Marine Wildlife

Wandering Albatross Welfare and Longline Bycatch

Wandering albatrosses face severe welfare impacts from longline fishing, where birds dive for baited hooks and drown. These longest-wingspan birds can live 50+ years but populations are declining sharply.

Key Facts

Wandering albatrosses have the largest wingspan of any living bird at up to 3.5 metres
They can live over 50 years and pair for life, raising a single chick every two years
Longline fishing vessels deploy hundreds of millions of hooks annually in albatross habitat
An estimated 100,000 seabirds including albatrosses die on longlines each year
South Georgia supports the largest wandering albatross breeding population

Welfare Considerations

Drowning on longline hooks causes acute suffering and death. Birds that escape hooks may suffer internal injuries from hook ingestion. Loss of a mate or parent through bycatch causes disruption to long-term pair bonds and chick survival, creating cascading welfare impacts across multi-year breeding cycles.

What You Can Do

Support fisheries using bird-scaring lines, night setting, and weighted lines to reduce bycatch
Choose MSC-certified or seabird-safe certified seafood products
Donate to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP)
Advocate for mandatory seabird bycatch mitigation measures on all longline vessels
Support satellite tracking research that identifies high-risk bycatch zones