White Sharks, Elephant seals, Laysan, and
Black-footed Albatross, Sooty Shearwaters all spend over 60% of their year in the high seas," Harrison elaborated.
The Laysan Albatross,
Black-footed Albatross, and the Short-tailed Albatross can be found on the island.
Albatross takes (Laysan albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis;
black-footed albatross, Phoebastria nigripes; and short-tailed albatross combined) declined from 1,051 birds per year during 1993-2000 to 185 birds per year during 2002-06 (Fig.
Levels of the metal's toxic organic form, methylmercury, have been increasing in the
black-footed albatross for more than a century, research has shown.
Present status and epidemiological investigation of Carios (Ornithodoros) capensis in the colony of the
black-footed albatross Diomedea nigripes on Tori-shima, Izu Islands, Japan [in Japanese].
University of California, Santa Cruz ecologist Myra Finkelstein and colleagues measured concentrations of DDT in blood samples taken from the Laysan albatross and the endangered
black-footed albatross, both of which live in open oceanic areas.
One species in particular, the
black-footed albatross, has recently joined the list of species that may become extinct in the near future because so many are being killed by longliners.
High levels of PCBs have even been found in the eggs and tissue of the
black-footed albatross on the isolated Midway Atoll in the South Pacific.
The atoll's three tiny islands have been eerily devoid of their roughly one million Laysan and
black-footed albatross residents since early August, when the last of the seabirds took off at the end of their eight-month breeding season.
The Oregon Coast will be the first birding trail in the country to offer pelagic sites, accessible only by boat to view seagoing birds such as the
black-footed albatross, sooty shearwater and fork-tailed storm-petrel - "birds you'll never see standing on the mainland," Grafe said.
Available estimates for total albatross mortality in North Pacific pelagic longline fisheries, along with population modeling experiments on the
Black-footed Albatross, highlight the concern that mortality in longline fisheries threatens the existence of
Black-footed Albatrosses and may pose a significant threat to the other North Pacific albatross species.