Prince Charles Backs Endangered Albatross Scheme
Date: 27-Apr-05
Country: UK
Charles will attend a Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) dinner on Wednesday to raise money to send marine specialists to South Africa and South America to train fisherman on how best to prevent seabird deaths.
The UK-based RSPB said more than 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses as well as hundreds of thousands of sharks and turtles, are believed to be killed each year due to longline fishing.
"The albatross may be the ultimate test of whether or not, as a species ourselves, we are serious about conservation: capable of co-existing on this planet with other species," said Charles. Nineteen of 21 species of albatrosses face extinction.
Operation Ocean Task Force will deploy the experts in South Africa, Uruguay, Brazil and Peru.
"Those countries have longline fleets hunting tuna and the much-prized Patagonia toothfish," said an RPSB spokeswoman.
"They throw out huge longlines with thousands of hooks on them which sit on the surface. The birds are lured down on to them and either drown or die through their injuries."
Record-breaking yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur will join Charles at the dinner.
"The albatross is one of the most amazing birds in existence. I hope that we still have the opportunity now to save these magnificent creatures before it is too late," she said.
The birds are famed for their large wingspan and ability to make long ocean journeys. The wandering albatross has a wingspan of up to 11 feet (four metres) -- the broadest in the world.
(Reporting by John Sinnott; editing by Steve Addison)
