But by understanding why, where and when the birds are being killed in such large numbers, scientists have been able to suggest ways in which fisheries can operate successfully at the same time as mitigating the impact on the albatrosses.

According to Phillips: "Once people realised long-lining was a threat, there was a lot of effort to develop different ways for mitigating that threat. You can have a streamer line flapping behind the vessel to discourage birds from trying to feed on the baited hooks. You can weight hooks so that they sink quickly below the surface and become inaccessible to birds. You can set the baits underwater, keep offal and waste bait on board so that you don't encourage birds to come to the boat in the first place, and set the lines during the night, when albatrosses don't usually feed. And around South Georgia, there's also a closed season, so they don't fish during the summer when the smaller species are vulnerable."

The success of these measures in eliminating so-called "by-catch" of albatrosses around South Georgia gives Phillips grounds for hope: "Around South Georgia during the late 1990s there were 6,000 seabirds being killed each year. But the introduction of the various mitigation measures, which were made mandatory by the South Georgia government, has been so successful that last year no birds were killed. It's an example of a very profitable fishery which has successfully introduced mitigation measures, and which was recently accorded Marine Stewardship Council certification in recognition of its high level of environmental sustainability and management."

The challenge now is to ensure that other fisheries follow suit. "What's unfortunate is that because these birds migrate vast distances, they still encounter fishing fleets in other areas of ocean that aren't using mitigation measures. What we have to do now is to persuade the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations - the big tuna commissions - to take a stronger approach to enforcing mitigation measures. Things are looking up, but as yet we haven't seen an upturn in the populations in the South Atlantic, so there's still a lot of work to be done," Phillips says.

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Images © British Antarctic Survey / Words © Becky Allen.

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