Australia Acts to Protect Albatross; New Zealand Must follow Sui

["Greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

AUSTRALIA ACTS TO PROTECT ALBATROSS; 
NEW ZEALAND MUST FOLLOW SUIT -- GREENPEACE


Aboard MV Arctic Sunrise, Southern Ocean, 17 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.