Most of us spend the quieter New Year period at the beach or firing up the barbecue. But for University of Auckland researcher Jamie Darby, his summer months look a little different. He’s spending two months on one of the most remote places on Earth: Antipodes Island.
Here, on this rugged, uninhabited volcanic island out in the South Pacific, he’s using cutting-edge technology to track one of New Zealand’s iconic seabirds - the Antipodean Albatross.
These majestic ocean voyagers are among the most threatened of all New Zealand seabirds. Their population has been in steep decline in recent decades, with the single greatest threat they face being accidental capture (known as bycatch) in fisheries.
Understanding why Antipodean Albatross numbers are falling, and how to stop it, requires researchers to visit their breeding grounds on Antipodes Island each year, where they monitor their population and use satellite tracking to follow these birds as they roam vast distances across the Southern Ocean.
This year, Darby is joining Department of Conservation researchers to deploy advanced fine-scale GPS tracking, in what is a world first for this species.
The GPS devices being used are accurate to within a few metres, while also collecting data on behaviour, allowing researchers to follow the birds’ movements with unprecedented precision. For the first time, they will be able to see exactly when an albatross is flying, resting, foraging, or sitting on the water - and crucially, when it is in close proximity to fishing boats.
The tags, which are being attached to 12 Antipodean Albatrosses, can record wingbeats, detect when a bird lands on the water, and reveal patterns of activity and rest. They also include radar detectors, which can identify when birds are near boats. This level of detail is a critical step forward, enabling researchers to examine fine-scale behaviour around fishing operations and better understand how bycatch occurs.
WWF-New Zealand is proud to provide funding for this groundbreaking research, which will give us crucial insights into what is needed to protect these magnificent birds on the brink of extinction.
“Antipodean albatross, and many pelagic seabirds, spend the majority of their lives far from land and out of sight. This makes it so difficult to directly study their behaviour,” says Darby.
“We’ve come to their home on Antipodes Island, 800km southeast of Bluff, via a three-day sea voyage. We’ll spend seven weeks in this very remote but beautiful place, attempting to use tracking technology to figure out some of the big unknowns about their behaviour. We plan to use the findings to inform how to stop catching these birds in fishing gear,” he says.
In 2023, following years of advocacy by WWF and others, the Government strengthened protections for seabirds, introducing new rules for commercial surface longline fisheries. Fishers are now required to either use special hook-shielding devices or implement all three key seabird bycatch mitigation measures at the same time: bird-scaring lines (tori lines), line weighting to sink hooks faster, and setting lines at night when birds are less active.
WWF-New Zealand’s CEO, Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb, said: "Antipodean albatrosses are among the most threatened of all New Zealand’s seabirds, and if we lose them here, they’re gone from the planet forever. That’s why this research matters so much. It will give us a level of detail we’ve never had before and help us understand what’s actually happening when these majestic birds cross paths with fishing vessels.
“WWF-New Zealand has long pushed for stronger seabird bycatch protections, and this kind of science is crucial to understanding what’s working, what isn’t, and what we need to do next to give these iconic seabirds a fighting chance to recover.”
Darby’s research will help determine how effective the seabird bycatch measures are in practice. For example, fine-scale GPS data can confirm whether Antipodean Albatrosses forage at night and whether night-setting genuinely reduces risk - insights that have not previously been possible.
Because many Antipodean Albatrosses are lost far beyond New Zealand waters, it is hoped this research will also strengthen the case for extending best-practice bycatch mitigation measures to the High Seas.
With better data, we can make sure we’re doing all we can to give one of New Zealand’s most threatened and iconic seabirds a fighting chance to recover.