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Proyecto Albatros y Petreles, based at the Centro de Investigación y Conservación Marina in Uruguay, is involved with the study and conservation of pelagic seabirds in the south-western Atlantic. Among the several activities it conducts is the Ring Recovery Campaign. This initiative began in 2005 and was then incorporated within the project “Conservation of Wandering Albatross in the Western Atlantic” sponsored by the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators (IAATO), Birds Australia and BirdLife International’s “Save the Albatross” Campaign. Today, this campaign has been benefiting from the work of the Albatross Task Force in Uruguay.

The Ring Recovery Campaign works closely with fishers and onboard observers, as well with fishing trips conducted by Proyecto Albatros y Petreles researchers. The aim of the campaign is to recover as many rings as possible from albatrosses incidentally caught by fishing fleets operating in the south-western Atlantic. Up to December 2012 personnel from the Proyecto Albatros y Petreles have recovered 71 rings belonging to albatrosses, most of which were from Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans ringed at South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)*.

Metal and plastic rings recovered from albatrosses in the south-western Atlantic
Photograph courtesy of Proyecto Albatros y Petreles - Uruguay

Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have cooperated with details on the ringed birds. The Ring Recovery Campaign has been extremely successful thanks to the collaboration of several fishers and the Uruguayan National Observer Programme of the Dirección Nacional de Recursos Acuáticos (DINARA).

With thanks to Sebastian Jimenez for information and the photograph.

Juan Pablo Seco Pon, South American News Correspondent, 11 February 2013

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.