Saving the Albatross

Posted by
Rosemary Drisdelle
Dec 10, 2006

Nineteen of the 21 species of albatross are threatened with extinction, two of them critically. Faster than ever before, they race toward oblivion because of the dreadful mortality caused by long line fishing: the birds are caught and drowned on the baited hooks of lines cast for tuna, swordfish and, in the southern oceans, Patagonian toothfish.

The Friends of Television Trust for the Environment (TVE) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) have produced a video, “Race to Save the Albatross,” featuring Prince Charles as an outspoken supporter of the cause. Albatross deaths can be greatly reduced, they say, if fishing boats would take simple precautions: use weighted long lines to sink the hooks faster, set the lines at night when albatrosses are not about, and fix streamers to the back of the boat to frighten birds away.

With albatross deaths estimated at as high as 100,000 each year, there is no time to lose. The world’s fishers have to change their fishing habits now.

You can view a clip of “Race to Save the Albatross” at TVE’s Earth Report, or purchase a copy from TVE.