Introduction
46% of Albatross species are threatened by extinction, one of those many species are the Salvin’s albatross. In this report, I will be telling you about the Salvin albatross, how we can try and how people are trying to increase their numbers. I decided to choose this topic, as when I am on my family boat, we always see albatross gliding by, and there is always talk about their extinction or their endangerment, so I decided that I was going to research one of the rarest albatross and the one I chose was the Salvin.
Albatross graph
This pie graph shows how threatened the total whole population of albatrosses and petrels are. As you can see, the main part of the pie graph is red which is threatened, so just under 46% of petrels and albatrosses are threatened by extension, which is a huge portion of these sea birds. Only 2% of Albatross and Petrels are extinct, which is the smallest percentage of these birds, which is good, the next smallest would be data deficient, which is also good, as we know more about these birds than we don’t. The rest of the pie graph is low risk and near threatened, low risk is 37%, which is the next biggest percentage on this graph, and last is near threatened, which is only at 12%, which is okay compared to the number of birds threatened. As you can see, the biggest percentage is threatened and the smallest is extinct.
How to identify the Salvin albatross
All ages of these albatross have grey hoods and narrow black under feathers lining on the underwing (they are wider and messier on the chicks of the Salvin Albatross). Adult albatrosses have a dirty pale yellowish bill with duskier sides and a black spot near the tip. The bill on the chicks is dark, dusky, greyish with a black tip; mostly like the adult’s in 3 years. It is also a medium-sized albatross that feeds on fish, squid, krill, salps and offal from fishing vessels. During the breeding season (april-augestl), Salvin’s mollymawks are seen throughout coastal areas of New Zealand. This birds main breeding spots are Bounty Island and the chain of islands called the Snare. These birds can also be found in islands around Peru, Chile and the South Pacific.
Q1 Who is leading the charge to help rare sea birds like the Salvin's?
To help the Salvin's albatross, we need people to back us, or else there will be no one to help us so. Here are 2 business or people who might want to help us in our charge to help the Salvin's albatross. Some people in the tourist industry would help us because some people in that sector rely on the native wildlife that the Salvin and other albatross bring. An example would be the Albatross and Sea-Bird tours in Kaikoura, as the Albatross is the main reason people go to their business, which is their main source of income. A group of people who could help us would be the Royal Albatross Education centre they would probably support this, as then they have another bird to talk about to kids, this would give them more knowledge about Albatross to tell the kids they teach. If you want to find out more on sea birds, there is a website called the conservation of petrels and albatross which share stories on trips to look and help save these birds.
Q2 What are the main threats to the Salvin Albatross?
Before we can help the Salvin albatross we need to find the main problems or threats. This is what I will be talking about in this paragraph. One of the most popular methods to get fish is having a big long line out the back of your boat, which is sometimes up to 130 km. They use this method to get game fish, but it can also catch Albatross. When the hooks are still on the top of the water, sea birds dive to get the bait, and sometimes they get hooked and drown, about 1 or 2 albatross die on one boat per day, which isn’t too bad, but there are at least 50 boats out per day, so it is more than 100 birds caught in one day.
Fishing is not the only problem on the open sea for the albatross as enough cause for the death of these birds is one you will know and might be guilty of which is rubbish. These birds are eating rubbish that is floating in the sea, it is mainly plastic that they mistake for food. Birds are found with bellies full of trash, including cigarette lighters, toothbrushes, syringes, toys, clothespins and every other type of plastic material. About 40 per cent of albatross chicks die due to dehydration and starvation from trash filling their bellies, providing no nutrition. It has been estimated that albatross feed their chicks about 5 tons of plastic a year, as they think it is food.
