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The 2007 Annual Report* of the Albatross Task Force (ATF) may be found at www.savethealbatross.net/documents/annualreport2007.pdf.
The ATF is an initiative of the Global Seabird Programme, operated by BirdLife International (www.birdlife.org) with the support of the UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (www.rspb.org.uk). The ATF works directly with fishers in reducing seabird mortality, especially from longline and trawling fisheries, by way of holding workshops, training fishery observers, demonstrating and conducting trials of mitigation methods and collecting bycatch data from commercial fishing vessels while at sea.
To date the ATF operates in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Africa (all ACAP Parties) and in Namibia and Uruguay. Plans are afoot to expand the Task Force in 2008 to include Ecuador and Peru, also Parties to ACAP. Go to www.savethealbatross.net and http://www.birdlife.org/action/campaigns/save_the_albatross/index.html to learn more.
*BirdLife Global Seabird Programme 2008. Albatross Task Force Annual Report 2007. Sandy, UK: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. 38 pp.
Information for John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, posted 13 June 2008