Satellite tracking of black-browed and light-mantled sooty albatrosses from Heard Island and potential interactions with fisheries

The purpose of this document is to inform CCAMLR of the results of a satellite tracking program on black-browed albatrosses and light-mantled sooty albatrosses at Heard Island (Division 58.4.2). This was the first time the movements of either species from the island had been studied. Ten black-browed albatrosses and five light-mantled sooty albatrosses were tracked between December 2003 and February 2004, yielding 90 and 28 foraging trips from each species, respectively. Black-browed albatrosses foraged on the shelf break within 150 km of Heard Island, and focused 75% of their foraging time in waters over submarine canyons on Gunneri Ridge, north east of the island. There was considerable spatial overlap between these foraging grounds and the Heard Island EEZ trawl and longline Patagonian toothfish fisheries. These fisheries have a history of a low incidental seabird by-catch (no fatalities recorded to date in the longline fishery), although in 2005 seven black-browed albatrosses were killed in the mackerel icefish trawl fishery. 17% of black-browed albatross foraging trips entered the Kerguelen EEZ and a further 5% went beyond either EEZ into the high seas north and east of Heard Island. In contrast, light-mantled sooty albatrosses foraged along the boundary of the continental shelf break and northern boundary of the pack ice 1200-1600 km south of Heard Island.