Optimizing tori line designs for pelagic tuna longline fisheries: South Africa

The objectives of this project were to:
• continue work begun in the New Zealand joint venture fishery (Melvin and Walker 2008) to establish essential tori line design elements that will ultimately be tested in controlled experiments;
• document gear sink rates and test-line weighting modifications designed to increase sink rates;
• and refine protocols to detect seabird behavior shifts in response to varying pelagic tori line treatments.