---
title: "New Red List shifts Antipodean Albatross and Westland Petrel from Vulnerable to Endangered, but Black-browed Albatross no longer considered threatened"
---

# New Red List shifts Antipodean Albatross and Westland Petrel from Vulnerable to Endangered, but Black-browed Albatross no longer considered threatened

The ACAP-listed Antipodean Albatross *Diomedea antipodensis*, endemic to New Zealand, has been uplisted from Vulnerable to Endangered in the 2017 update of the [IUCN Red List of Threatened Species](http://www.iucnredlist.org/) due to very rapid population decreases at both its main breeding sites on the Antipodes and Auckland Island Groups since 2004.

 
## According to a [press release](https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-list-2017-seabirds-starving-songbirds-trapped-hope-pelican-and-kiwis)[https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-list-2017-seabirds-starving-songbirds-trapped-hope-pelican-and-kiwis](https://www.birdlife.org/worldwide/news/red-list-2017-seabirds-starving-songbirds-trapped-hope-pelican-and-kiwis) by BirdLife International [https://www.birdlife.org/](https://www.birdlife.org/)“bycatch in longline fisheries is a major threat, one which is increasing as albatrosses have to fly further to find food - and with more females being accidentally caught and drowned than males there is now thought to be a strong sex imbalance in the population.”

 [Click here](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22728318) for BirdLife International’s assessment for the Antippodean Albatross.

 ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/A/Antipodean/Antipodean Albatross 2 Adams Island Colin ODonnell s.jpg)

 Antipodean Albatross on Adams Island, Aucklands; photograph by Colin O'Donnell

 Because of its worsening conservation status the Agreement added the population of the Antipodean Albatross of the nominate subspecies that breeds on [Antipodes Island](https://www.acap.aq/en/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1358-acap-breeding-sites-no-23-antipodes-island-new-zealand-supports-seven-acap-listed-albatross-and-petrel-species?highlight=WyJhbnRpcG9kZXMiLCInYW50aXBvZGVzJyIsIm5vIiwiJ25vIl0=) to the list of ACAP priority populations for conservation management at a meeting of its Advisory Committee, held in Wellington, New Zealand, this September ([click here](https://www.acap.aq/en/news/latest-news/2887-outcomes-from-the-10th-meeting-of-acap-s-advisory-committee-held-in-new-zealand-in-september)).

 Another New Zealand endemic, the ACAP-listed Westland Petrel *Procellaria westlandica*, has also been uplisted from Vulnerable to [Endangered](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22698155).  BirdLife states that “this species qualifies as Endangered because it is restricted to [one very small area](https://www.acap.aq/en/news/news-archive/60-2013-news-archive/1526-acap-breeding-sites-no-48-punakaiki-south-island-new-zealand-forest-home-of-the-westland-petrel?highlight=WyJ3ZXN0bGFuZCIsIm5vIiwiJ25vIiwicHVuYWthaWtpIl0=) when breeding, and its habitat is declining in quality due to erosion and landslips.”

 Better conservation news is that ACAP-listed Black-browed Albatross *Thalassarche melanophris* has been downlisted from Near Threatened to [Least Concern](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22698375) in the 2017 Red List due to an increasing population trend for a species with a very large range in the Southern Ocean and a large global population estimated by BirdLife International as 1.4 million individuals.

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 20 December 2017*