Picture: This is a picture of a short-tailed albatross, a species of bird living off the Northwest coast, which has been hunted to near extinct levels due to the feather trade, and they are still extremely endangered.
Summary: A recent report revealed that a short tailed albatross was accidentally killed as bycatch by a longline fishing boat off the coast of Oregon in April. Longline fishing boats are notorious for being a danger to seabirds such as the albatross, and even though the feather trade is the cause of the near-extinction, the boats are definitely slowing the recovery of the species. The recent killing has led to meetings between National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, associated with the Endangered Species Act.
Many seabirds are killed every year due to fishing accidents, such as swallowing the hooks or being pulled underwater and drowning. A posssible preventative measure could be taken to scare the birds away, but it is not always used as it is not required.
The reason that the killing of one albtross is a big deal because only a fraction of bird killings are noticed by fishermen and even fewer are reported, so this could only be the tip of the iceberg. The birds currently only reside on four islands, after being thought extinct for some time until ten breeding pairs were found on one of the islands. Hopefully measures will be taken to stop fishing accidents and the birds will be able to recover from endangerment in peace.
Opinion/reflection: It upset me very much to hear that these birds were having problems with being accidentally killed by fishing boats, especially after being hunted to near extinction. I think it is horrible that fishermen aren't taking better care to prevent bird killings and to notice and report the ones that do happen. The fishermen and the organizations that belong to the Endangered Species Act should definitely pay more attention to things like this, or the birds could go extinct again. If the birds were to go extinct, it could mess up many ecosystems, because they mainly eat squid, and if the birds were gone, the squid would multiply in numbers, possibly overeating the fish in the area and so on. If one ecosystem is affected, many others could be also, and effects could even be felt by us because the whole biosphere is connected in some way.
Questions
1. Why don't fishermen use "bird scare" lines to prevent bird killings?
2. How could we be affected by the endangerment of the short-tailed albatross?
3. Why aren't more people concerned with protecting endangered species?
4. What are some things we can do to help?
Opinion/Reflection: I find it really upsetting how carelessly some of these fishing boats seem. I know I would really care if I killed one of the last organisms belonging to an endangered species, and I'm interested in knowing whether or not these fishermen will be punished, and if they will be punished, to what severity? I also think that it may be a smart idea to make it a law to use "bird scare" lines. Like Liv stated before, if one species goes extinct it can mess up the entire ecosystem, and it takes the Earth a lot of time to sort out those kinds of problems.
ReplyDeleteAnswer One of the Questions: Q: How could we be affected by the endangerment of the short-tailed albatross?
A: As said before, the shortage of Short-Tailed Albatross would create a giant problem in their ecosystem, possibly affecting us. Short-tailed Albatross mainly eat squid, which prey on varieties of fish. If the squid were to multiply due to the lack of the Albatross, then fish in that area would become rather scarce. The Earth is currently having a problem with overfishing, and an abundance of squid eating the fish we have left would do nothing to help the problem. Although it may not seem like much of a problem since there are so few Albatross eating squid in the first place, but everything counts. Many humans eat a lot of fish, and those people would be affected by the Short-Tailed Albatrosses extinction.
When we talk about biodiversity this article will tie in really well. The idea of the food chain is an excellent tie in to what we are learning about tomorrow. Great preview!!! The extinction of species can be a huge problem for ecosystem stability.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is horrible how they can just be killing this endangered species without caring about how much they are actually affecting. If they don't stop this soon then the albatross will just be one of the many species that we forced into endangerment and then into extinction. Fisherman need to become more aware of these birds. They should also be more closely monitored when fishing. If they are allowed to continue to kill these birds then they will surely go extinct.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to question 3
People aren't really concerned because they don't understand how big of an impact one species can make. They just assume that its just a bird and that it doesn't make a difference if they are here or not. But just because they are just a bird doesn't mean they don't affect a ton of other factors.
(Answer one of the provided questions) Q: Why aren't more people concerned with protecting endangered species? I believe that it is very sad that there are so many endangered species on the planet. It is very frightening to know that every minute, possibly even every second, more and more animals are dying of unnatural causes. It is one thing to hunt legally and only to a certain, predetermined point. It is another thing all together to not take simple, obvious, safety measures, hunt illegally, and to not report an endangered animal killing. The way I see it, people do not do more to help endangered animals, and do not care more about endangered species because they simply do not grasp what an impact an animal like the short tailed albatross (which I personally had never heard of before today) would have on our ecosystem and daily lives. We live in an environment where instant gratification is very highly valued. If people do not immediately see the effects of their actions, then they are not motivated to repeat those actions. This is how I see it when it comes to helping endangered animals: If someone contributes to a charity that helps endangered species, here are no visible results in their daily lives. I think that, unfortunately, something bad is going to have to happen before people realize that helping endangered animals, like the short tailed albatross, is extremely important to the world and our every day lives.
ReplyDeleteI am very upset about the massive loss in population that has happened to the short tailed albatross in the past. I also think that it is very disrespectful of fishermen to not heed to the regulations that are enforced in order to protect endangered species. I believe that it is very important for us as humans to care for all species of the earth especially the ones that are endangered already. People don't realize how important every species on earth really is both ecologically and scientifically, we tend to think that the human race is what is mainly important and fail to see the big picture. Sometimes it seems like some or even alot of just don’t care anymore or feel too weak to do anything that could help our world out.
ReplyDelete#1 Why don't fishermen use 'bird scare lines' to prevent bird killings?
This can be blamed on two things: 1 that the government does not enforce regulations regarding the protection of endangered waterfowl enough, or simply because the fishermen choose to be ignorant and not heed these rules. I think that in most cases the fishermen would; however, be aware that there are regulations stating the protection of endangered species, even though no law specifically enforces the mandatory use of bird scare lines. Most people somewhere inside feel some sort of sorrow for these animals, but many are too complacent to express it. Some fishermen may think that they will not kill any birds, and if they did kill a bird they might think “well it's just one bird" never realizing the long chain of off spring that will now never be born from that bird. Unfortunately there may be quite a few fishermen that are too ignorant to care about the protection of these birds, and no matter how awful that may sound that’s just how the world is. Those fishermen might try to make up excuses for why they would not be able to use the bird scare lines some of which could be logical. On that note I think that the government should make it mandatory for fishermen to use bird scare lines in order to further enforce the protection of the short tailed albatross and other endangered species.