South Africa hosted international talks on the protection of seabirds in a desperate attempt to save the endangered albatross and petrel. Their numbers have declined so dramatically over the last decade, up to 26 species may be in danger of extinction, including the Wandering Albatross - one of the world's largest flying birds with a wingspan of over 3.5m.
Albatrosses have the highest proportion of threatened species in any bird family.
About 50 percent of these populations consist of only 100 breeding pairs. The 50 delegates from 17 countries attempted to coordinate conservation initiatives in the Southern Hemisphere. They include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, France, Britain, Ukraine and Norway and international organizations like the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The birds are natural scavengers that feed on the discard and bait. The birds then swallow the hooks, get dragged underwater and drown.