• 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.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
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.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	A4bd	A4bd; B2ab(v)

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Endangered	A4bd
2016	Endangered	A4bd
2012	Endangered	A4bd
2010	Endangered	A4b,d
2008	Endangered	A4b,d
2007	Endangered
2005	Endangered
2004	Endangered
2003	Endangered
2000	Vulnerable
1994	Lower Risk/Near Threatened
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	2,500 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	76,200,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	36,200,000 km2	medium
Area of Occupancy (breeding/resident)	1,900 km2	medium
Number of locations	6-10	-
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	21234-28656 mature individuals	medium	estimated	1998
Population trend	decreasing	medium	suspected	1980-2070
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	60%	-	-	-
Generation length	30 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	5	-	-	-

Population justification: The population is estimated at 10,617 - 14,328 breeding pairs.

Trend justification: On Possession Island (Crozet), the population declined by 58% between 1980 and 1995 (Weimerskirch and Jouventin 1998) and continues to decline, although at a slower rate (Delord et al. 2008). This equates to an 82% decline between 1980 and 2006 at an average rate of 4.2% per year (Delord et al. 2008). Although since 2006 the population has been increasing again at 2.7% per year, the numbers remain low compared to those of 20 or more years ago. On Marion Island, the population declined by 25% from 1990-1998 (a decline of about 2.6% per year: Crawford et al. 2003) and continued to decline at about 3% per year from 1998 to 2006 (Schoombie et al. 2016). However, from 2006 to 2014, the population has increased at c. 4% per year (Schoombie et al. 2016). On Gough Island (c.36% global population), the population appears to have decreased by over 50% from 1972-2000 (Cuthbert and Sommer 2004a), although recent counts of breeding birds indicates the number of breeding pairs remained stable from 2000 and 2015 (Cuthbert et al. 2014). Limited counts have been made on Tristan and Inaccessible, and indicate a population of c.3,157 (ACAP 2012). Overall, these declines equate to 60% over three generations (90 years), with a trend start date of 1960. However, this species, being a biennial breeder, has a highly variable breeding population between years. Better data are required from Gough and Prince Edward Islands, in particular whether the population on Prince Edward is increasing. The long life expectancy of the species makes it difficult to determine the period over which an analysis of trends should be conducted.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Antarctica	extant	vagrant
Argentina	extant	native			yes
Australia	extant	native			yes
Brazil	extant	native			yes
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)	extant	vagrant
French Southern Territories	extant	native		yes
Heard Island and McDonald Islands (to Australia)	extant	native			yes
High Seas	extant	native			yes
Mauritius	extant	vagrant
New Zealand	extant	vagrant
Réunion (to France)	extant	vagrant
South Africa	extant	native		yes
South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands	extant	vagrant
St Helena (to UK)	extant	native		yes
Uruguay	extant	native			yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
French Southern Territories	Falaises d'Entrecasteaux
French Southern Territories	Île aux Cochons
French Southern Territories	Île de l'Est
French Southern Territories	Île de la Possession
French Southern Territories	Île des Pingouins
French Southern Territories	Île Saint Paul
French Southern Territories	Îles des Apôtres
High Seas	Atlantic, Southeast 14 - Marine
High Seas	Indian Ocean, Antarctic and Southern 15 - Marine
High Seas	Indian Ocean, Western 1 - Marine
South Africa	Prince Edward Islands Special Nature Reserve
St Helena (to UK)	Gough Island
St Helena (to UK)	Inaccessible Island
St Helena (to UK)	Nightingale Island group
St Helena (to UK)	Tristan Island

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	major	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	major	breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	non-breeding
Marine Oceanic	Epipelagic (0-200m)	major	breeding
Altitude	0 - 500 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
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mus musculus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Pasteurella multocida	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus rattus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/sooty-albatross-phoebetria-fusca on 25/11/2024.
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 25/11/2024.