UPDATED. After flying for nearly four decades in the Southern Ocean a Southern Royal Albatross is killed by a trawler

An old record has come to light recently of a banded Southern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi killed by a 70-m bottom trawler fishing for finfish in the South Atlantic. The bird died after colliding with the warp cable and was hauled on board on a splice in September 2008 between 47° and 51°S.

The albatross was banded (as R 21101) on Fizeau Ridge, Campbell Island, New Zealand on 1 Oct 1970 as a chick, making it 38 years old when it met its end.

The vessel was reported as using mitigation measures (bird-scaring lines) while fishing. The vessel's bosun had kept the band in his possession before passing it to a fisheries observer aboard late last year.

Southern Royal Albatrosses appear to be relatively rarely killed by collisions and entanglements with trawlers in the South Atlantic, although a few previous occurrences have been reported, including three on the Patagonian Shelf south of 46°S in a publication co-authored by Marco Favero, Chair of ACAP's Advisory Committee (click here) and one in a paper by Ben Sullivan of BirdLife International's Global Seabird Programme and his colleagues.

References:

Favero, M., Blanco, G., Garcia, G., Copello, S., Seco Pon, J.P., Frere, E., Quintana, F., Yorio, P., Rabuffetti, F., Cañete, G. & Gandini, P. 2011. Seabird mortality associated with ice trawlers in the Patagonian shelf: effect of discards on the occurrence of interactions with fishing gear.  Animal Conservation 14: 131-139.

Sullivan, B.J., Reid, T.A. & Bugoni, L. 2006. Seabird mortality on factory trawlers in the Falkland Islands and beyond.  Biological Conservation 131: 495-504.

With thanks to Marco Favero, Graham Parker and Graeme Taylor for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 February 2012, updated 27 February 2012


The Agreement on the
Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP is a multilateral agreement which seeks to conserve listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters by coordinating international activity to mitigate known threats to their populations.

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