Wildlife

Wild Albatross Bycatch and Longline Fishing

Albatrosses are the seabirds most threatened by longline fishing, with multiple species facing extinction.

Key Facts

19 of 22 albatross species are threatened with extinction
Longlines attract albatrosses that dive for bait and drown on the hooks
Up to 100,000 albatrosses are killed as bycatch annually
Simple mitigation measures including tori lines reduce bycatch by over 90%

Welfare Considerations

Albatrosses hooked on longlines drown slowly over minutes. Their death leaves chicks on remote island nesting grounds to starve — the adults never return. Albatross pair bonds last decades, and the death of one partner causes grief-like responses in survivors who may fail to breed for years. This bycatch crisis causes individual suffering compounded by profound ecological and social disruption.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified with seabird bycatch mitigation measures
Support BirdLife International's Save the Albatross campaign
Advocate for mandatory use of tori lines on longline vessels
Donate to albatross research and conservation organisations