And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow ...
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Albatrosses have a lot more to worry about these days than being shot by sailors. More than 100,000 each year are accidentally hooked by longlines set for tuna, billfish, and Patagonian toothfish, pushing some albatross species to the brink of extinction (Science, 2 April, p. 44). Now a new report has meticulously collated scores of satellite tracking studies and identified hot spots where petrels and albatrosses may cross paths with fisherfolk.
Tracking Ocean Wanderers, published by BirdLife International, was unveiled last week at a conservation meeting in Hobart, Australia. John Croxall of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, U.K., who edited the report, says he hopes it will convince fisheries managers who still deny there's a problem. Ben Sullivan, coordinator of BirdLife's Global Seabird Programme, says the maps will allow conservation efforts to be better targeted, identifying times of year when certain longline fisheries should be closed and areas where mitigation measures, such as weighted lines and bird-scaring streamers, should be used.
CREDIT: BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL |
