Albatrosses are among a number of seabirds facing the threat of extinction due to the activities of the fishing industry, conservation organisations warned yesterday.
Getting caught in fishing gear is the greatest single threat the birds face, scientists argue.
Some 37 species of seabird are at risk and 18 of these species, including albatrosses, are under threat of extinction, the RSPB and BirdLife International warned.
The birds get into trouble when taking bait from hooks as they often get caught in the fishing lines and drown.
The conservation groups are calling for measures to be introduced to reduce the threat.
Scientists gather for fisheries talks in Recife, Brazil, today to agree on quotas for the Atlantic and Mediterranean stocks of tuna and swordfish.
The RSPB and BirdLife International will urge the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas to agree measures to prevent the deaths of these seabirds in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
In tuna and swordfish fisheries, albatrosses and other seabirds die on the end of longline hooks in unsustainable numbers and, for many species, this is their greatest extinction threat.
Albatross expert Cleo Small said: "Dying at a rate of around one every five minutes, the albatross family is becoming threatened faster than any other family of birds.
"For example, the wandering albatross - possessing the largest wingspan of any bird - is rapidly declining on South Georgia, and links have been made between these declining populations and longline fishing within the ICCAT fishery.
"This situation is needless because the technology exists to prevent these deaths.
"We will be urging delegates to approve rules that make it mandatory for all vessels fishing for tuna and swordfish in the Atlantic to abide by simple measures which lower the risk of albatrosses and other seabirds dying in these fisheries."
Dr Small added: "The main problem is that albatrosses try to steal fish and squid bait from longline fishing hooks.
"The birds get caught on the hook and quickly drown when the lines are set. The bodies of these birds, recovered hours later, are a grim reminder of the sheer toll of seabirds that these fisheries can take."
Monitoring of wandering albatrosses by the British Antarctic Survey on South Georgia has revealed a halving in the number this year compared with the early 1960s.
The most at-risk species include the Tristan albatross of the South Atlantic and the Balearic shearwater of European waters.
Both species, which are listed as Critically Endangered by BirdLife, are important to the UK.