Book reviews

Humans are the main threat albatrosses and petrels face at sea; thousands of albatrosses are caught each year as incidental bycatch, particularly in long-line fisheries. With 19 of 21 albatross species globally threatened and the remainder near threatened, albatrosses are recognised as the bird family most threatened with extinction. In this context in September 2003, all custodians of remote-tracking data of albatrosses and petrels, collected using satellite (PTT) and geolocation (GLS) devices, were invited to a Global Procellariiform Tracking Workshop at Gordon’s Bay, South Africa. BirdLife International’s report, Tracking Ocean Wanderers: The global distribution of albatrosses and petrels, along with its associated database containing 90% of extant albatross and petrel tracking data, is the culmination of the workshop.