Albatross in danger!

The albatross is a beautiful, amazing bird. They are the largest seabird and fly thousands of kilometres each year. They are known as a good omen to sailors. They spend most of their lives at sea. But the oceans are a dangerous place. Each year thousands of albatross die on the end of fishing hooks.

Hundreds of fishing boats set millions of fishing hooks every year and thousands of albatross get caught and die.

Some albatross species have decreased by 90% since the 1940s, others have decreased by 40-50% because so many albatrosses drown on fishing hooks. It is most likely that some albatross species will become extinct before 2012 if this killing does not stop.

Albatrosses cannot keep their populations up to balance the fishing deaths. They do not breed quickly and when parent birds die on fishing hooks their chicks will usually die of starvation. So the albatross populations just keep going down.

But things can be done to help the albatross.

What type of fishing kills albatrosses?

Mostly it is a fishing method called ‘longlining’. Longline fishing boats unwind long lines off the back of the boat. Each line has hundreds of hooks with squid bait. There are several different types of longlines. They have buoys at the top and some are weighted so they sink.

Before the lines go off the boat the fishers dump fish guts off the boat to attract fish, but this also attracts albatross.

Each year about ONE BILLION longline hooks are set in the ocean.

These diagrams show different types of longlines. They both have buoys at the top and have thousands of hooks.

How do albatrosses get caught?

The albatrosses are attracted to the fishing boats because they know they can get a free feed. They try to take the squid from the hooks to eat. Sometimes they are successful and eat the squid. But a lot of the time the hook gets caught in their beak and they are pulled under water and drown.

How many seabirds are dying like this?

It is estimated that around the world about 300,000 seabirds (including albatross and petrels) are dying on longline hooks every year.

In the Southern Oceans longline fishers hunt tuna, ling, snapper, hoki and toothfish. Lawful boats from many nations come to fish. Their longlines kill many seabirds but there is also a big fleet of illegal fishing boats that are worse. They don’t obey any of the international fisheries rules. In 2001 illegal (or pirate) boats just hunting toothfish in Antarctic waters killed about 100,000 seabirds.

Saving the albatross

Longlines don't have to kill seabirds. There are a number of things that fishers can do to significantly reduce the number of seabirds being caught on longlines. Some of these are:

Put the longlines out at night – birds usually feed during the day.
Do not have too many bright lights on at night when they are fishing – if there are too many lights the birds will be attracted to the boat and come and feed at night.
Don't fish either side of a full moon (about 5 days), because the albatrosses can see the boat and bait.
Use weighted lines to help the lines sink faster – this means the seabirds have less time to try and catch the bait (and the hook).
Use streamers (or ‘tori’ lines) to scare the birds away. ‘Tori’ lines are light streamers that fly from the back of the boat over the area where the longlines are being dropped - they scare birds away.
Don’t throw fish guts into the water before the longlines go into the water, wait until the lines are down. Albatross are attracted to the boats by fish guts, so if the fish guts are thrown after the lines are down there won’t be as many seabirds waiting for the hooks.
Put Ministry of Fisheries observers on the boats – observers are people who stay on fishing boats to make sure the fishers are fishing legally and using methods of fishing that won’t kill as many seabirds.
Forbid fishing at times and in places where seabirds gather to feed. For example, don’t fish off the East Cape of New Zealand from April to September when grey petrels and Antipodes wandering albatross are active in the area.

The seas around New Zealand

The government has control over the sea 370 kilometres, or 200 nautical miles, from shore.

That's a lot of sea to look after!

The marine area we control is called our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). We make the fishing rules in our EEZ.

The darker blue area on this map is New Zealand's EEZ.

Rules can work

In New Zealand waters (our EEZ) Japanese owned tuna boats are chartered by New Zealand fishers. New Zealand rules make them carry observers - people who watch to see that the fishing quota rules are kept and check the by-catch, which is the different fish, birds and seals that are caught by mistake. These tuna boats used to kill lots of albatross and other seabirds but now they drop their lines at night and use tori lines, so they catch very few birds.

But other New Zealand fishing boats don't have any rules to protect seabirds, don't carry observers and don't try hard enough to avoid catching seabirds. The ling fishery in New Zealand waters drowns between 5000 and 15,000 albatross and petrels each year.

You can help save the albatross!

All you need to do is write a letter.

Write a letter to the Minister of Fisheries, Pete Hodgson, and tell him about the trouble with albatross. The Minister sets the rules for the fishing industry in New Zealand waters, so he can make rules to protect the albatross.

In your letter ask the Minister of Fisheries to:

Make rules for longline fishing that will protect the birds in New Zealand waters.
Encourage agreements between all longline fishing nations to outlaw pirate fishing boats and protect seabirds all around the world.