The historical R/V Toftevaag is resting in the beautiful fishing port of Cudillero, where she will undergo a good careening and the reconstruction of her wheelhouse, in preparation for the second part of her journey back home to the Hardanger Fjord in May of 2025. In the meantime, the Alnitak crew is in the peak of the 2024 fishing trials of the LIFE OASIS project, developing and testing prototype anchored Fish Aggregating Devices (aFAD) to optimise the Mediterranean mahi mahi fishery in the Mediterranean.
This photograph of Gori Mayol of the Port of Soller illustrates the aim of this project, that aims targets aFAD fishing as an alternative to unsustainable and illegal fisheries around the world, using the Balearic Islands, Sicily and Malta as a laboratory.
This month’s article we wanted to write an with to Mahi mahi, the Dorado, the dolphin fish, the Lampuki, Llampuga, or however you like to call it. One thing for sure, is that all ocean travellers love it. No true sailor or navigator can underestimate the value of this pelagic fish since the first human voluntarily or involuntarily found themselves dwelling the open ocean ecosystem. Mahi mahi is one of the most appreciated fish for its taste and its nutritious value.
For the scientists of Alnitak and the LIFE OASIS partners, Mahi mahi is a fascinating fish as much of its life cycle is still a mystery to science. But it is also an exceptionally healthy and sustainable source of seafood as it is a fast reproducing and growing species that bears in it all the best nutritious ingredients of our oceans with a low level of microplastic and persistent bioaccumulating toxic components.
Today has been a difficult day at sea for our scientific work, with heavy 4m swells making our video recordings and biological samplings very challenging. But the sea is full of magic, and today’s catch of two beautiful Dorados makes up for it.
Our work in Project LIFE OASIS is about the conservation of marine biodiversity, sustainable fishing and developing an “intelligent anchored Fish Aggregating Device (aFAD) management scheme” as a tool for food security at a moment that around the globe we have coastal communities at the edge of famine, using destructive fishing techniques.
But, as we work on this project, we cant help our minds drifting away to stories that have marked our lives as sailors. One of the most fascinating ones is the Kon Tiki expedition of Thor Heyerdahl. In April of 1947, the Kon Tiki left the port of Callao for a journey of 101 days, covering over 7,000 nautical miles during which Mahi mahi was to be the key to survival. The Oscar winning documentary of 1951 and the recent movie (2013) by Joachim Rönning and Espen Sandberg include beautiful scenes filmed in the Mediterranean (Malta) of the mahi mahi and the “oasis effect” of objects and species adrift in the open ocean ecosystem.
The open ocean is like a “Blue Serengeti”, and driftwood, sargassum, rafts, boats or turtles adrift, constitute an oasis for an incredible diversity of pelagic species thriving in this otherwise hostile environment. A clear example is the loggerhead sea turtle, that constitutes a critical habitat for over 120 species during its juvenile life stage in the open ocean.
Another inspiring expedition that is in the back of our minds in the LIFE OASIS project is that of Dr. Alain Bombard, who crossed the Mediterranean Sea, and Atlantic Ocean in 1953 on a life raft to test methods for surviving at sea avoiding the risks of dehydration, hunger and psychological problems associated with spending long periods adrift on life rafts. His book, “Naufragé volontaire” has been a scientific contribution to the survival of thousands of sailors who have benefited from his learnings. Again, mahi mahi, played a key role as a fish that is relatively easy to catch from a “vehicle” adrift or sailing in the open ocean and a precious source of water and nutrients.
If you are around Mallorca, Sicily or the islands of Malta & Gozo, join us on our sea trials of LIFE Oasis, discovering the beauty of ancestral Mediterranean fisheries utilizing anchored FADs to catch the amazing dolphin fish.
