The latest effort to help save the threatened Albatross species is finally getting a boost from the United States. President George Bush recently agreed to bring The Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) to the US Senate for approval.
ACAP is an international treaty protecting seabirds. “Its provisions advance the U.S. goals of protecting albatrosses and petrels. I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to the Agreement and give its advice and consent to accession”, stated President Bush. Read more in a Surfbird briefing
About 100,000 albatrosses die each year at the foot of the world’s fisheries industry when they unwittingly seize baited longline hooks intended for catching fish, according to the 2008 Red List.
Eighteen of the world’s 22 species of albatross are facing extinction, and ten of these are considered to Endangered or Critically Endangered – the highest levels of threat under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Birds.
In addition to deaths from longline and trawl fishing, the species also suffers from loss of eggs and chicks to introduced predators on breeding islands. Throw in global warming threats and changes in feeding areas and the Albatross can not reproduce fast enough to replace it’s dwindling population.
Here at IBRRC we see a fair amount of wayward Laysan Albatrosses in need of attention. Read about the species
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