Justification This species is classified as Vulnerable owing to a projected rapid decline over three generations (84 years) based on declines in populations at Midway Atoll, French Frigate Shoals and Laysan Island in the late 1990s and early 2000s. More recent data indicate that the breeding population may have rebounded (perhaps because apparent changes in the breeding populations reflected large scale environmental conditions that affected the number of birds that returned to the colonies to nest rather than actual declines in the population). If so, this species would warrant downlisting to Near Threatened.

Family/Sub-family Diomedeidae

Species name author (Rothschild, 1893)

Taxonomic source(s) AOU checklist (1998 + supplements), Brooke (2004), Robertson and Nunn (1998), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), Stotz et al. (1996)

Synonyms Diomedea immutabilis Stotz et al. (1996), Diomedea immutabilis Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)

Identification 81 cm. Small two-tone, gull-like albatross. Upperwings, mantle, back, upper rump and tail blackish-grey. Head, lower rump and underparts white. Blackish smudge around eye. Bill pinkish with darker tip. Black-and-white underwing pattern varies between individuals having narrow black margins and variable amounts of black in the underwing coverts. Juveniles very similar but for greyer bill and wholly dark upper rump. Similar spp. Easily separated from the wholly dark Black-footed Albatross P. nigripes. Adult Short-tailed Albatross P. albatrus has a white back.

Population estimate

Population trend

Range estimate (breeding/resident)

Country endemic?

1,200,000

decreasing

38,800,000 km²

No

Range & population Phoebastria immutabilis breeds at 16 sites (nine with populations of greater than 100 pairs), mostly in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (USA) and US Minor Outlying Islands, with additional small colonies in Japan and Mexico. The population is estimated to be c.590,926 breeding pairs, with the largest colony at Midway Atoll, followed by Laysan Island, both in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands¹⁸. Population sizes at monitored colonies increased between 1980 and 1995 but have never reached the densities observed prior to large-scale harvests for feathers in the early 1900s. Data indicated a 32% decline during 1992-2002 (3.2% per annum) of birds breeding on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where 99% of the global population is found^5,9, though data from 2004 and 2006 indicate that the breeding population then rebounded, and that the overall population trend for 1992-2005 is stable¹⁸. A population began nesting in Mexico in the 1980s and has been increasing since then. The current population is about 400 pairs at four sites, though this represents less than 0.1% of the global population¹⁸. Breeding populations were extirpated from Wake and Johnston atolls (USA) and Minami Torishima (Japan) in the central Pacific. Ship-based observations, satellite tracking and fisheries bycatch reveal the wide distribution of Laysan Albatross in the North Pacific, ranging from the Bering Sea to tropical waters in the South (15-20 degrees North) ^{19, 21, 23}.

Ecology: Laysan Albatross is an annual breeder, though like other albatross species, each year a proportion of birds willskip a breeding season. Nests vary from a simple scoop in the sand to more elaborate nests where vegetation allows. A Laysan Albatross has been recorded breeding aged 55 years (USFWS unpublished data). Diet analysis indicates that it feeds primarily on cephalopods¹⁵, though also on a variety of fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates⁸. Satellite tracking has revealed the large journeys made even while breeding^{18, 19, 22}.

Threats Historically, populations were greatly reduced by feather and egg collecting in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and by high seas drift nets for squid and salmon that were active between 1978 and 1992. Prior to its closure, the high seas driftnet fishery killed over 17,500 P. immutabilis in 1990 alone³. Current key threats are being caught as bycatch in pelagic⁶ and demersal longline fisheries⁷ in the North Pacific as well as in illegal high seas driftnet operations. Analyses in 2001 estimated that pelagic longliners in the North Pacific may kill 5,000-18,000 Laysan Albatross per year, with 8,000 thought the most likely figure, while demersal longline operations in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska groundfish fisheries were estimated to kill c.715 birds per year⁶. However, more recent estimates indicate a drastic reduction in bycatch from previous years (83 birds estimated taken in 2005) that is very likely attributable to the use of effective seabird avoidance measures¹². The bycatch rates in Japanese and Taiwanese pelagic longline fisheries in the North Pacific are still largely unknown. Other threats include organochlorine contamination, invasive species, plastic ingestion, lead poisoning, human disturbance, oiling, and conflicts with aircraft^{2,4,11. 17}. Up to 10,000 chicks per year are potentially affected by lead poisoning from paint on buildings at Midway Atoll ¹⁷. Avian pox virus affects chicks on Midway and the Main Hawaiian Islands where introduced mosquitoes are present,, but studies on O'ahu colonies that fledging success was not reduced²⁴. Dogs kill adults and chicks on inhabited islands in Hawaii. Verbesina encelioides is an aggressive weed that degrades nesting habitat in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and introduced predators (notably the Polynesian Rat Rattus exulans²⁵)are an issue for colonies in Mexico and on the Main Hawaiian Islands.

