Fishing is the only way of life in the village where he grew up, catching reef fish to feed his family before entering maritime school. After graduating, he worked his way up to become a captain before moving to the Cook Islands to work as a fisheries observer.

Once a year, Saiasi travels to the east African island of Mauritius to monitor the fishing activities of trawler F/V Will Watch. From its base in Port Louis, this Cook Islands-flagged vessel plies the waters of the southern Indian Ocean in search of deep-sea species such as alfonsino and orange roughy.

"My job is to collect scientific data to help manage these fisheries," Saiasi says. Fishing trips can take as long as ten weeks at sea, during which time Saiasi keeps records on catch and bycatch and collects biological data about the fish caught.

There's some bird watching too. Saiasi's duties also include recording interactions with seabirds, marine mammals and reptiles. Far out on the ocean, mostly albatrosses approach the ship. Saiasi makes sure that the tori line works to deter them from picking at a tasty bite and becoming entangled in the net. 

 Know what's happening

This time Saiasi is in Mauritius for another reason. With around twenty peers, he has joined a workshop on scientific observation in deep-sea fisheries. All participants represent countries fishing in the Indian Ocean that are contracting parties of the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), including China, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Thailand.

On this hot and drizzly December morning, the group is practicing how to monitor fishing activities onboard the F/V Klondyke, a Mauritian vessel preparing its next trip.

They are learning to follow standard operating procedures introduced by one of the workshops' trainers, Isaac Forster, a biologist with the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

Forster explains how important standardisation is to make sure that the data collected can be widely used. Independence in reporting is equally important, he adds. "Unless observers can work independently, data quality is questionable."

"Onboard observers enable you to know what's happening in a fishery and what the impact on the ecosystem is going to be," says Keith Reid, a fisheries expert leading the workshop organised by the Common Oceans Deep-sea fisheries project, led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO). He adds that this is particularly relevant in deep-sea fishing where the impact on the environment can be considerable.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the project promotes responsible deep-sea fisheries management and biodiversity conservation in the high seas.

This is the raison d'être of SIOFA, says Marco Milardi, science officer at this regional fisheries management organisation. Observation plays a vital role, he adds. "It provides the data for informed decision-making on sustainable catch levels and reducing the environmental impact of bottom fisheries."

By the afternoon, the sky has cleared, and the group enters the Albion Fisheries Research Centre, just south of Port Louis. Inside, a scientific officer gives a demonstration of biological data collection. First, she weighs and measures the capitaine, or spangled emperor fish, used for the occasion. She then performs a dissection to assess its reproductive maturity and age.

While watching, Lana Gabriel says she misses her time at sea as an observer on vessels fishing tuna around the Seychelles, where she is from. Though most of the observers are men, she never found that her gender was an issue. "In the Seychelles, girls are more involved. They do the same things that guys do."   

Lana likes her current work onshore as an electronic monitoring officer, but she says that watching a ship's camera footage on a computer screen is not the same as being out there. But after having a baby, she didn't want to spend so much time out at sea.

Saiasi agrees; it's hard to be away from your family for so long. He would like to become a debriefer, working with those coming back from trips instead of travelling all the time.

Whenever he is away, his three-year-old son impatiently waits for him. Saiasi smiles: "All he wants, is to go fishing. Just like his dad."

It is a tough job, but scientific observation is critical for international efforts to make deep-sea fisheries more sustainable. The data collected on catch and discards allows countries to assess the health of fish stocks and to make informed decisions on appropriate management measures.  To promote the recovery of deep-sea fish stocks, safeguard the environment and support livelihoods, observation is a vital first step and the months spent on the high seas is ultimately invaluable.