This Is How It Ends: Endangered young Antipodean albatross killed by foreign fishing vessel
Monday, 18 October 2021
An endangered juvenile Antipodean albatross died after being caught by a foreign-flagged longline fishing vessel.
The bird was caught in international waters in late June 2021, and the death was confirmed by the Department of Conservation on Tuesday.
A DOC satellite tag alerted scientist to the vulnerable creature’s fate, and the transmitter has now been retrieved from the fishing vessel.
Stuff understands it was a Taiwanese-flagged vessel, fishing for tuna and heading to port in Vanuatu.
Stuff revealed on Sunday how US supermarkets are selling canned tuna, unaware the decline of the albatross is attributed to shockingly high levels of fisheries-related deaths in the Pacific Ocean, where longline vessels are targeting albacore tuna.
The population of Antipodean albatross has been declining at five per cent per year since 2005. There are an estimated 31,900 Antipodean albatrosses left and only 9050 breeding pairs.
If this current rate continues, there may be fewer than 400 breeding pairs in 20 years, DOC said.
“This is a species which hangs in the balance,” DOC aquatic manager Elizabeth Heeg said. “The loss of a single bird can have a large impact on their recovery.”
“However, it highlights how important this satellite tracking project is. With this data we can continue to refine our knowledge of the threats to the albatross and work with other countries to avoid these tragedies in the future.”
The programme launched two years ago and is a collaboration between DOC, Fisheries New Zealand and Live Ocean, a marine conservation foundation founded by sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke.
Scientists Kath Walker and Graeme Elliott have spent the last 30 years studying the bird. Each summer they travel to the remote Antipodes Island, where the birds breed.
Earlier this year, they deployed 67 new satellite tags. Tracking the birds’ flight path provides valuable insight into the behaviours and movements of the species.
In 2020 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 or hooks and drown.
They feed by scavenging squid and fish from the surface of the waves and are attracted to boats because they provide an easy meal.
In 2020, 10 antipodean albatross were reported killed by New Zealand fishing vessels, including five by one vessel in the Bay of Plenty.
And last year, Stuff revealed a single boat caught and killed four over a two-hour period while fishing of the East Cape. The vessel, part of New Zealand's fleet, was fishing for Pacific bluefin tuna.
It was fishing within domestic rules. But conservation experts say those regulations are weak – and don't match tougher international standards.
A National Plan of Action for Seabirds was released by the Government last year. 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.
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 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 choose which.
The National Seabird plan recommends using all three – or hook-shielding devices – but the requirement is not mandatory.