Save the Antipodean albatross
@Kath Walker/DOC

Save the Antipodean albatross

Help keep them from being killed by longline fishing vessels

The Antipodean albatross is New Zealand's most endangered albatross.

Their population is in continued decline, with the biggest threat they face being caught accidentally as 'bycatch' by longline fishing vessels.

Under the current projected decline, there will be less than 500 breeding pairs in the next 20 years.

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There are mitigation measures that can significantly reduce seabird bycatch. That can stop Antipodean albatrosses from dying.

  • You can set the lines at night as albatross only feed by day.
  • You can use weighted lines which sink faster so birds have less time to get at them. 
  • You can hang lines of streamers above that act as bird scaring devices.

These are all effective. Even more so when using all three at once. But in New Zealand only two are required, and other mitigation measures to prevent seabird bycatch are just recommended.  

We are calling on the Government to make all three best practice mitigation measures mandatory. 
 

A population in free fall

Four years on from the introduction of the National Plan of Action-Seabirds 2020, Antipodean albatross are still dying on fishing lines.

The recommended mitigation measures can reduce seabird bycatch but while they remain voluntary and largely unmonitored, they won’t be enough to save these majestic birds from drowning.

Each death puts this wide-ranging and slow-breeding species at risk of extinction, worsening the significant and dramatic population decline that has been happening since 2007.

To save the Antipodean albatross from extinction, we are working with the fishing industry, government and other parties to protect them in New Zealand waters and beyond. 

Together, we can save the Antipodean albatross.

Help us save them from extinction.