By Jon Sumby
Scientists are pessimistic about the survival of the albatross. The general belief is that population extinctions will occur within a decade and that whole species will be gone in 30 to 40 years, unless immediate action is taken.
The fact that some populations are disappearing at the rate of 10% each year, while another is reduced to nine breeding pairs, is causing great concern and in 1993 brought the recommendation that all of the world's albatrosses be listed as "at risk" or "endangered" under the Bonn Convention of 1980.
New Zealand's largest conservation group, the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, has publicly called for the "carnage" to stop. Its director, Kevin Smith, called for a moratorium on longlining, stating that "we can't wait until their populations become critically endangered, like whales, before we say enough is enough".
Ten of the world's 14 albatross species live in the isolated vastness of the Southern Ocean, endlessly riding the gales known as the "Roaring Forties". The albatross's solitary life and its sudden, silent, appearance far from land have mystified and fascinated sailors for a century. The large bird, gliding effortlessly above the waves without a flap of wing, has become a thing of myth and legend.
Life for the albatross begins on the isolated islands of the sub-Antarctic. On islands such as the Crozets or South Georgia, the young albatrosses grow, stretching and testing their wings as down disappears and feathers grow. Then one day, as it faces the wind with its wings outspread, it is lifted up and carried away. It will not see land for the next five to seven years.
Albatrosses mate for life and produce one egg together, every two years. In the large ground nest, the parents take turns to incubate the chick. While one sits, the other flies on long foraging trips, between 14 and 30 days. It takes nine months to rear a chick, then the adults depart once again to their solitary ocean ways.
The combination of slow maturity and slow reproduction allows them to maintain a population in balance with the harsh environment. These same characteristics make them vulnerable to the destruction caused by humanity.
Tuna by-catch
In the southern bluefin tuna fishery, albatrosses are a by-catch, an unwanted, useless by-product of this lucrative industry. Thousands die each year, hooked and drowned.
A typical longline vessel sets 2400-3000 barbed steel hooks each day from a mainline up to 100 km long. The hooks are hand-baited with foot-long baitfish or squid. The hook, which has no sinker, may not sink until more than 50 metres from the ship, or take even longer if brought to the surface again by the turbulence of the wake.
Behind each boat a screaming mob of albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels jostle for position. They scavenge around the empty baitboxes thrown overboard, squabble over the damaged baits that are dumped and dive and fight over the baited hooks as they sink in the ship's wake. It is then, in the time it takes for the bait to sink out of reach, that the birds are at risk.
The 107 million or more hooks set by the Japanese industry alone, are responsible for at least 44,000 albatross deaths each year. This is an underestimate, because it does not include the losses caused by other fleets from Argentina, Korea, Indonesia, Uruguay, New Zealand, Taiwan, Peru, Brazil, Hawaii, Namibia or Australia.
The estimate data were gathered in an area that is acknowledged to have a low strike rate. In other areas, such as around South Africa or South Georgia, the albatross hook rate is up to six times higher for each set of the longline. The emerging fleets of Argentina and Uruguay are recording bird strike rates of 10 to 20 times the Japanese rate. In Hawaii albatrosses are also intentionally killed.
Many of the dead albatrosses also appear to be inexperienced young birds in their first years of oceanic wandering. This means that the albatrosses lose the young of previous seasons and lose potential breeding adults, leaving a dwindling, ageing population.
Voluntary change
Twelve countries control the breeding islands. In Australia, the focus has been on working with the longline industry to get voluntary change. As one government official said, "I could close them down overnight, but then they would just hit the high seas".
There are easy changes that can be made. The most effective would be if the longline fleets changed to night setting. Albatross deaths would then drop by an estimated 90%. Baits that are cast frozen float longer, while the baitfish's swimbladders are often inflated, causing them to float. Thawing the bait and spiking the baitfish would reduce this. Poorly thrown hooks increase the chance of a bird being hooked; this may be reduced by mechanisation.
Between 1991 and 1993 the Australian Fisheries Resources Research Fund gave an engineering firm A$120,000 to develop a bait-throwing machine, while funding greater than $170,000 has been provided for basic research.
The majority of the longliners now set at night, at least in the Australian fisheries zone around Tasmania. However, this change has resulted in an increase in the by-catch of penguin and grey petrel. Reportedly the mechanical bait-thrower, developed by Munro Engineers, is gaining favour on many of the ships.
This approach has had its critics. Australia is dealing with the best fleet in the world, the Japanese. Other fleets that run the cheapest, leanest second-hand operations will not be interested in expensive mechanical aids, particularly where labour is cheap.
The biggest problem is time. Some scientists believe that these slow changes, constant research and adjustment, use up the time that the albatrosses don't have. A zero by-catch is needed for most of the threatened species to recover.
As time goes by
In 1991, when the critical nature of the albatross by-catch was evident, the Australian government, through the Australian Nature Conservation Agency (ANCA), commissioned a major review of current albatross knowledge.
This report, published in 1993, stated that the problem facing the albatross was real and recommended that all albatross species be listed with the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
A listing would allow conservation procedures to be initiated, and with animals listed as "endangered' it would prohibit any kill of that animal.
The ANCA then proceeded to draw up an application for the listings, to be presented at the next Bonn Convention meeting. This application was withdrawn when they were notified that they had not properly consulted with other interested parties, particularly the foreign trade Â鶹´«Ã½ of government. ANCA is currently preparing to resubmit the application.
In June 1994, in Hobart, the first meeting between relevant organisations involved with the by-catch issue was held. At this meeting it was decided that a "united" Australian approach should be developed, along with a threat abatement plan (TAP).
In August, under the auspices of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, a second meeting was held; here it was decided that the TAP should become a "draft recovery plan" because longlining had not yet been listed under the federal Endangered Species Protection Act (ESPA), which is the primary means available to mitigate a threatening process.
The Japanese industry representative pledged to cooperate in an informal way, but noted, "if the process became to formal, everything would need to be done on a Government to Government basis and possibly slow the process down".
Longlining is now being nominated as a "threatening process" under the ESPA along with a nomination for southern bluefin as "endangered".
Prior to this time the Trilateral Agreement members, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, were drafting the Convention for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna. This was ratified on May 20, 1994. The first meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna was held that month.
However, six months later, one frustrated source said that the Japanese were prolonging debate and presenting their own draft definitions and recommendations that are so vague and innocuous that, if adopted, the commission would be a "toothless tiger". The Japanese industry may even argue against any Bonn Convention listings also. Most recently, an attempt by Kenya to get a CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) listing for southern bluefin failed after Japan persuaded Kenya to withdraw the proposal.
Driven by profit, the industry has no real answer and will act only if it does not compromise profits.
[Abridged from Sea Shepherd Log. John Sumby is an environmental worker and photographer based in Melbourne. Inquiries relating to the albatross issue can be addressed to him at PO Box 334, Clifton Hill, Vic 3068.]