Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement has chosen the theme "Plastic Pollution" to mark the fourth World Albatross Day, to be celebrated on 19 June 2023. This follows the inaugural theme “Eradicating Island Pests” in 2020, “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries” in 2021, and “Climate Change” last year.

Albatrosses are affected by a range of pollutants, of which plastics, whether ingested and then fed to chicks or causing entanglements, are certainly the most visible and well known to the general public. However, albatrosses face other significant pollutants, including heavy metals, (such as mercury) and POPs (persistent organic pollutants, such as insecticides).

Two new albatross species are being used to feature the theme for this year’s World Albatross Day, with artworks, posters, infographics and a music video. These are the globally Endangered Northern Royal Albatross D. sanfordi, endemic to New Zealand, and the abundant and widespread Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris. In addition, coverage is being given again to last year’s featured species, the Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses of the North Pacific, which ingest more plastic (and then feed it to their chicks) than do the southern hemisphere species.

The 12 posters in English, French, Indonesian. Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish, and in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, are freely available below for printing in support of World Albatross Day on 19 June. ACAP requests it be acknowledged in their use for conservation purposes. They should not be used for financial gain.

With grateful thanks to photographers Sharyn Broni, Wieteke Holthuijzen, Caren Loebel-Fried, Hob Osterlund, Georgina Strange, Erin Taylor, Oscar Thomas, Michelle Thompson and Eric vanderWalt, and translators ‘Pep’ Arcos, Karine Delord, Vivian Fu, Patricia Serafini, Yasuko Suzuki and Yuna Kim Williams for their support of albatross conservation.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 14 February 2023, last updated 16 June 2023