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...

Grey-headed albatross

All the monitored populations of the Grey-heading albatross are declining sharply. In many cases populations are expected to contine decreasing for at least the next decade. Loss of young birds to longlines - including those deployed in the Southern Bluefin Tuna fisheries - is believed to be the major cause of this decline.

The Grey-headed albatross is a medium sized albatross, with a wingspan of 2.1 - 2.4 metres. The adults have a dark grey head and neck, white breast, and a black bill - with bright yellow ridges along the top and bottom edges - ending in a pink tip.

Scientific Name: Thalassarche chrysostoma

Breeding: Biennual. Eggs are laid in October, hatch in December - January, and the chicks fledge in April - May.

Colonies: Diego Ramirez and Islas Ildefonso, south of Chile; South Georgia, South Atlantic; Prince Edward, Crozet and Kerguelen groups, South Indian Ocean; Macquarie Island, south of Australia, and Campbell Island, south of New Zealand. Each year around 92, 000 pairs breed. The total population is estimated at 600, 000 individuals, although only 250, 000 of these are mature birds.

Status: Vulnerable. All the monitored populations are declining sharply. At the best studied site - Bird Island, off South Georgia - British Antarctic Survey research has revealed an approximately 20% decline in Grey-headed albatross over the past 20 years. The population there is expected to contine decreasing for at least the next decade. Loss of young birds to longlines - including those deployed in the Southern Bluefin Tuna fisheries - is believed to be the major cause of this decline. What is particularly significant about this finding is that the South Georgia population represents some 59% of the global Grey-headed albatross population.

The weakest information on population sizes is for the French subantarctic islands of Crozet and Kerguelen. This makes it very difficult to assess the significance of the known hooking of Grey- headed albatross in waters around Kerguelen (where breeding birds from both island groups forage).

Range:

Range
Colonies

Grey-headeds are found from 40 degrees south to the edge of the pack-ice. Ship scientists have seen them at 64 degrees south, off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, and in the northern Ross Sea in the high sixties. They seem to have a more southerly range than the similar-sized Black-browed albatross.

Click on the image to view a larger map.

Sources: Graham Robertson & Rosemary Gales. 1998. Albatross Biology and Conservation. Surry Beaty, Chipping Norton (NSW).

Derek Onley & Sandy Bartle. 1999. Identification of Seabirds of the Southern Ocean. Te Papa Press (National Museum of New Zealand), Wellington. Graham Pizzey & Frank Knight. 1998. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney.

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