I forrige nummer af Birding World kunne læserne læse, at Balearskråpen er på vej mod udryddelse. Nedenstående pressemeddelelse fra BirdLife International afslører, at Sortbrynet Albatros også har det svært.
New research shows longline fishing pushing six albatross species further towards the brink of extinction
Cape Town, South Africa – New research revealed today shows that longline fishing is the prime factor responsible for greatly increasing the risk of extinction among at least five species of albatross.
New research synthesised by BirdLife International, coinciding with an important workshop on seabirds in Cape Town, reveals a further alarming decrease in the populations of six of the 21 albatross species, including one species previously regarded as “safe”: All albatross species are now considered to face varying risks of extinction largely owing to longline fishing. This method kills more than 300,000 birds, including 100,000 albatrosses annually, either by drowning or dying of their injuries on baited hooks up to 80 miles (130 km) long.
The six species whose threatened status has been significantly upgraded according to IUCN Red List categories and criteria are:
· Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross has been upgraded from Near Threatened in 2000 to Endangered in 2003 due to population declines recorded at long-term study colonies on Gough and Tristan da Cunha islands, indicating a 58% reduction over three generations (71 years). If threats do not abate, population models suggest that the species may need to be classified as Critically Endangered, the final category before becoming Extinct;
· Black-browed Albatross listed as Near Threatened in 2000 and Vulnerable in 2002, now becomes Endangered, with new census information from the Falkland Islands showing that the species is likely to be declining by more than 50% over 3 generations (65 years);
· Black-footed Albatross, listed as Vulnerable in 2000, now becomes Endangered, with new information and modelling from Hawaii revealing that declines are more serious than previously thought. The species is likely to be declining by more than 50% over 3 generations (56 years);
· Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, listed as Vulnerable in 2000, also now becomes Endangered with declines being more serious than previously thought, particularly at the stronghold population on Amsterdam Island in the French Southern Territories, and now at more than 50% over 3 generations (71 years); the disease avian cholera is strongly implicated in this decline.
· Laysan Albatross, listed as Least Concern in 2000, now becomes Vulnerable, with new information from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands showing declines of at least 30% over 3 generations (84 years);
· Sooty Albatross, listed as Vulnerable in 2000, now becomes Endangered (2003), with new information from breeding islands in the south Atlantic and Indian Oceans showing very serious declines of more than 75% over 3 generations (90 years).
The most threatened species, the Amsterdam Albatross, already classified as Critically Endangered, is threatened by disease, with the population now reduced to some 20 pairs breeding annually and increasing chick mortality.
Dr Michael Rands, BirdLife Internationals Director and Chief Executive, says: “The number of seabirds killed by longlines is increasing, as is the number of albatross species in the higher categories of threat due to their continued use. One such species, now seriously at risk, is the Laysan Albatross, which was previously considered abundant and safe. Longline fishing, especially by pirate vessels, is the single greatest threat to these seabirds.”
Since 2001, BirdLifes Save the Albatross campaign has aimed to reduce the number of seabird deaths caused by the longlining fishing industry to a sustainable level, ensuring that relevant international agreements, such as the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), are implemented to benefit both birds and the legal fishing industry.
BirdLife’s new research is particularly relevant to ACAP (under the Convention on Migratory Species or Bonn Convention) as the number of countries to ratify this new agreement will soon reach the necessary five for it to enter into force. The agreement requires signatory states to take specific measures to reduce seabird by-catch from longlining and to improve the conservation status of albatrosses and petrels. Australia, Ecuador, New Zealand and Spain have fully ratified, and either South Africa or the UK (unfortunately not covering the island territories where the albatrosses breed) will be the next to do so.
At the same time, one of Britain’s most experienced sailors, John Ridgway, who rowed the North Atlantic with round-the-world yachtsman Chay Blyth in 1966, is fast approaching South Africa on his year-long expedition by yacht to report illegal fishing operations and campaign for stricter action against them. Ridgway’s expedition, with the support of BirdLife Internationals ‘Save the Albatross’ campaign, will be highlighting the predicament of the Yellow-nosed Albatross in Cape Town, as well as demonstrating best-practice aboard a longline fishing boat.
