[/floatl]The Age: Japan accused over albatross deaths
JAPAN'S "fraudulent" southern bluefin tuna fishers have allegedly hidden another cost of their overfishing — the deaths of thousands of albatross. As other fisheries sharply reduce their seabird mortality, Japanese bluefin long-liners admit to killing up to 9000 Southern Ocean seabirds a year, most of them albatross, on long-line hooks. But with Japan found to be taking up to three times its quota in a $2 billion tuna scandal, this greatly increased catch means the real albatross death toll is likely to be much higher, Humane Society International said yesterday. Albatrosses are possibly the most threatened group of birds in the world, with all but one of the 24 species listed as endangered or vulnerable by the World Conservation Union...more...
