Editing Procellariiformes (section)

===Threats and conservation===

{{See also|Introduced mammals on seabird breeding islands}}

[[File:Oceanites maorianus.jpg|thumb|The poorly known [[New Zealand storm petrel]] was considered extinct for 150 years before being rediscovered in 2003.]]
The albatrosses and petrels are "amongst the most severely threatened taxa worldwide".<ref name ="Medeiros"/> They face a variety of threats, the severity of which varies greatly from species to species. Several species are among the most common of seabirds, including Wilson's storm petrel (an estimated 12 to 30 million individuals)<ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Oceanites oceanicus'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22698436A132646007 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22698436A132646007.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> and the [[short-tailed shearwater]] (23 million individuals);<ref>{{cite iucn | url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/106003934/0 | title=Puffinus tenuirostris | year=2012 | access-date=4 March 2013}}</ref> while the total population of some other species is a few hundred. There are less than 200 [[Magenta petrel]]s breeding on the [[Chatham Islands]],<ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Pterodroma magentae'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22698049A131879320 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22698049A131879320.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> only 130 to 160 [[Zino's petrel]]s<ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Pterodroma madeira'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22698062A132622973 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22698062A132622973.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> and only 170 [[Amsterdam albatross]]es.<ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Diomedea amsterdamensis'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22698310A132397831 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22698310A132397831.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> Only one species is thought to have become extinct since 1600, the [[Guadalupe storm petrel]] of [[Mexico]],<ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/1360977 | last1 = Thayer | first1 = J. | last2 = Bangs | first2 = O. | year = 1908 | title = The Present State of the Ornis of Guadaloupe Island | url = http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v010n03/p0101-p0106.pdf| journal = Condor | volume = 10 | issue = 3| pages = 101–106 | jstor = 1360977| hdl = 2027/hvd.32044072250186 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> although a number of species had died out before this. Numerous species are very poorly known; for example, the [[Fiji petrel]] has rarely been seen since its discovery.<ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2018 |title=''Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi'' |volume=2018 |page=e.T22697935A132613365 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22697935A132613365.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> The breeding colony of the [[New Zealand storm petrel]] was not located until February 2013;<ref>{{cite news| last=Mason| first=Cassandra| title=Critically endangered NZ storm petrel found breeding| url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10867625| access-date=1 March 2013 |newspaper=New Zealand Herald| date=25 February 2013}}</ref> it had been thought extinct for 150 years until its rediscovery in 2003,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Flood |year=2003 |title=The New Zealand storm-petrel is not extinct, it was last seen in 2003 |journal=Birding World |volume=16 |pages=479–483}}</ref> while the [[Bermuda petrel]] had been considered extinct for nearly 300 years.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/03/Bermuda_Petrel.html | title=Bermuda Petrel returns to Nonsuch Island (Bermuda) after 400 years | publisher=BirdLife International | date=24 March 2008 | access-date=March 1, 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Albatross hook.jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[Black-browed albatross]] hooked on a long-line]]
The principal threat to the albatrosses and larger species of procellariids is [[long-line fishing]]. Bait set on hooks is attractive to foraging birds and many are hooked by the lines as they are set. As many as 100,000 albatrosses are hooked and drown each year on [[tuna]] lines set out by long-line fisheries.<ref>BirdLife International/RSPB (2005) [http://www.savethealbatross.net/the_problem.asp Save the Albatross: The Problem] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623234319/http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/albatross/ |date=2013-06-23 }} Retrieved March 17, 2006</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/0006-3207(91)90031-4 | last1 = Brothers | first1 = N.P. | year = 1991 | title = Albatross mortality and associated bait loss in the Japanese longline fishery in the southern ocean  | journal = Biological Conservation | volume = 55 | issue = 3| pages = 255–268 | bibcode = 1991BCons..55..255B }}</ref> Before 1991 and the ban on [[drift net fishing|drift-net fisheries]], it was estimated that 500,000 seabirds a year died as a result.<ref name="Double" /> This has caused steep declines in some species, as procellariiforms are extremely slow breeders<ref>{{cite journal | title=How slow breeding can be selected in seabirds: Testing Lack's hypothesis | last1=Dobson |first1=F.S. | last2=Jouventin |first2=P. | journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B | year=2007 | volume=274 | issue=1607 | pages=275–279 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2006.3724| pmid=17148257 | pmc=1685855 }}</ref> and cannot replace their numbers fast enough. Losses of albatrosses and petrels in the Southern Ocean were estimated at between 1 percent and 16 percent per year, which these species cannot sustain for long.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/57/3/531.full.pdf |title=The impacts of fishing on marine birds |author1=Tasker, M.L. |author2=Camphuysen, C.J. |author3=Cooper, J. |author4=Garthe, S. |author5=Montevecchi, W.A. |author6=Blaber, S.J. |journal=ICES Journal of Marine Science |year=2000 |volume=57 |pages=531–547 |issue=3 |doi=10.1006/jmsc.2000.0714|doi-access=free |bibcode=2000ICJMS..57..531T }}</ref>

[[Introduced species|Exotic species introduced]] to the remote breeding colonies threaten all types of procellariiform. These principally take the form of [[predator]]s; most albatross and petrel species are clumsy on land and unable to defend themselves from [[mammal]]s such as [[rat]]s, [[feral cat]]s and [[pig]]s. This phenomenon, [[island tameness|ecological naivete]], has resulted in declines in many species and was implicated in the extinction of the Guadalupe storm petrel.<ref name=j10/> Already in 1910 Godman wrote:

{{blockquote|Owing to the introduction of the [[mongoose]] and other small [[carnivore|carnivorous]] mammals into their breeding haunts, some species, such as ''Oestrelata jamaicensis'' and ''newelli'', have already been completely exterminated, and others appear to be in danger of extinction.|Frederick Du Cane Godman, 1910, vol 1, p. 14.<ref name=Godman/>}}

[[File:Toothbrush regurgitated by albatross on Tern Island, Hawaii - 20060614.jpg|thumb|This albatross bolus found in the Hawaiian Islands includes [[flotsam]] that was ingested but successfully ejected along with other indigestible matter. If such flotsam cannot be ejected it may cause sickness or death.]]
Introduced herbivores may unbalance the [[ecology]] of islands; introduced rabbits destroyed the forest [[understory]] on [[Cabbage Tree Island (John Gould Nature Reserve)|Cabbage Tree Island]] off [[New South Wales]], which increased the vulnerability of the [[Gould's petrel]]s nesting on the island to natural predators, and left them vulnerable to the sticky fruits of the native birdlime tree (''[[Pisonia umbellifera]]''). In the natural state these fruits lodge in the understory of the forest, but with the understory removed the fruits fall to the ground where the petrels move about, sticking to their feathers and making flight impossible.<ref name ="car">{{cite journal |last1=Carlile |first1=N. |last2=Proiddel |first2=D. |last3=Zino |first3=F. |last4=Natividad |first4=C. | last5 = Wingate |first5=D.B. |year=2003 |title=A review of four successful recovery programmes for threatened sub-tropical petrels |journal=Marine Ornithology |volume=31 |issue=2 |url=http://marineornithology.org/PDF/31_2/31_2_185-192.pdf |pages=185–192|doi=10.5038/2074-1235.31.2.579 }}</ref>

Exploitation has decreased in importance as a threat. Other threats include the ingestion of plastic [[flotsam]]. Once swallowed, plastic can cause a general decline in the fitness of the bird, or in some cases lodge in the gut and cause a blockage, leading to death by starvation.<ref name=j11/> It can also be picked up by foraging adults and fed to chicks, stunting their development and reducing the chances of successfully fledging.<ref>Auman, H.J., Ludwig, J.P., Giesy, J.P., Colborn, T., (1997) [http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Albatross-Plastic-Ingestion1997.htm "Plastic ingestion by Laysan Albatross chicks on Sand Island, Midway Atoll, in 1994 and 1995."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051030093845/http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ocean/Albatross-Plastic-Ingestion1997.htm |date=2005-10-30 }} in ''Albatross Biology and Conservation'', G. Robinson and R. Gales (eds.). Surrey Beatty & Sons: Chipping Norton. pp. 239–44</ref>  Procellariids are also vulnerable to [[marine pollution]], as well as [[oil spill]]s. Some species, such as [[Barau's petrel]], [[Newell's shearwater]] and  Cory's shearwater, which nest high up on large developed islands, are victims of light pollution.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1111/cobi.12900|pmid = 28151557|title = Seabird mortality induced by land-based artificial lights| journal=Conservation Biology| volume=31| issue=5| pages=986–1001|year = 2017|last1 = Rodríguez|first1 = Airam| last2=Holmes| first2=Nick D.| last3=Ryan| first3=Peter G.| last4=Wilson| first4=Kerry-Jayne| last5=Faulquier| first5=Lucie| last6=Murillo| first6=Yovana| last7=Raine| first7=André F.| last8=Penniman| first8=Jay F.| last9=Neves| first9=Verónica| last10=Rodríguez| first10=Beneharo| last11=Negro| first11=Juan J.| last12=Chiaradia| first12=André| last13=Dann| first13=Peter| last14=Anderson| first14=Tracy| last15=Metzger| first15=Benjamin| last16=Shirai| first16=Masaki| last17=Deppe| first17=Lorna| last18=Wheeler| first18=Jennifer| last19=Hodum| first19=Peter| last20=Gouveia| first20=Catia| last21=Carmo| first21=Vanda| last22=Carreira| first22=Gilberto P.| last23=Delgado-Alburqueque| first23=Luis| last24=Guerra-Correa| first24=Carlos| last25=Couzi| first25=François-Xavier| last26=Travers| first26=Marc| last27=Corre| first27=Matthieu Le| bibcode=2017ConBi..31..986R | hdl=10400.3/4515| hdl-access=free}}</ref> Fledging chicks are attracted to streetlights and may then be unable to reach the sea. An estimated 20 to 40 percent of fledging Barau's petrels and 45 to 60 percent of fledging Cory's shearwater are attracted to the streetlights on [[Réunion]] and [[Tenerife]], respectively.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/S0006-3207(01)00207-5 | last1 = Le Correa | first1 = M. | last2 = Ollivier | first2 = A. | last3 = Ribesc | first3 = S. | last4 = Jouventin | first4 = P. | year = 2002 | title = Light-induced mortality of petrels: a 4-year study from Réunion Island (Indian Ocean) | journal = Biological Conservation | volume = 105 | issue = 1 | pages = 93–102 | bibcode = 2002BCons.105...93L }}</ref><ref name=j12/>