All media enquiries through Gareth Gardiner-Jones at BirdLife International in Cambridge, UK: tel. +44 (0)1223 279903; 07779 018 332 (mobile); gareth.gardiner@birdlife.org.uk
Artiklen er senest opdateret: onsdag 10. september 2003 kl. 11.15
Det er fint at du bringer problemstillingen op her. Problemerne med langline fiskeriet, især i Sydhavet, har været kendt i henved 10 - 15 år. Det er ikke kun de ovennævnte albatrosser, der er truet. Også Vandrealbatrossen er truet. For nogle år siden undersøgte Andreas Weimarskirs populationen på Crocet øerne i det Indiske ocean, og han kunne påvise, at de adulte, ynglende hunner fouragerede i det område, hvor langline fiskeriet foregik. Han søgte efter en forklaring på, hvorfor ikke alle hunfugle vendte tilbage til kolonien. Hannerne var tilsyneladende ikke i samme grad påvirket af langline fiskeriet, men så vidt jeg husker fouragerede de også på andre havområdet nær Antarktis.
Problemerne er ved at være alvorlige. Det er et spørgsmål, hvor meget vi i Danmark kan gøre, men måske var det en sag for D.O.F. - lidt lobbyistarbejde, påvirke vore hjemlige politikerne, der alternativt kan tage problematikken op i det rette forum.
Hvis nogle af jer læsere har nogle ideer til, hvad vi i Danmark konkret kan gøre, så lad mig det venligst vide.
Hvis langline fiskeriet fortsætter, som det gør nu, kender vi jo alle konsekvensen om 10-20-30 år. Albatrosserne har jo satset på et langt liv, herunder produktion af ganske få unger gennem livet. Derfor vil en nedgang i populationerne ikke være til at rette op på kort sigt, og blot der støder andre negative faktorer ind, kan det blive endeligt for nogle af arterne.
Lad os få en dialog igang med hvad vi konkret kan gøre ved sagen.
Hej Erik,
den eneste effective aktion vi kan foretage fra DK er vel at stoppe importen af de fiskearter som fanges på denne måde. Det vil som minimum kræve enighed i EU, og muligvis være en overtrædelse af WTO reglerne. Hvis ikke det kan gøres fra EU, så kunne man prøve at få en forbrugerkampagne op at stå; det er noget der ville have været langt lettere i 70erne.
Tjaeh, det hjælper jo nok ikke at beklage sig til den nuværende ehvervs - øh undskyld - miljøminister! Som dansker er der ikke mange direkte initiativer, der har med havfugle at gøre. Der er dog lidt hjælp at hente på http://www.birdlife.org/action/campaigns/save_the_albatross/help.html
eller på www.oceanwings.co.nz
Her nævnes alternative fiskerimetoder (mest oceanwings), simple forbruger-tricks (køb af tun, etc. fanget på havfuglevenlig manér) samt kontakt til nationale og internationale politikere. Måske adressen på EU's fiskerikommisariat, Spaniens fiskeriminister eller andre relevante personer kunne lægges her på siden, så direkte kontakt fra enkeltpersoner kunne formidles.
mvh peterc
BirdLife International er i disse dage meget opmærksomme på albatrosserne.
Følgende pressemeddelelser er netop udsendt:
Pirates hunted to halt seabird slaughter
Pirate fishermen are the people sailor John Ridgway is most hoping to find, name and shame when he sets sail this Saturday to highlight the plight of albatrosses.
Ridgway is leaving Cape Town for Melbourne on 25 October to follow the route of the wandering albatross, one of the 17 southern hemisphere albatross species threatened with extinction, largely because of illegal longline fishing.
The 65-year-old, who rowed the North Atlantic with round-the-world yachtsman Chay Blyth in 1966, is determined to publicise the effect that this outlawed fishing is having on albatrosses and other species. More than 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses are lured onto baited hooks every year, either drowning or dying of their injuries.
Ridgway said: “There is no good, economic reason why pirate longline fishing should be allowed to continue. This slaughter of seabirds is senseless yet could lead to the loss of one of the world’s most mysterious and charismatic birds.
“There are already simple measures fishermen should be taking which significantly reduce seabird deaths without affecting their boat’s catch and it astonishes me that governments have been so slow in even attempting to enforce these regulations.”
