Wandering albatross attendance and bycatch in Argentina longline and trawl fisheries

The Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans (WA), a globally threatened seabird according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), is among the great albatrosses incidentally caught in high-seas fisheries in the South Atlantic. In this document, we review the WA bycatch in a range of Argentine fisheries (three high seas and two coastal) that could constitute a risk for the species. This review revealed that very few WAs were bycaught in longline fleets whereas very few were observed (and no bycatch recorded) associated to high-seas ice-trawlers. In coastal fisheries, very few WAs were recorded attending ice-trawlers and no bird has been recorded attending or bycaught in freezer double-beam trawlers operating in waters of the San Jorge Gulf. Neither association nor bycatch of WAs were recorded in coastal ice-trawler fisheries operating in southern Buenos Aires Province. This review highlights the very low levels of WAs attendance and bycatch in a diverse array of high-seas and coastal Argentine fisheries.