Short-tailed albatross  (Phoebastria albatrus)

In Japan the short-tailed albatross is known as ‘Ahodori' meaning ‘fool-bird', as they would remain at their nest sites as humans walked through the breeding grounds killing them for their feathers (6). The behaviour of the Japanese feather collectors lead to the dramatic decline of this species during the 19th and 20th Centuries, culminating in its putative extinction in 1949. Fortunately, the short-tailed albatross was rediscovered in 1951, after feather-collecting had ceased due to lack of birds. Today, the enormous threat posed to many species of seabird is present for this species also – mortality caused by fishing industry practices, such as longlining. Compounding this threat is the instability of soil at the breeding sites, brought about by deforestation. Some authorities also believe that the species is now most vulnerable to natural disasters, particularly volcanic eruptions (2). The majority of the population breeds at one site (2), where the entire human population of 125 people was lost at once by an eruption in 1902 (6).

A feather-collection ban was imposed in 1906, but it was not effective. Collection only began to dwindle when numbers of the short-tailed albatross dropped so low in the 1930s that it was no longer economically worth hunting (6). It is now legally protected in both Japan and the United States, and the island of Toroshima has been established as a National Wildlife Protection Area. Toroshima has also benefited from the transfer of native plants onto the island to enhance the nesting sites. Decoys were used to attract short-tailed albatrosses to a new site on Toroshima, and by 2003, six chicks had fledged from this site. Crucially, measures to prevent entanglement in fishing gear and to mitigate longline fishing need to be introduced if this albatross, and others, are to survive (2).