The Science
Patagonian toothfish are not the only species being decimated by pirate fishing vessels. The science team on board the Arctic Sunrise documents the impact pirate fishing has on a wide array of bird species in the Southern Ocean.Don't forget to feast your eyes on our Bird of the Week!

Longline Fishing
What is longline fishing and why is it so detrimental to a variety of wildlife?

Campaign Report
Track the progress of our campaign by checking out these periodic reports from Greenpeace's onboard campaign team.

Ship Log & Webcast
What's daily life like on a Greenpeace ship? How does the crew prepare for these dramactic actions? And just what is a bosun anyway? Get first hand accounts from our crew.

Last Year
In 1999 Greenpeace embarked on an expedition to expose pirate fishing in the Southern Ocean and caught the notorious, Spanish-owned pirate vessel Salvora illegally fishing in the French waters around Kerguelen Island. Here's an overview of that campaign...

Wandering Albatross

The Wandering albatrosses are the largest flying birds on earth, with wingspans of up to 3.5 metres. They breed on sub-Antarctic islands around Antarctica.

They feed on squid. They are particularly vulnerable to being caught on longlines, because they view anything on or near the surface as a potential food item and are liable to seize baits (and the hooks therein) as fishing vessels set their lines. Longlining is probably the biggest single killer of Wandering Albatross each year.

Note: Recently, the population of Wandering albatross has been split into four regional species:

• Tristan albatross - Gough & Tristan da Cunha,
  
• South Atlantic Antipodean albatross - Antipodes {99%} & Campbell Islands, South of New Zealand
  
• Gibson's albatross - Auckland Islands, South of New Zealand
  
• Wandering albatross - South Georgia, South Atlantic; Crozet, Kerguelen, Prince Edward & Heard Islands, South Indian Ocean; and Macquarie Island, South of Australia.

Birds from these different populations have similar biology, and are difficult to tell apart at sea. Therefore they are treated as one group here - "Wandering Albatross".

Scientific Names:
Diomedea dabbena (Tristan albatross)
Diomedea antipodensis (Antipodean albatross)
Diomedea gibsoni (Gibson's albatross)
Diomedea exulans (Wandering albatross)

Breeding: Every two years - because it takes a year to complete the breeding cycle. They incubate their single egg for 11 weeks and the take a further 40 weeks to fledge their chick, which is dependent upon the parents for food over this entire period. The chick perishes if either parent is lost at sea to longlines because a single parent cannot collect enough food.

Breeding Season: Egg laying - December to February; Hatching - March to April; Fledging - November to February.

Colonies: South Georgia, Prince Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Heard, Macqueire, Campbell, Antipodes, and Auckland Islands

Population: The total number of individual albatross is around 134,500. Each year around 20,682 pairs attempt to breed.

Status: Antipodean, Gibson's and Wandering - "Vulnerable"; the small population of Tristan albatross are classified "Endangered". Of the eight population study sites where we have reliable data, four are declining, one very small population is now stable after a period of decline, and three are increasing.

Range:

Range
Colonies

Wandering albatross are circumpolar between around 40 and 60 degrees south latitude, although at times they will penetrate further south into the pack ice - in the Ross Sea, as far as 70 degrees South.
Click on the map for larger image.

Sources: Graham Robertson & Rosemary Gales. 1998. Albatross Biology and Conservation. Surrey Beaty, Chipping Norton (NSW). Graham Pizzey & Frank Knight. 1998. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney. Derek Onley & Sandy Bartle. 1999. Identification of Seabirds of the Southern Ocean. Te Papa, Wellington.

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