The full story...

Albatross tracking to aid conservation

Simon Lauder reported this story on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 18:46:00

MARK COLVIN: "God save thee, ancient Mariner", wrote Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "From the fiends that plague thee thus! Why look'st thou so? With my crossbow, I shot the Albatross."

In the 21st century it's not sailors with crossbows that are threatening the albatross but their numbers are dwindling nonetheless. Now the shy albatross, a species which only breeds on three small islands off the coast of Tasmania, is under threat.

A University of Tasmania researcher managed to attach satellite trackers to 48 juvenile shy albatross. She's hoping her findings will help save the species from environmental threats.

Simon Lauder reports.

SIMON LAUDER: According to a common superstition, it's good luck for sailors to be followed by an albatross, and it's considered very bad luck to kill one. University of Tasmania albatross researcher, Rachael Alderman, says superstition didn't protect the shy albatross.

RACHAEL ALDERMAN: So this was on Albatross Island and back in the 1800s when the fur seal trade was big, Albatross Island had a big fur seal population as well as there were sealers based out there and they wiped out all the seals, and then turned their attention to the albatross which they collected for feathers. And we're not sure exactly how big the population was, certainly a lot bigger than it is now.

SIMON LAUDER: Another reason albatrosses are under threat is their high juvenile mortality rate, fledglings don't return to their birthplace until they're ready to breed, so they spend years at sea.

Ms Alderman's research is the first time young shy albatrosses have been tracked by satellite and the results show many fly halfway around the world before returning to their home colony and many don't return at all.

There's an estimated 16,000 pairs of shy albatross that live on three rocky islands off the coast of Tasmania. Having fitted satellite trackers to 48 juveniles Rachael Alderman says they don't always live up to their name.

RACHAEL ALDERMAN: Nothing to do with their actual behaviour on land I can tell you that much.

SIMON LAUDER: Why is that?

RACHAEL ALDERMAN: They bite and they've got very sharp bills that have a little point on them to get into the squid.

SIMON LAUDER: And they're listed as vulnerable, is the population in much danger?

RACHAEL ALDERMAN: I guess that's what we're trying to get to the bottom of, albatross populations globally are threatened by fisheries. And there's also growing evidence that climate change is potentially having detrimental impacts on albatross populations so this research is all about understanding what the impacts of fisheries and climate change might be on the shy albatross population.

SIMON LAUDER: Has your research discovered any links so far?

RACHAEL ALDERMAN: This particular aspect of my research was looking at the juvenile stage of the shy albatross life history. It's one of the least well-known aspects of albatross generally because when they fledge from the island, they remain at sea for several years.

SIMON LAUDER: How far do they go from the nest and what kind of problems do they encounter?

RACHAEL ALDERMAN: In terms of fisheries for this particular species what we learned is there's differences between the populations in where they do forage, those that survive.

So the one population, the Mewstone down in the south, those birds will fly all across the Indian Ocean and forage in waters off South Africa. Now the fisheries in South Africa have quite a high sea bird bycatch rate so it's potentially got quite a significant conservation implication.

SIMON LAUDER: How does contact with fisheries endanger them?

RACHAEL ALDERMAN: One of the major problems is with long line fishing so these are boats play out a big long line with baited hooks all along the length and the albatross just dive for the baited hooks as they're being set and they themselves are caught on the hooks and drown.

And trawl fisheries as well, they're emerging as another threat to albatross globally. Understanding where they go and what fisheries they're interacting with is important for management and conservation.

MARK COLVIN: University of Tasmania researcher, Rachael Alderman, speaking to Simon Lauder.

Other News Websites