As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Monday, 2 March 2020

Protection for Antipodean albatross

FEBRUARY 24, 2020 9:29 AM AEDT

Australia has helped secure international agreement to protect the endangered Antipodean albatross on its 100,000km annual migration between New Zealand, Australia and Chile.

In India overnight, 130 countries agreed to further protections for the Antipodean albatross at the Conference of Parties on the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

Each year, these majestic seabirds lay their eggs on breeding islands in the subantarctic waters south of New Zealand before heading off over winter to search for sparse feed supplies of cuttlefish in places like the NSW South Coast.

With as few as 9050 breeding pairs remaining, it was vital that the international community acted to protect the Antipodean albatross.

This is a tremendous outcome that will help reduce instances of the albatross being inadvertently caught by fishing vessels in coastal waters and the high sea, so that these birds can migrate safely.

Australia, New Zealand and Chile proposed the protections to prevent the further decline of the species, which without our help is in danger of being extinct within 20 years.

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