Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Save the Albatross

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There is a campaign to ‘save the albatross’ at www.savethealbatross.net . The website includes bits of information on the biology of these birds including that there are 21 different species with a mostly southern hemisphere distribution, that the wandering and royal albatross have the largest wingspan of any bird at 3.5metres, they mate for life, and will fly 10,000 kms in search of food for their chick.

The key message at the site is that albatrosses are at risk of extinction from long-line fishing boats particularly in the South Atlantic with the figure of 100,000 birds killed each year repeated.

I wonder how this figure was arrived at. While there are testimonials from celebrities at the site, it would be good if there was also some data from the various reports and studies referred to. For example, according to the BBC:

“Albatrosses on islands in the South Atlantic are being pushed to the brink of extinction, according to research. Populations of three species breeding on South Georgia and outlying islands have declined by about a third in the past 30 years.

Conservation groups say the major threat to the birds’ future is deep-sea fishing using a line with a number of baited hooks attached to it.

Up to 100,000 albatrosses a year drown on longline fishing hooks, they add.”

Why not provide a link to “research”?

According to www.savethealbatross.net the most threatened species is the Amsterdam Albatross with only 17 breeding pairs left on Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean. That’s not many birds!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ian Mott says

    Tim Low, in “the new nature – winners and losers in wild australia”, p60-62, points out that albatross from a far away as Sth Georgia, Macquarie Island and Crozet were thriving on Sydney’s sewerage effluent until the recent addition of the deep water outfall. He said, “Birds from the farthest outposts were flying up to 30,000km round trips to fatten on Sydney sewerage” (especially offal from the now defunct Homebush abattoirs). But their numbers have since plummeted and “everyone blames long line fishermen”.

  3. Ann Novek says

    Aah, these magnificent birds! This is a topic that lies close to my heart, fishing and the rate of bycatch.

    On the positive note, I can mention that fishermen and scientists are working on this issue , hopefully it is not too late.

    Longliners in many areas now rig special lines to scare away endangered albatrosses and other seabirds. Other longliners at night, this is maybe the best solution. The birds are not active at night.

    Scandinavians are using gear that reels the baited hooks under water, where birds can’t grab them. Near Hawaii , longliners now dye their bait blue, so birds can’t spot easily.

  4. rog says

    They are magnificent, when I did a lot of off shore sailing I was always amazed at the shearwaters, petrels and occasional albatross that would appear when the wind got up. Big waves do not worry them, they seem to effortlessly glide over the surface with their wing tips almost touching the water. I guess they use the wind lift off the waves to glide, they can cover enormous distances in all bad weather without using too much energy.

    Large birds like albatross need height to get airborne, their wings are long thin blades designed for gliding and they find it difficult to take off from the ground so they tend to launch themselves off cliff tops. Some of the waves were like cliffs, too.

  5. Tinkerbell says

    why not do a quick search online for some stats then? Doesn’t take long, esp if you have a PhD, then you must be highly effective at finding figures

  6. Jennifer says

    Couldn’t easily find any stats… thus my questions.
    And please be a bit polite and less personal particularly given you are hiding behind a pen name.