Commercial fisher caught and killed four endangered albatrosses

Thursday, 18 June 2020

For World Albatross Day 2020, Live Ocean presents: ‘Sentinel of the Ocean’ a story of the plight of the Antipodean Albatross.

A single boat caught and killed four endangered Antipodean wandering species over a two-hour period while fishing of the East Cape.

The boat, part of New Zealand's fleet, was fishing for Pacific bluefin tuna on March 10.

It was fishing within domestic rules. But conservation experts say those regulations are weak – and don't match tougher international standards.

There are an estimated 31,900 Antipodean albatrosses left and only 9050 breeding pairs. And without tighter restrictions, the endemic bird is likely to die out.

* Fishing industry under fire for killing endangered albatrosses

* A remote, wind-swept island is a time-warp to New Zealand's past

An Antipodean wandering albatross chick.

“It was kind of like a massacre,” Forest & Bird seabird advocate Sue Maturin said. “We're just not doing enough to protect them.

“The population is declining so rapidly, every bird counts, so we can't afford to be catching any Antipodean albatrosses.

“They don't have the luxury of time. Scientists have suggested that they're potentially functionally extinct within 20 or 30 years.”

Earlier this year, the Antipodean albatross was given the most serious threat classification in the Convention of Migratory Species, alongside blue whales and snow leopards.

Industrial fishing is the main threat to the rare creature, as the birds become entangled in longlines and drown.

Ten antipodean albatross were reported killed by New Zealand fishing vessels last year, including five by one vessel in the Bay of Plenty.

An Antipodean wandering albatross chick, born on a new colony established in the Chatham Islands.

The population has declined sharply over the last 16 years, and over half the females at the main breeding colony, on Antipodes Island, vanished at sea. They forage over the continental shelf edge and deep water from south of West Australia to the coast of Chile.

It is one of nature's most tragic love stories. A pair mate for life – living as long as 60 years – and nest only every two years.

Forest & Bird made a video telling the story of White-755, an endangered albatross lost at sea.

The courting birds perform an elaborate courting ritual of dances, bill clapping and a sequence of calls, screams and roars. They are feathered giants, with a wingspan of up to three metres.

The female lays a single egg, between December and February and it takes an entire year to hatch and raise the chick. Both of the pair incubate and care for the eggs, taking three-week long shifts nesting on the islands' grassy tussocks.

When a bird dies at sea, their mate will continue to wait for their return.

At the current rate of decline, there will be fewer than 500 breeding pairs within 20 years.

The most obvious threat to the seabirds is death by industrial fishing lines. They feed by scavenging squid and fish from the surface of the waves and are attracted to boats because they provide an easy meal.

As well as fishing, changing ocean conditions associated with climate change are reducing their access to prey.

Data released to Forest & Bird, under the Official Information Act, revealed the deaths.

The HMNZS Wellington off the coast of Antipodes Island, 850km south-east of Stewart Island.

They were reported to Fisheries NZ and the Department of Conservation, by the skipper and a fisheries observer on board. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash was also told, that week.

The vessel was setting lines during the day – against the advice of international seabird experts, but not against New Zealand rules. It caught five seabirds in the incident.

“The MPI Compliance inspection that followed the vessel’s return to port found the mitigation practices that were used were in line with regulatory requirements,” Emma Taylor, Fisheries NZ director of fisheries management, wrote.

On finding the deaths, the skipper moved 130km south to new fishing grounds and began night setting, Taylor said.

The vessel operator also signed up to a new Government trial of hook-shielding devices, which prevent seabirds from being hooked during setting.

A National Plan of Action for Seabirds was released by the Government last month. Its goal is zero seabird deaths at the hands of commercial fishing companies.

But experts and conservationists say it falls short, because the plan relies on voluntary measures and self-reporting.

An Antipodean albatross in a breeding colony.

Domestic fishing regulations are also weaker than recommended in an international treaty, the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP).

It says best practice is the simultaneous use of three measures: weighted branch lines (which sink faster to reduce the time seabirds can access them), bird scaring lines and only setting lines at night.

Alternatively, vessels should use hook-shielding devices.

In New Zealand, pelagic longline operators only have to use two of these measures – and can chose which.

The National Seabird plan recommends using all three – or hook-shielding devices – but the requirement is not mandatory.

Maturin said New Zealand should be setting the standard on protecting seabirds, but 90 per cent are threatened with or at risk of extinction.

“Recent studies show the overlap between the Antipodean albatross and international fisheries on the high seas.

“Most of the interaction occurs on the high seas with vessels that are flagged to Taiwan, Japan, Spain, New Zealand and China in roughly that order.

“So we really need the government to be talking to the governments of those countries about improving mitigation standards used on the high seas so that they are best practice, ensuring compliance with the mitigation standards and conducting a lot more inspections when those vessels come into port.

“New Zealand has really got to be leading the way. They are our birds.”

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said the bycatch and death of albatross in the March 10 incident was 'incredibly sad' and highlighted the need for the National Plan of Action.

A view to Bollons Island from Antipodes Island. The albatross breeds here in grassy tussocks.

“Whilst all the measures are not described in legislation, the Government expects them to be adhered to, and fishers will be regularly audited against them,' Sage said.

'Review of implementation progress will determine if regulation is required as a next step.'

The Government was also working on different fishing techniques that would prevent albatrosses and other birds being caught.

'As these methods are shown to be workable there will be an increasing expectation that they will be used.”

Friday marks the first-ever World Albatross Day. To highlight the plight of the Antipodean albatross, Olympic sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke commissioned a 3D animation of the seabird.

Burling and Tuke established Live Ocean, a marine conservation charity,

“We need to care,” Burling said. “These are our birds, they breed in New Zealand. The ocean is their home and they’re master voyagers and navigators …This story has to be told.”

Tuke said that after a million years of evolution the birds could be gone within a couple of decades.

“We’re losing too many. As a country we need to turn this around. That means continuing to collect the at sea data and being prepared to act on it so we’re not tracking these birds to extinction.

“We can’t be the first country in the world to lose an albatross species. That’s not a race New Zealand should win”.