Albatross Endangered by Long-line Fishing.
I'm a bit stubborn about some things, as you must to be any kind of environmentally minded person in our society.
We make choices every day about which products we do or don't buy in the hope that others are boycotting the same things we are, so we can feel as though we have some say. Fortunately sometimes enough people make enough of a fuss that it works.
Dolphin-friendly tuna was one such campaign.
I still get angry however about the fishing industry and the amount and species of by-catch and over-fishing.
Long-line fishing is carried out in many places where seabirds hunt; these being the best fishing areas for both species.
The fishing boats catch tuna, swordfish and other species, but they also catch albatross and petrels which come to feed. When the birds swallow the floating bait or get ensnared by hooks, they are dragged under by the weight of the lines, to their death.
Numbers have declined rapidly despite some measures to reduce the drownings. Many tuna and other long-line fishing boats ignore such regulations as it is voluntary to protect these beautiful creatures and many of the boats are fishing illegally.
It has been an incredibly rapid decline in numbers and many are already endangered. 16 of the 23 albatross species are on the threatened list.
Albatross species breed very slowly and have a late maturity rate, so they cannot catch up in numbers very fast, and feral predatory animals in their nesting areas eat eggs and chicks, adding to their problems.
Many adults starve to death after ingesting floating plastic, which is mistaken for food, when it sticks in their digestive tracts.
Plastic is sometimes regurgitated to feed the chicks. Also fed to chicks is discarded offal from the boats, which sometimes contains hooks.
All in all it could be a quick end to 23 species of seabird worldwide and it's happening very fast.
REDUCE OR REFUSE FISH THAT WAS CAUGHT BY LONG-LINE FISHING.
It is travesty that tuna is on supermarket shelves as an everyday food, considering that long lining is the biggest threat to seabirds such as albatross and petrels; many of the fish species being caught by these methods are also over-fished.
I don't buy tuna, even if it is dolphin-friendly, as seabirds have a part to play on this planet, and many people eat things without regard to whether they are eating an endangered species (such as swordfish or Patagonian Toothfish) or aiding the extinction of a variety of beautiful seabirds.
I'm no goody-two-shoes, but I'd rather live to see an albatross than eat some over-fished, over-cooked tuna. Once I was lucky enough to see a petrel at Coogee Beach; it was magnificent, much better than a tuna salad, and the memory will be with me much longer!
Vicki Boxell