News
HRH contributes to a documentary about saving the albatross
7th November 2006
The Prince of Wales and round-the-world-sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur today made a passionate call for a worldwide effort to save the albatross at the launch of a new documentary at Clarence House.
As part of a long-standing campaign, The Prince has given an interview to Race To Save The Albatross to highlight the plight of this magnificent sea bird.
Every year up to 100,000 albatrosses are killed unintentionally by long-line fishing, a death toll that is having a devastating impact on albatross populations across the world.
With so many birds being killed, albatrosses cannot reproduce fast enough to make up the numbers lost. Albatrosses are unusual in that they only lay one egg in each breeding cycle, which can take 70 days to incubate.
This breeding cycle is so demanding that a pair of albatrosses, for instance, can only produce at best one chick every two years. The limited breeding, coupled with the death of many parent birds, means the extinction of the albatross is a very real possibility.
The documentary, made by Television for the Environment examines the problems caused by long-line fishing and looks at possible solutions such as setting lines at night, as albatrosses feed mostly in the day, and towing bird scaring lines behind the vessels.
The Prince said: “It should be our duty to ensure that we don't lose any species if we can possibly help it.
“Think of the way in which we treat our world, and the way we treat our oceans, and the way we exploit the fish stocks in particular... It would be such an appalling commentary on the way we treat the world.”
The Prince developed an affection for the albatross whilst in the Royal Navy, when he would see the birds flying next to his ship, day after day.
Similarly, Dame Ellen’s love for the albatross was developed over long and often solo sea journeys.
She said: “It would be a very dead planet without them,” she said at the launch of the documentary.
“I respect them hugely. When you look into the eyes of the albatross there is so much to see.
“Birds are incredible when you are sailing around the world, around this wilderness with only islands and you see an albatross, it is incredible.”
In his commentary, The Prince also calls on food retailers to act responsibly.
He said: “A lot is dependent on the retailers and big stores - they also can make a huge difference by deciding that they are going to obtain their fish only from certified stocks.”
The documentary has been produced by the charity Television Trust for the Environment with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Click here to visit the Save the Albatross campaign website.