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SAILING TO SAVE THE ALBATROSS
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Harbinger of eternity Time's time keeper She is, in all her vast diversity The reflection of man's soul |
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Her large expanses are also home to the albatrosses that glide so effortlessly over her waters, but for how much longer? John Ridgway, who rowed across the North Atlantic in the 1960s along with his compatriot Chay Blythe and kayaked round Cape Horn, has embarked on another venture. Together with his wife Marie Christine who was on the Whitbread Race, and Nick Grainger (Aus) also a veteran passage maker, John has returned to Cape Town to begin and complete a circumnavigation to raise world awareness to the desperate plight of the Albatross. Starting and finishing at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, the 57ft Ketch, English Rose VI, their voyage will track the circum-polar flight of the Albatross. Illegal longline fishing operations threaten the very existence of all 21 species of Southern Hemisphere albatross. Among them the Amsterdam Albatross-just 90 individuals left in the world, of which only 13 pairs breed in any one year. Since longline fishing invaded the Southern Ocean in the 1980's, hundreds and thousands of Albatrosses have been lured onto baited longline hooks to drown or die later from their injuries. As a result, most Albatrosses and several other seabird species are being driven to extinction. The majority are killed by pirate vessels which, in their headlong rush for fish, shun using simple measures to prevent hooking seabirds. Ridgway wants the pirate boats banned and international action to close down their black market fish. John (65) State Pension Book in hand said: "I cannot stand by and watch this happen. I'm putting together and funding an entirely independent voyage round the world, to raise public awareness and prevent this needless slaughter. My volunteer crew, experts in their fields, are giving up to a year of their lives to help me. This is the very most we can do. It may be the last chance for the Albatross." "To save the Albatross, all that is needed is a willing captain-on every fishing boat. We must applaud good fishing practice and convince the widest audience that the Albatross can be saved. The best way is through the prevention of pirate fishing. Thereafter, education, good practice and effectively regulated fisheries will ensure the future of both the Albatross and the fish stocks." More than 300,000 seabirds are needlessly killed annually in fishing operations around the world. Albatrosses are opportunistic scavengers and well known to feed behind fishing vessels. This makes them vulnerable to mortality as they snatch baited hooks and are drowned. Recent findings show that all 21 species of albatross are facing the risk of extinction as a result of longline fishing. Within the South African exclusive economic zone, it is estimated that as many as 30,000 seabirds could be killed annually in longline fishing operations. Albatrosses breed very slowly. They therefore do not have the ability to recover if large numbers are killed.
For more information about the John Ridgway voyage visit www.savethealbatross.org
Samantha Petersen, |
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This, coupled with the fact that many albatross populations are already small as well as their ability to fly great distances and therefore come into contact with vast numbers of longline vessels are, at least in part, why the albatross is so vulnerable to mortality as a result of longline fishing. This slaughter is in deed needless as simple measures such as setting lines at night or flying bird scaring lines would mitigate the problem. Hence in the words of the skipper, John Ridgway, "All that is needed to prevent the extinction of our albatrosses is a willing skipper". John hopes that this voyage will highlight a vast array of seabird conservation issues spanning the raising of public awareness of the impact of incidental seabird mortality as a result of longline fisheries to the incidence of illegal fishing. Along the way a satellite-tracking programme will be initiated and a direct link with the Internet, to the www.savethealbatross.org (on BBC's H2G2 website), will be used to share images and stimulate discussion, with a worldwide audience, about how the needless slaughter of the albatross, can and must be prevented. John will be supported by a number of volunteer ornithologists as well as BirdLife International and their partners.
John sailed into Cape Town today, almost 25 years to the day since he last sailed in aboard the same ketch, English Rose V1, in the 1977/8 Whitbread Round World Yacht Race. From the Cape of Good Hope they will head eastward, stopping at various key ports, islands and fishing grounds along the way before returning to Cape Town in April next year.