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White-capped albatross
Breeding pairs remaining in the world: 75,000
Where do they breed?: Antipodean Island and Albatross Island group (New Zealand)
Wingspan: 210-260 cm
Length (beak to tail): 90-100 cm
Average lifespan: Up to 30 years
Diet: The main foods include fish, shrimps, lobsters, crabs and tunicates (barrel-like filter feeders). Fish waste from ships also make up a large part of this species diet
Scientific name:Thalassarche steadi
Threat level: Near Threatened
Why they need your help
The biggest threat to white-capped albatrosses are when they come into contact with longline and trawl fishing fleets off the coast of South Africa, Namibia, and New Zealand.
The New Zealand fisheries are considered to have a relatively low impact on white-capped albatross numbers, but birds are still being killed by entanglement in nets and collisions with cables in fisheries elsewhere.
From 1998 to 2000 it is estimated that 7,000-11,000 white-capped albatrosses were killed by South African tuna longline fleets. Although numbers caught have decreased, in 2005 an estimated 5-600 albatrosses were still killed.
The impact on white-capped albatross numbers from the large fishing fleets of Japan, Taiwan and Korea is largely unknown, but Japanese data from 2001-2002 suggests that at least 10% of recorded albatross deaths are likely to be this species.
If squid and fish in Bass Strait start to be taken in huge numbers, this could pose a threat to this albatross due to direct competition for food.