Threats to albatrosses
Wandering albatross caught by
Japanese tuna longliner
Albatrosses spend most of their lives at sea, returning to land to breed and raise their young. The royal albatross, for example, starts breeding at around 10 years old, each pair raising raising one chick every two years. Their naturally low productivity, combined with changes in climate and habitat conditions and certain fishing practices, makes these seabirds vulnerable. The northern royal albatross, for example, has declined to such an extent that it is now listed as endangered.
Fisheries by-catch
Albatrosses feed by searching the sea surface for dead squid and fish. Many albatrosses have learnt that fishing vessels offer an easy food source and follow them, feeding on fish bait and scraps. Usually they take the bait without coming to any harm, but occasionally they get caught on a hook and are taken down with the line and drown.
While most fishing boats catch very small numbers of albatrosses, scientists are concerned that because many hundreds of fishing boats are setting lines around the world the total numbers caught may be having an impact on some populations.
Fishermen do not want to catch seabirds, and in New Zealand money collected as a levy from the fishing industry is being used to develop new ways of preventing them from getting caught. A new underwater setting device (a funnel) holds some promise as a solution.
An international commission set up under the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources is planning to publish a guidebook to albatrosses and petrels in several languages to help fishing crews correctly identify birds associated with their fishing operations.
Drift nets
Drift nets have taken a huge toll on seabirds. In 1990, it was estimated that a million seabirds were drowned in drift nets each year. A Convention prohibiting fishing with long drift nets in the South Pacific was signed in New Zealand in 1989 and entered into force in 1991, paving the way for the adoption in 1991 of a United Nations resolution calling for a global moratorium on long drift nets on the high seas.
Marine pollution
Oil spills and rubbish dumped at sea are hazards for seabirds. Thousands of seabirds die in the northern hemisphere each year from swallowing small pieces of plastic.
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