The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, ACAP, has inaugurated World Albatross Day to raise awareness of these birds worldwide, since a global effort is required to protect these global travellers. The day also falls on the date of the signing of the Agreement 20 years ago.
The theme for 2021 is ‘“Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries”. Thousands of albatrosses are dying every year as a result of fishing operations. These magnificent birds get caught on hooks, become entangled in nets and collide with trawl cables, leading to death by drowning or injury. Solutions are available to address this conservation crisis. This year’s World Albatross Day, celebrated on 19 June, aims both to draw attention to the problem and to highlight best-practice solutions, such as the use of bird-scaring lines in both longline and trawl fisheries, line weighting and night setting or use of hook-shielding devices by longliners and management of offal discharge by trawlers. The two Critically Endangered albatrosses, the Tristan of Gough Island and the Waved from the Galapagos, have been chosen to serve as ‘feature species’ to draw attention to the continuing threats all the world’s 22 species of albatrosses face at sea from fisheries.
Resources have been made available on the ACAP website for anyone to use for online promotion and media releases about the day.
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