Overview:  With a wingspan of over six feet and beautiful snow-white plumage, the short-tailed albatross is truly an impressive sight as it glides effortlessly over the ocean waves.  Short-tailed albatrosses nest exclusively on a few small volcanic islands near Japan, but can be seen off the Pacific coast from California to Alaska as they hunt for squid, cuttlefish and other aquatic prey.  Although these birds are majestic in the air, their short legs render them clumsy and ungainly on land, which made them an easy target for commercial hunting during the 19th and 20th centuries.  Once numbering in the millions, the world-wide population of short-tailed albatrosses has been reduced to about 1,000 birds--largely as a result of Japanese feather-hunters who decimated their populations from 1887 to 1932.  During that fifteen year period, approximately 5 million albatrosses were killed.  Albatross populations were further devastated by an eruption of Torishima's volcano in 1902.  Unregulated hunting continued through 1932, when the Japanese government took measures to have Torishima Island set aside as an albatross refuge.  Despite this move, sightings of the once numerous bird had dwindled to zero, and scientists began to fear that the short-tailed albatross had been hunted to extinction.  In 1952, however, ten albatrosses were observed nesting on Torishima.  Since then, Japanese ornithologist Hiroshi Hasegawa has spurred many programs to help bring back the short-tailed albatross from the brink of extinction, including replanting native vegetation on the rocky, unstable slopes.  Today, the population of albatrosses on Torishima has grown to 1000 birds.  Smaller albatross colonies have been found on the nearby Senkaku Islands, as well.  Because of a federal oversight, the short-tailed albatross was listed in 1970 as endangered throughout its range, except for the U.S.  However, on November 2, 1998, a proposal was introduced to list U.S. populations of this species as endangered as well.  Currently, an albatross recovery program in the U.S. is taking place at Midway Atoll, a U.S. wildlife preserve, where scientists hope to establish a viable colony.

Today, these endangered seabirds face one of their biggest threats on the other side of the Pacific.  Like many other seabirds, albatrosses are always up for a free meal and frequently snatch baited hooks as they are lowered into the water from long-line fishing boats.  The weighted lines then drag the hooked birds underwater, where they drown.  Regulations now stipulate that incidental take of short-tails by longliners in Alaska waters may not exceed four birds in two years, a number based roughly on the historical catch.  If this limit is exceeded, Alaska's lucrative longline fishing industry could be forced to close or it may face severe restrictions on where and when its boats could operate.  Duly warned, fishermen are adopting techniques designed to prevent seabirds from getting hooked on their lines, such as dragging bouys behind their boats and using lines that sink faster.  On March 17, 2000, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission and the USFWS signed an agreement that will provide $400,000 to help fishing boats install more effective seabird deterrents, such as tubing mechanisms that allow fishing lines to be deployed underwater.  For an informative article concerning the short-tailed albatross, check out the National Wildlife Foundation at http://backstage.nwf.org/nwf/intlwild/1998/albatros.html.  The Anchorage Daily News also has a recent story concerning the short-tail at http://www.adn.com/weak/wearkive/we990314.htm.

Distribution: Short-tailed albatrosses spend most of their lives gliding over the northern Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, only returning to their nesting grounds to breed.  Short-tails often come closer to shore than other albatrosses, and may be seen along most of the Pacific coast as well as northwest Hawaii.  Confirmed sightings of the short-tail have been recorded as far south as Baja California, but are mainly concentrated off the shores of Alaska and British Columbia.  There have been no recorded sightings within Washington state, but four confirmed sightings of this species have occurred off the Oregon Coast over the past twenty years.