Conservation measures underway All of the major Hawaiian breeding localities are part of the US National Wildlife Refuge system or State of Hawaii Seabird Sanctuaries and, in 2006, the Papahânaumokuâkea Marine National Monument was established, encompassing all of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Three breeding sites, supporting over 90% of the breeding population, are either counted directly or sampled at regular intervals. In 1991, a 50 Nautical Mile Protected Species Zone was established around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (primarily to protect monk seals). No longline fishing is allowed in this zone. Awareness programmes and mitigation trials have been started in several major longline fleets operating within the foraging range of this species. The Hawaiian longline fishing fleet is required to use measures to reduce bycatch of seabirds. In 2006, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission adopted a measure to require large longline vessels to use at least two seabird bycatch mitigation measures when fishing north of 23 degrees North. Predator control programs are conducted at colonies in Mexico and the Main Hawaiian Islands.

Conservation measures proposed Continue monitoring population trends and demographic parameters. Continue satellite-tracking studies to assess temporal and spatial overlap with longline fisheries. Adopt best-practice mitigation measures in longline fisheries within the species' range. Continue and enhance awareness programmes in all longline fleets. Re-evaluate the location of the current boundary (23^o N) for required use of seabird mitigation measures in the U.S. pelagic longline fisheries¹⁸. Continue and enhance control/eradication programs for Verbesina in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and introduced predators in Hawaii and Mexico.

References 2. Harrison (1990). 3. Johnson et al. (1993). 4. Ludwig et al. (1998). 5. US Fish and Wildlife Service data per B. Flint (2003). 6. Crowder and Myers (2002). 7. Stehn et al. (2001). 8. Tickell (2000). 9. Gilman and Freifeld (2003). 11. Finkelstein et al. (2003). 12. K. Rivera in litt. (2007). 13. US Fish and Wildlife Service unpublished data. 14. VanderWerf et al. (2005). 15. Pittman et al. 2006. 17. Finkelstein (2006). 18. Naughton et al. (2007). 19. Fernandez et al. (2001). 21. Shaffer et al. (2004). 22. S. Shaffer in litt (2007). 23. Hyrenbach et al. (2002). 24. Young and VanderWerf (2008). 25. Jones et al. (2008).

Text account compilers Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Deon Nel (WWF South Africa), Deon Nel (BirdLife Seabird Programme), Cleo Small (BirdLife International Global Seabird Programme), Alison Stattersfield (BirdLife International), Ben Sullivan (BirdLife International Global Seabird Programme)

Contributors Beth Flint (US Fish & Wildlife Service), Eric Gilman (National Audubon Society), Rebecca Lewison (Duke University), Liz Mitchell (Seabird Bycatch Project), Kim Rivera (US National Marine Fisheries Service), Scott Shaffer (University of California Santa Cruz)

IUCN Red List evaluators Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International), Cleo Small (BirdLife International Global Seabird Programme), Ben Sullivan (BirdLife International Global Seabird Programme)

Recommended citation BirdLife International (2009) Species factsheet: Phoebastria immutabilis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 9/2/2010

This information is based upon, and updates, the information published in BirdLife International (2000) Threatened birds of the world. Barcelona and Cambridge, UK: Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-ROM and BirdLife International (2008) Threatened birds of the world 2008 CD-ROM. These sources provide the information for species accounts for the birds on the IUCN Red List.

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