Ridgway set off with his wife Marie Christine and a small crew from Ardmore, north-west Scotland on July 27 to report on and film illegal longline fishermen hunting the increasingly rare bluefin tuna and Patagonian toothfish.
The seven legs of his trip, in his yacht English Rose VI, will each highlight a different albatross species with his route, after Melbourne, taking him to Wellington, the Falklands, South Georgia, Gough Island and back to London via Cape Town. The Cape Town to Melbourne leg will call attention to the wandering albatross.
Ridgway’s departure will be followed two days later by the annual meeting in Hobart of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), in which efforts to curb pirate fishing will be high on the agenda.
Euan Dunn, senior marine policy officer at the RSPB, BirdLife International’s UK partner said: “Albatrosses are now gravely threatened by indiscriminate longline fishing. Some species could be extinct within 20 years unless we stop the slaughter. The challenge is to get uniform adoption and enforcement around the world of rules for stamping out the organised crime of pirate fishing.”
John Ridgway and Forest & Bird, BirdLife’s partner in New Zealand, have set up a worldwide online petition urging fishing nations to stamp out pirate longline fishing. Ridgway will submit the final petition to a meeting on pirate fisheries at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, in June next year. You can sign the petition by visiting http://www.rspb.org.uk/policy/marine/albatross/index.asp
Notes
Pirate fishing
· Pirate fishing, or Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing, is a major threat to the conservation of global fish stocks and to the seabirds it takes as by-catch. IUU fishing uses longlines with scant regard to the risks to birds, fuelling unsustainable losses to breeding populations. Pirate fishing is by definition, largely unrecorded, undermining the assessment and management of fish stocks.
· Pirate fishing is highly lucrative, driven by the increasing market value of dwindling world fish stocks. Patagonian toothfish is a quality fish for the sushi and sashimi markets of Japan, the USA and Europe. Its enormous value was highlighted by the recent arrest, by Australian authorities, of the pirate vessel Viarsa, which had toothfish worth an estimated £2 million on board.
· Pirate fishing is hard to detect and it has been estimated that the total IUU catch (80,960 tonnes) of toothfish in the last six years almost equals the legal catch (83,696 tonnes).
· The targeting of toothfish in the Southern Ocean by IUU fishers started in the mid-1990s, developing into a gold rush. It is a highly organised criminal activity, with many vessels hiding behind Flags of Convenience - such as Belize, Togo and Bolivia, which are not party to international fisheries’ agreements - and front companies to disguise the identity of those who profit from it.
· Key ports for landing IUU caught fish are all located in States that are not party to CCAMLR, including Tanjon Priok (Indonesia), Hong Kong and Singapore.
· Pirate fishing has doubled in the last ten years. There are around 1,300 pirate vessels worldwide from a global fleet of 38,400 vessels each of 100-plus tonnes
· The British Antarctic Survey says fishing fleets are losing around £10m a year because albatrosses are entangled on their lines preventing fish being caught
Globally threatened albatrosses
· The most recent assessment of the threatened status of albatross species was published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in Oct 2003.
· Of the world’s 21 albatross species, two are classed as being in Critical danger, seven are Endangered and ten are Vulnerable. Of the 21 species, 17 breed or range into the southern oceans.
· The position of six species has deteriorated since 2000:
Ø The Atlantic yellow-nosed, Near-Threatened in 2000, is now Endangered
Ø The black-browed, Near-Threatened in 2000 and Vulnerable in 2002, becomes Endangered
Ø The black-footed, sooty and Indian yellow-nosed are all up from Vulnerable in 2000 to Endangered now
Ø The Laysan, of Least Concern three years ago, is now Vulnerable
Mitigation measures
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is a regional fisheries organisation, which manages much of the Southern Ocean. In 1996, CCAMLR introduced a number of mitigation measures designed to reduce seabird deaths. Ships fishing under CCAMLR licence in the Southern Ocean are legally required to abide by these measures, which include:
Ø Bird scaring lines with flapping, coloured streamers
Ø Weighted bait to make lines sink faster
Ø Setting fishing lines at night, when the large albatrosses are not usually feeding
Ø Timing the fishing season to miss the birds’ breeding season
Ø Avoiding the discharging of fish waste when lines are being set
Ø An on-board CCAMLR registered observer to guarantee that fish catches are albatross-friendly, enabling markets and consumers to avoid illegally fished products
Since 1996, seabird mortality from legal fishing in the Southern Ocean has dropped to a few 100 birds per year. It has been estimated that catches of Patagonian toothfish by illegal vessels from 1999 to 2000, using few or no seabird mitigation measures, were similar to the legal catch.