Q3 What are the aspects we should focus on to help the Salvin's Albatross
We are now narrowing down from the main threats to what should we focus on. One of the main problems is that these birds keep getting caught on fishing boats that are trailing for Hoki and other open sea fish. They may only get 1 per day, but they add up. Forest and bird say that the Salvin albatross is getting caught at an unsustainable rate by the hoki fishery. They are also threatened by Squid fisheries, as that is one of their main food sources. Imagine that your house is filled with rubbish, but you can not clean it up, that is how the Salvin Albatross is living. Their breading spots are littered with rubbish, about ⅓ of the albatross population dies of rubbish like this photo below of a Salvin albatross that ate a balloon.
Q4 What are people doing at the moment to help
What are some things that people have done to help the Salvin albatross, well I will tell you 2 different methods that people are using to help the Salvin albatross? A device by the name of EARS was made. EARS stands for Electronic Automated Reporting System, it will listen in and see if the fisherman is using the right protocols to help the albatross. The new protocols to help save the albatross are Tori lines, Branch line weighting or Night setting. The tori line acts like a scarecrow with streamers that run from the bits of lines that are out of the water that can vary in size for at least 100 m. The branch line weighting is set out with sinkers, so they can sink faster, and the night setting is just that setting it at night when the albatross are less likely to be following the boat. All three methods at the same time will be even better. If we can use these protocols, then it will help improve the chances the Salvin albatross has out on the open sea.
Q5 What are methods that could be used or made?
We will need some methods that may or could help us in the future, so I found 3 different things that could be used. The first one is something I got from YouTube called the sea bin. The sea bin is built to be put in a marina to pick up rubbish in smaller and calmer water. I like this idea as it is very eco-friendly, but I thought it could be improved. If they were to get a bigger pump to have a bigger sucking reach, and you could put on buoy’s harbours or in the open sea. The only problem with this is that you would have to check it daily or get a really big bag. A solution with this is that you clip on the trawling boats, they will cover big ground and suck up quite a bit of rubbish on the way. Enough experimental techniques are the Rory line, the method has a horizontal side boom with vertical streamers that block small birds from entering the space in between the vessel and the bird-scaring lines. It is a good way to minimise the number of birds that go in, but the bigger birds, like the Salvin albatross, may be able to get through, and this will not be much help without the Tory line or the branch weighting technique, for these bigger birds. When birds dive for fish, sometimes they dive straight into a net which they can not see, this will be a bigger problem as things go on, so here is my favourite technique that I have found for bird safety around nets. There is a new piece of fishing gear for trawler’s which are net lights--they clip onto nets and shine-- this works as a warning for birds and other sea animals to keep clear.
Q6 What can you do and how
After reading this report, you will probably want to help, so here are a couple of things that you could do. Here are 5 simple things you can do to help the Salvin albatross.
Ask for sustainable seafood. Sustainable seafood means that they are not over catching and only taking what they need, even if it is not their limit.
Recycled plastic. If all of the plastic that you use is recycled, then we can reduce the amount of rubbish that goes on to the albatross islands and nesting sites.
Support the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. When we do this, we will be helping the animals and protecting them from threats.
Visit a nesting colony. Even if it is not Salvin's albatross, you can still go see them and support the concept. There are also live streams of albatross if you want to keep on looking at them afterwards.
See them at sea. You can go and support the tourist industry who make a living by taking people out and showing them albatross
You could also donate money to Doc or other sites like ATF to get tracker’s or cameras so that we can know more about these birds. There are also heaps of sites or chats on social media like #AlbatrossStories that you could join, just spreading the word will help, as everyone needs to be aware of the decreasing number of albatross.
Conclusion
After looking at all my options, I have concluded that the best options are EARS, the fishing protocols, the modified sea bin if possible, and the public's help. We should use EARS, as then we can tell who is doing the right thing, and if they are not, then we can fine them, with the fishing protocols already in place (Tori line, weighting the line and night setting), all we need to do is say that they need to use all 3 as well as Rori line. If we were to be able to make the modified sea bin, then that would help us clean up our ocean and albatross feeding sites. We need the public to be aware and want to help us as well, so if we were able to do this, then we would be able to help the Salvin albatross hugely increases its numbers. Thank you for reading my report, and I hope you will get involved.