Be a Friend of the Albatross

Every year thousands of albatrosses are drowned by longline fishing hooks or killed by heavy collisions with cables dragging behind fishing boats. A tasty meal on a baited hook, or from discarded fish, is irresistible to a hungry bird - but can be fatal.

Every life lost is a tragedy, cutting short a potential 60-year lifespan, and can leave hungry chicks to starve. Albatrosses cannot breed fast enough to replace the numbers killed. Sadly, 15 out of 22 species are now threatened with extinction.

Fishing crews don't want to kill seabirds, so our Albatross Task Force is helping them save lives. Their work has already cut albatross deaths off South Africa by 99%, saving around 7,000 birds a year. Now we need your help to do the same around the world. Become a Friend of the Albatross today.

My name is Leo Tamini and I sail regularly with Argentinian fishermen in stormy and dangerous open oceans. Our work is vital to save the albatross. Tragically, the Argentinian hake fleet catch an estimated 13,500 albatrosses a year.

The Argentinian government has already made albatross protection a legal requirement across the fleet. We need your help today to make sure every trawler follows the rules and make similar protection measures mandatory in Chile’s trawl fleet.

We know how to save lives, the loss of one albatross is one too many. Please give at least £5 a month to help keep albatrosses soaring over the southern hemisphere seas

Of the 22 species of albatrosses, 15 are still in danger of extinction. The southern royal albatross for example is classed as vulnerable, with only around 7,900 breeding pairs. Worryingly, these birds feed off the western coast of Chile, overlapping with trawl fisheries that do not currently require bird-scaring lines to be used.

But your support can have a huge impact. There are signs of hope for the black-browed albatross, for instance. Thanks in part to our efforts to save them, their conservation status was improved from near threatened to least concern in December 2017. Now, we urgently need to repeat these improvements in conservation status for many more albatross species. Please support our vital work with a gift each month.

As a Friend of the Albatross you'll receive our exclusive twice-yearly Impact newsletter. This is a great way to see how your support is helping to save these iconic birds.