AUSTRALIA ACTS TO PROTECT ALBATROSS; NEW ZEALAND MUST FOLLOW SUIT

MV ARCTIC SUNRISE, Southern Ocean - 21 April 1997

Greenpeace today congratulated the Australian Government on its successful listing of eleven albatross species for protection under an inter national wildlife convention. The environmental organisation urged New Zealand to urgently adopt measures to further protect the endangered birds.

Greenpeace campaigner Cristina Mormorunni said New Zealand was lagging behind Australia, and must follow suit by suspending the Southern bluefin tuna fishery which contributes to the decline in albatross numbers.

"New Zealand is lagging behind Australia in preventing the slaughter of albatross," she said. "We are not even members of the Bonn Convention. But New Zealand can take action by supporting a global suspension of the Southern bluefin tuna fishery, which is implicated in the decline of several albatross species."

She said the listing of albatross species under the Bonn Convention showed that governments around the world recognised that the albatross is critically endangered.

Every species of albatross is now listed under the Convention following the Conference of the Parties to the Convention held in Geneva this week. The Bonn Convention is a global convention intended to protect threatened and endangered species of migratory animals.

"There is more than enough scientific evidence to confirm that commercial longline fishing is driving the albatross and other species of migratory seabirds to extinction," Cristina Mormorunni said. "For the last two days we have been watching two longline vessels very closely to observe what they are catching. Yesterday we saw a Westland black petrel (a native New Zealand seabird) which had been hooked and drowned during the setting of the longline. We also spotted four species of albatross: Wandering Albatross, Buller's Albatross, Black-browed Albatross and the Light-mantled Sooty Albatross following the New Zealand-chartered Japanese longline vessel."

The Greenpeace vessel MV Arctic Sunrise is currently off the coast of New Zealand documenting the longline fishery for the critically endangered Southern Bluefin Tuna. Greenpeace is calling on all governments of the world to immediately suspend the fishery.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Cristina Mormorunni on board the MV Arctic Sunrise +1(0) 00872 130 2577 (Inmarsat NZ$15 per minute)

or Glyn Walters on +1 (0)09 630 6317 or (025) 931 363

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