|
|
Article: My first wanderer: the ancient mariner sealed his fate by killing the albatross. Horatio Morpurgo thinks we are doing the same thing ...
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- November 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
THIRTY MILES off the coast of New South Wales, scientists and environmentalists have hired a fishing boat for the day. They throw lumps of mincemeat off the stern as wandering albatrosses fly in and settle on the water to feed. They are scooped up in nets, have a robber band wrapped around the powerful beak, then they are weighed, measured, ringed and let go. They generally remain docile as they undergo these indignities, more bemused than alarmed.
The Southern Oceans Seabird Study Association (SOSSA) has been doing this since 1956. Every winter vast numbers of cuttlefish come to breed and die in the waters off Woollongong, and several species of albatross gather ...