Black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 9

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Special Significance of the Species

Importance to people

Albatrosses have featured in folk tales and classic literary works about the sea for centuries (e.g., Coleridge’s The rime of the ancient mariner in 1798, Baudelaire’s L’Albatros in 1857; Yocum 1947; Tickell 2000) and have long been viewed by sailors as kindred spirits or the reincarnated souls of lost shipmates.^Footnote1 Indeed, several early scientific accounts of Black-footed and other albatrosses were written by natural historians or biologists serving as naval officers (e.g., Richards 1909; Yocum 1947; Thompson 1951; Jameson 1961). Sailors today still feel an affinity for these birds that follow in the wake of their vessel. As the most common albatross in the eastern North Pacific, the Black-footed Albatross is of special significance to the recreational sailors and professional mariners who transit these waters.

Albatrosses played a role in the early diet of coastal First Nations people. In British Columbia, Short-tailed Albatross bones have been found at archaeological excavations that include Maple Bank, Esquimalt; Yuquot, West Coast Vancouver Island; and Kunghit Island, Gwaii Haanas, Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii (Crockford et al. 1997; Harfenist et al. 2002; Wigen 2005). Based on the archaeological evidence of middens from Northern California to the Aleutian Islands, the Short-tailed Albatross was hunted by a number of coastal tribes (Crockford et al. 1997, Crockford 2003). However, the bones of Black-footed Albatross are conspicuously absent from these midden sites (Crockford 2003; Eda et al. 2002). This archaeological evidence indicates that coastal First Nations did not regularly hunt Black-footed Albatrosses, presumably due to the species’ preference for offshore habitats – prior to its decimation by the feather trade the Short-tailed Albatross was likely the common inshore albatross species in British Columbia (cf. Kermode 1904; Crockford 2003; Crockford pers. comm. 2005; Keddie pers. comm. 2005). The Black-footed Albatross was nonetheless known to coastal First Nations, as evidenced by the presence of a name for this species in the Haida lexicon (see Name and classification section).

Ecological role

The Black-footed Albatross is a top trophic level predator in the marine food web of the North Pacific Ocean. Loss or reduction of upper trophic levels may have profound cascading effects on pelagic food webs (Pauly et al. 1998; Springer et al. 2003; Scheffer et al. 2005). Although the Black-footed Albatross is not a particularly abundant seabird in comparison to other top trophic level species such as the Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus), which has a global population numbering in the millions (as did Short-tailed Albatross historically), maintaining albatross populations at or returning them to historical levels is nonetheless part of maintaining a healthy and functioning marine ecosystem in the North Pacific Ocean.