Wandering albatrosses are killed in enormous numbers as bycatch in Southern Ocean longline fisheries, with individual birds drowning attached to baited hooks — causing welfare harms alongside population-level declines.
Albatrosses that swallow baited hooks while still alive may drown slowly as lines are paid out, or die when hooks penetrate internal organs. Deaths in untested longline sets can involve prolonged suffering. Mate loss — albatrosses pair for life — disrupts breeding cycles and causes reduced reproductive success in surviving partners. Rehabilitation of severely hook-injured birds at islands is rare; most die at sea. Mitigation (bird-scaring lines, night setting, weighted lines) dramatically reduces bycatch but requires adoption by all fishing nations.