. In 2011, Birdlife South Africa assumed responsibility for the project, with a second round of funding from Total SA.
Maree said the project had enough funding for the rest of 2012, and does not think future funding will be an issue.
Five companies have bought the lines, which are sold at cost for between R550 and R800. The price covers the equipment and provides R150 to OVAPD for labour. Fisheries put in requests for 20-30 lines at a time.
Maree and Ross Wanless, African co-ordinator for the Birdlife International Global Seabird Programme, would like to see more fisheries work with the project and buy fishing lines. “Getting fisheries on board opens channels to speak with them regularly, and it also adds to the conservation efforts,” said Maree.
Between the efforts of OVAPD and other Birdlife Africa projects, there has been a 60 to 90 percent decline in incidents.
For more information or to buy the bird-scaring lines, contact albatross@birdlife. org.za or 021 419 7347.