For information on BirdLife’s Save The Albatross campaign, please visit http://savethealbatross.birdlife.org
Falklands stamps draw attention to albatross extinction risk
Cambridge, UK, -- The Falkland Islands are focussing attention on the plight of their Black-browed AlbatrossThalassarche melanophrys, now one of the fastest-declining albatross species, by releasing a set of commemorative stamps. [1]
The newly-released stamps are designed to raise awareness of the plight of this species, which BirdLife International has just significantly upgraded according to IUCN Red List categories and criteria to Endangered. [2,3] The species was listed as Near Threatened in 2000 and Vulnerable in 2002, with new census information from the Falklands, where 60% of the breeding population is found, showing that the species is likely to be declining by more than 50% over 3 generations (65 years).
The four beautiful stamps portray adult and immature Black-browed Albatrosses and also appear in a special edition souvenir sheet. The stamps have been specially produced in support of BirdLife International’s Save the Albatross campaign, with a portion of the sale proceeds from the issue donated to preventing the needless slaughter of albatrosses and other seabirds in longline fisheries [4].
These stamps are particularly timely as the number of countries to ratify the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels or ACAP (under the Convention on Migratory Species or Bonn Convention) will soon reach the necessary five for it to enter into force. The Agreement requires signatory states to take specific measures to reduce seabird by-catch from longlining and to improve the conservation status of albatrosses and petrels. Australia, Ecuador, New Zealand and Spain have fully ratified, and either South Africa or the UK (unfortunately not covering the Overseas Territories, such as the Falklands, where the albatrosses breed) will be the next to do so.
“I am delighted that the Falkland Islands has decided to draw attention to the Black-browed Albatross by publishing these stamps,” says Dr. Michael Rands, Director and Chief Executive of BirdLife International. “All 21 albatross species are now at risk of extinction and the Black-browed Albatross, in particular, has suffered dramatic declines of late largely due to longline fishing.”
Forest & Bird, BirdLife International’s New Zealand Partner, is hosting an online petition to urge all countries to eliminate pirate fishing which will be given to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisazion next year. For further details, please visit http://www.forest-bird.org.nz/petition/index.asp.
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For further information please contact Richard Thomas at BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK on + 44 (0) 1223 279813 or 07779 018332 (mobile). E-mail: richard.thomas@birdlife.org.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. A graphic depicting the souvenir sheet and stamps will be available from 23 October 2003 at http://www.birdlife.org/news/pr/index.html, or from BirdLife International beforehand. For information on purchasing the stamps please contact: Sovereign Stamps, P O Box 123, Sutton, Surrey, SM1 4WH, UK. Telephone +44 (0)20 8770 1373 or visit their website at www.sovereignstamp.co.uk where stamps can be viewed and ordered online.
2. BirdLife International is a global alliance of conservation organisations working in more than 100 countries who, together, are the leading authority on the status of birds, their habitats and the issues and problems affecting bird life. BirdLife is a member of the World Conservation Union - IUCN and the official Listing Authority for birds for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
3. IUCN Red List categories are: Critically Endangered (facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild), Endangered (facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild), Vulnerable (facing a high risk of extinction in the wild), Near Threatened (close to qualifying for Vulnerable) and Least Concern (species not qualifying for the other categories, including widespread and abundant species).
4. Since 2001, BirdLife’s Save the Albatross campaign has aimed to reduce the number of seabird deaths caused by the longlining fishing industry to a sustainable level, ensuring that relevant international agreements, such as the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), are implemented to benefit both birds and the legal fishing industry. For further details of BirdLife International’s Save the Albatross campaign, please see http://savethealbatross.birdlife.org
English version
Erik Vikkelsø Rasmussen skriver onsdag 10. september 2003 kl. 12.00 
