WEATHER SYSTEMS DETERMINE THE NON-BREEDING DISTRIBUTION OF WANDERING ALBATROSSES OVER SOUTHERN OCEANS

The tracked flights of 14 non-breeding Wandering Albatrosses captured in Australia and New Zealand provided 3946 locations in the Tasman Sea , around southern Australia, and across the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Nearly all of the locations (98.7%) were between 30 degrees S and 50 degrees S, a zone where circumpolar weather systems enable albatrosses to fly in any direction and thus exploit fully this southern environm ent, It is also a zone where currently only the limited Exclusive Econ omic Zones offer a potential for enforceable legislative protection of this endangered species from the hazards of international longline fi sheries.