Henri Weimerskirch, a marine ornithologist at the French National Center for Scientific Research and one of the leaders of the albatross project, said that albatrosses were ideal for finding fishing boats, legal or illegal. With wingspans up to 11 feet, the largest of any bird alive, an albatross can soar over the ocean, gliding at up to 50 mph, searching for fish. Some species spend years at sea without touching land; some have even circumnavigated.
“They are large birds, they travel over huge distances, and they are very attracted to fishing vessels,” he said.
The scientists found about 200 albatrosses in remote breeding grounds in the Southern Indian Ocean and off New Zealand, and outfitted them with tiny electronic tags. The tags have GPS trackers that detect radar emissions and then transmit that information up to satellites and then back to data stations on the ground.
The scientists’ thinking was that a number of fishing vessels illegally turn off their AIS transmitters when they were fishing, but they would still use radar to help navigate and avoid collisions.
Over six months, the birds flew over 20 million square miles. When they came within three miles of a boat, their trackers logged on to its coordinates and beamed them to the database. In international waters, 37 percent of the boats had turned off their AIS equipment.
The researchers were surprised at the high numbers of boats they thought were probably fishing illegally, but they praised the albatrosses for their work. “They’re like drones,” Weimerskirch said, “only intelligent.” Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/science/albatross-ocean-radar.htmlhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/albatrosses-outfitted-with-gps-detect-illegal-fishing-vessels-180974054/
