Hundreds of thousands of seabirds — including albatrosses — are accidentally caught and drowned in fishing gear each year, threatening some species with extinction.
Bycatch deaths are slow drownings — birds entangled in longlines or trawl warp cables are dragged underwater and die by asphyxiation. Those that survive initial entanglement with hooks lodged in their throats or wings face prolonged suffering before death. Beyond individual suffering, the collapse of albatross and petrel populations would represent an irreversible loss of some of Earth's most extraordinary animals, species that mate for life and may live over 70 years.