Shy Albatross
Surfbirds News: RSPB Archives
as part of the campaign to raise funds in support of Operation Ocean Task Force.
This exciting new initiative will place trained people on longline fishing vessels to show the crews simple and practical techniques to prevent seabird deaths. Around 100,000 albatrosses a year – approximately one every five minutes – drown when taking bait from hooks suspended on longlines up to 130km long. As a result, 19 of the world’s 21 species of albatross are now threatened with global extinction.
Hanging streamers near fishing lines to scare birds away, weighting lines to make hooks sink more quickly and dyeing bait to make it less visible to seabirds, are all extremely simple, yet proven, techniques to avoid the needless slaughter of albatrosses.
Shy Albatross, South Africa, Pelagic trip off Simon's Town July 2005 © Vincent Palomares from the
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Sir David Attenborough, Vice President of the RSPB, said: "Albatrosses have survived in the harshest marine environments for 50 million years; more than 100 times longer than our own species. However, these magnificent birds are unable to cope with man-made threats, such as longline fishing.
"Europeans saw their first albatrosses only 500 years ago in the Southern Ocean, but in our fleeting overlap with these birds we are threatening all but two of the world’s 21 species with extinction.
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