• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
Brooke, M. de L. 2004. Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
Robertson, C. J. R.; Nunn, G. B. 1998. Towards a new taxonomy for albatrosses. In: Robertson, G.; Gales, R. (ed.), Albatross biology and conservation, pp. 13-19. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, Australia.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2020	Near Threatened	A3cd
2018	Near Threatened	A4cd
2016	Near Threatened	A4cd
2013	Near Threatened	A4cd
2012	Vulnerable	A4bd
2010	Endangered	A4b,d
2008	Endangered	A3b,d
2005	Endangered
2004	Endangered
2003	Endangered
2000	Vulnerable
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	94,100,000 km2	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	29 km2	medium
Number of locations	12	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	139800 mature individuals	good	estimated	2017
Population trend	increasing	medium	estimated	2009-2075
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	20-29%	-	-	-
Generation length	22 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	4	-	-	-

Population justification:

Between 1995 and 2017, the average number of breeding pairs per season was c.69,900, which equates to 139,800 mature individuals (ACAP 2017).

Trend justification: Monitoring data from three colonies in Hawaii, representing over 75% of the world's population, suggest that numbers may have decreased by 9.6% between 1992 and 2001 (Gilman and Freifeld 2003, USFWS data per E. Flint 2003). However, linear regression analysis of log-transformed counts at the same colonies suggests that the species’s population has remained stable since at least 1957 and has increased overall since 1923, and matrix modelling has suggested that the population is currently stable or increasing slightly (Arata et al. 2009). In addition, trends over a three generation period (66 years) commencing in 1956 were estimated at +26% using TRIM (ACAP unpubl. data).

In 2003, estimated rates of incidental mortality in longline fisheries in the North Pacific Ocean (based on a moderate bycatch scenario of 8,000 birds being killed per year) resulted in a projected future decline of more than 60% over the next three generations (66 years), if bycatch mortality was not reduced (Lewison and Crowder 2003). However, the demographic parameters for Lewison and Crowder’s (2003) model, namely survival probability, growth probability and fecundity, were based on data from the 1960s and 1970s, for which it was incorrectly assumed that no bycatch took place (Arata et al. 2009). This implies that the basic parameters for a stable population with no additional mortality were actually estimated from a population already experiencing significant bycatch, and were thus underestimated. This appears to have led to an overestimation of the declines that would result from the annual bycatch scenarios tested by Lewison and Crowder (2003), by counting this source of mortality both within the demographic parameter estimates and within the simulation scenario (Arata et al. 2009). Nevertheless, likely bycatch levels are still predicted to cause a decline in the population, albeit not as rapid as previously projected (Arata et al. 2009). Other studies on this species have confirmed the impact of fisheries bycatch on survival (Verán et al. 2007) and the annual population growth rate (Niel and Lebreton 2005). Annual bycatch was estimated at 5,228 birds in 2005, which, if doubled to account for underestimation, approaches the maximum Potential Biological Removal (PBR) level of 11,980 birds, which is calculated to be the maximum level of off-take possible without causing a decline (Arata et al. 2009). The maximum PBR level for this species has also been estimated at 8,850 birds per year (Niel and Lebreton 2005) and 10,000 birds per year (Cousins and Cooper 2000).

It still remains necessary to robustly model the future impact of bycatch on this species. In the meantime, given the risk of bycatch approaching PBR, and potential risk to nesting habitat from sea-level rise modelled for Midway Atoll, site of the world’s largest colony (Storlazzi et al. 2013, Reynolds et al. 2015), it seems appropriate to precautionarily project future declines approaching 60% over the next 66 years (three generations).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Canada	extant	native		yes	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native			yes
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes
High Seas	extant	native			yes
Japan	extant	native		yes	yes
Marshall Islands	extant	native			yes
Mexico	extant	native		yes	yes
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native			yes
New Zealand	extant	vagrant
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	uncertain
Palau	extant	uncertain
Philippines	extant	uncertain
Russia	extant	native		yes	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes	yes
South Korea	extant	native			yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native		yes	yes
United States Minor Outlying Islands (to USA)	extant	native		yes	yes
USA	extant	native		yes	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
High Seas	Pacific, Eastern Central 1 - Marine
High Seas	Pacific, Eastern Central 2 - Marine
Japan	Mukojima islands
Japan	Senkaku islands
Japan	Torishima island
Taiwan, China	Yieliu
USA	Gulf of Alaska Shelf Edge 148W59N
USA	La Perouse Bank
USA	Lehua Islet
USA	Mendocino Coast Pelagic, CA
USA	Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
USA	Olympic Continental Shelf
USA	San Mateo Coast, CA

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	major	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	major	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Abyssopelagic (4000-6000m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Bathypelagic (1000-4000m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Mesopelagic (200-1000m)	major	breeding
Altitude	0 - 50 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Fishing & harvesting aquatic resources - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Majority (50-90%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Climate change & severe weather	Habitat shifting & alteration	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Future		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 3
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success
Climate change & severe weather	Storms & flooding	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Causing/Could cause fluctuations		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success
Geological events	Volcanoes	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Likely to Return		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion, Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Herbicides and pesticides	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Garbage & solid waste	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Pollution	Industrial & military effluents - Oil spills	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Unknown		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Species disturbance, Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Handicrafts, jewellery, etc.	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/black-footed-albatross-phoebastria-nigripes on 23/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/11/2024.