Supply of observers to the Falkland Islands Loligo Fishing fleet 2024 - 2026

The purpose of this contract is to provide 8 professional Compliance Observers (COs) to the Falkland Islands Loligo Fishing fleet. The CO principal duties consist of carrying out observations on pinniped interactions with fishing gear, including bycatch and mortalities, and the performance of the mitigation methods employed, and compliance with license conditions, such as discarding and net cleaning standards . Secondary CO activities include sampling Loligo catches and juvenile toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) bycatch on a daily basis for biometrics, bird scaring lines performance, including registering and retaining any seabird bycatch for delivery to FIFD. COs are deployed for an average of 64 sea days, over two seasons a year. These operate under the licenses C and X for Doryteuthis gahi (LOL). MRAG provides the safety equipment and an introductory training for the observers, along with organising all logistics to and from their home bases to the Falkland Islands. Data checks are then conducted throughout deployments, and a full review of each final report at the end of each season.