The 2007 Short-tailed Albatross Conservation and Breeding Project Subcommittee under the Wildlife Protection Committee Held

The Ministry of the Environment (MOE) convened the 2007 Short-tailed Albatross Conservation and Breeding Project Subcommittee under the Wildlife Protection Committee on September 12, 2007. At the subcommittee, the MOE reported the results of the Project and discussed future programs.

It was reported that 227 chicks were identified on Torishima Island, the most important breeding site for Short-tailed Albatross, by means of the monitoring project implemented in 2006 by the MOE. The identification of as many as 200 chicks or more in a single year was the largest recorded since the launch of this project in 1993.

The success of the trial feeding of Black-footed Albatross (a closely related species of Albatross) on Mukojima Island this year was also reported. In addition, it was decided that 10 chicks of the Short-tailed Albatross will be fed on the Island after transporting them from Torishima in the Izu Islands to Mukojima in the Ogasawara Islands during the next breeding season (around in February) in 2008, in order to launch the artificial breeding program for the next year. This effort is related to the project to establish a new breeding site for Short-tailed Albatross in the Ogasawara Islands through a joint project between Yamashina Institute of Ornithology (supported by the MOE) and USFWS (US Fish and Wildlife Service).

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