Foraging behaviour and habitat use by adult Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses Thalassarche carteri from Prince Edward Island

Abstract

The Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri breeds only at French (Amsterdam Island, St Paul Island, Kerguelen Islands, Crozet Islands) and South African (Prince Edward Island) territories in the south-west Indian Ocean. Prince Edward Island supports about 20% of the global population of the species, which has a Red List status of Endangered. The at-sea distributions of breeding and post­ breeding adults from Prince Edward Island were investigated using satellite trackers. All tracked birds moved in a north-westerly direction towards the South African coastline. Many foraged on the Agulhas Bank and along the Agulhas Current. The relationship between feeding areas and oceanographic and topographic features and prey types inhabiting these features will be discuss ed. The foraging distribution of birds from Prince Edward Island fell between those reported for Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses breeding at Amsterdam Island and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses T. chlororhynchos breeding at Gough Island, suggesting that populations of Yellow-nosed Albatrosses partition feeding grounds to a considerable extent. Numbers of Indian Yellow -nosed Albatross breeding at Prince Edward Island have been stable in the 2000s. The species has decreased at Amsterdam Island and trends at other localities are unknown. The distribution of birds from Prince Edward Island overlaps areas of operation of Japanese and Taiwanese tuna long-line fisheries operating off South Africa, as well as those of the South African long-line and demersal trawl fisheries. The species is killed in moderate numbers by these fisheries. However, substantial by-catch mitigation measures have recently been enforced in South African fisheries.