Exploring Albatross Movements - 2007

A project of Albatross Conservation Collaborative in conjunction with the partners and sponsors detailed below.

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Introduction

The "Exploring Albatross Movements" program aims to assess the movements and habitats of the Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes), during their post-breeding dispersal (July - October) across the North Pacific Ocean.

We tag albatross at-sea within the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, off central California, and use satellite tracking and remote sensing data to identify important foraging grounds and to assess albatross overlap with potential threats, including fisheries bycatch and marine debris.

Within this context, our study addresses five objectives:

(i) to characterize albatross use of the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary (CBNMS), a famous "albatross hotspot" off central California

(ii) to provide needed information on albatross habitats and movements within the United States Exclusive Economic Zone (E.E.Z.)

(iii) to enhance the understanding of the foraging grounds and the movements of this threatened species across the North Pacific Ocean

(iv) to assess the overlap of post-breeding albatrosses with North Pacific pelagic longline fisheries operating within their foraging range

(v) to quantify the overlap of post-breeding albatrosses with areas of known concentrations of plastic debris

"Albatross - 2007" displays telemetry data collected using duty-cycled transmitters programmed to transmit for 6 hours (from noon to 6 pm) every day, during the day-time period of high albatross flight activity. This sampling will allow us to match the bird tracks with concurrent wind speed / direction data from satellites. The emphasis on albatross movements with respect to concurrent wind patterns builds upon our previous tracking research in 2004 and 2005.

To view the tracks of 18 more albatross tagged off Cordell Bank during the summers of 2004 and 2005 go to the archived projects.

Project Partners

"Exploring Albatross Movements" is a collaborative project involving the following non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and resource-management agencies: Oikonos, Duke University, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, the U.S. Geological Survey, project ACES, and the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary.

Project Sponsors

This research is funded by the National Geographic Research and Exploration Fund (www.nationalgeographic.com/research) by the NOAA-sponsored educational program "ACES" (www.signalsofspring.net/aces) and by private donations.

Donations are greatly appreciated and can be made online through this web-site: www.oikonos.org/donate.htm.

The Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and Oikonos - Ecosystem Knowledge provided in-kind support to make this research and associated outreach activities possible.