Seabird Safe Awards 2010

F.V. Thomas Harrison, owned by Sealord

SAVING SEABIRDS: John Saxon and Ted Goomes accept the award on behalf of Sealord

Over the last three years the captains and crew of F.V. Thomas Harriosn have been involved in a number of joint government and industry trials of new mitigation practices. These trials have helped advance understanding of the effectiveness of different mitigation practices in reducing seabird captures on trawlers.

They included holding and discharging offal in batches at different intervals, and mincing offal and then pumping it onto the sea surface. Carrying out the trials involved fitting equipment on the vessel during port calls, interrupting normal factory and processing procedures while fishing, and carrying cameras and Ministry of Fisheries observers to record seabird responses to the different treatments. This all took a great deal of effort and time on the part of the captains and crew. Their willingness and cooperation ensured the trials were completed successfully. Sealord managers provided the approval for the trials and worked collaboratively with DOC, the Ministry of Fisheries and the DeepWater Group to ensure everything went to plan.

Several other Sealord vessels were also involved in trials and deserve mention. They are the F.V Paerangi, F.V. Taimania and F.V.A Buryachenko. This whole suite of trials was ground breaking in terms of its collaborative industry/government nature. The captains and crew of the F.V Thomas Harrison receive the award because of their greatest involvement in the initiative.