HRH The Prince of Wales has further underlined his support for BirdLife International’s worldwide effort to save the world’s albatrosses from extinction.

Speaking at a launch for the film, ‘Race to Save the Albatross’, produced by The Friends of TVE and the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), he highlighted the need for urgent action to help save the albatross from extinction.

“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.” he said.

“One of the things that I think is very impressive is the work being done by the Albatross Task Force,” —- HRH The Prince of Wales.

Estimates suggest that 100,000 albatrosses are inadvertently killed each year by long-line fishing boats, particularly from boats in the Southern Ocean catching highly-prized species like tuna, toothfish and swordfish.

The film covers the plight of albatrosses and highlights other major problems faced by these birds, particularly from piracy – illegal, unregulated vessels are thought to be responsible for at least a quarter of the albatrosses killed annually.

At the launch of the film, The Prince of Wales also praised the work of the BirdLife International Task Force.

“One of the things that I think is very impressive is the work being done by the Albatross Task Force,” he said.

Since 2005, these officers have been working with fishermen encouraging, training and promoting the use of simple, low-cost ways to reduce albatross by-catches. These methods include weighting nets, setting them at night and using screamer lines to scare the birds away.

“These mitigation measures have been shown to reduce the damage to albatrosses to almost zero… the challenge is to get the message across that these mitigation measures should be used at all times in all these fishing areas.” he said.

The TVE/RSPB programme ‘Race to Save the Albatross’ will be aired on BBC World on November 11 -13 2006.

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