Albatrosses are among the world's most long-lived birds, with some species living over 70 years, yet face extinction from longline bycatch mortality that kills adults who cannot be replaced quickly due to slow reproduction.
Albatross bycatch causes drowning deaths in animals that may be over 50 years old - individuals that have survived decades of ocean life and raised dozens of chicks. The irreplaceable nature of long-lived adult breeding albatrosses makes each bycatch death a compounded welfare and conservation loss. Paired albatrosses that lose mates show behavioral depression and extended replacement periods. Bycatch reduction measures that already exist reduce mortality by over 90% - the welfare problem is persuading fishing fleets to implement them consistently, which is the focus of current conservation work.