A global effort by seabird researchers, including those from NIWA, has resulted in the first assessment of where the world's most threatened seabirds spend their time. 

And experts say it shows the need for international co-operation to ensure their survival. 

Albatrosses and their close relatives large petrels are among the world's most-threatened animals, with over half of the species at risk of extinction. 

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A new study which tracked 5775 individual birds shows they spend almost 40% of their time on the high seas, outside the jurisdiction of any single country. 

Martin Beal, the Portugal-based lead author of the research published in Science Advances last week, says albatrosses are "the ultimate globetrotters". 

"However, this incredible lifestyle makes them vulnerable to threats in places where legal protection is inadequate," he said.

New Zealand hosts the largest number of breeding species of seabirds anywhere in the world, 168 varieties, many of which breed nowhere else. 

They include 25 species of albatross and large petrels. 

As part of the study, NZ researchers placed GPS and geolocation devices on the backs of endangered seabirds on the Chatham Islands and sub-Antarctic, establishing where they forage and where they interact with fisheries. 

It is already known that most seabirds leave New Zealand waters at some stage in their life cycle. Some go thousands of miles. For example, Chatham Island Albatrosses go to the Humboldt Current in Chile and Peru in the winter time.

Overall, the tracked birds across the whole study were tagged at 87 breeding sites in 17 countries. 

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The results showed that all species regularly cross into the waters of other countries, meaning that no single nation can adequately ensure their conservation. 

Furthermore, all species depended on the high seas, which are areas of international waters covering half of the world’s oceans and a third of the earth’s surface. 

Beal says: "Our study unequivocally shows that albatrosses and large petrels need reliable protection that extends beyond the borders of any single country."  

While at sea, albatrosses and large petrels face a number of threats, primarily from interactions with commercial fishing vessels and pollution. 

NIWA seabird ecologist Dr David Thompson says hundreds of seabirds are killed in New Zealand waters each year - caught on longlines or in trawl nets near to the surface. 

However, New Zealand is "ahead of the game" in attempting to quantify the risk to all New Zealand seabird species from commercial fishing, he says.

This means that decisions can be made that target resources in order to produce the best conservation outcomes for seabirds. 

Dr Thompson says he hopes the research will highlight how little control countries have over seabirds when they are using the high seas. 

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"A very large proportion of seabird tracking researchers globally were involved in this work, which has quantified for the first time the extent to which albatrosses and large petrels use Exclusive Economic Zones of different countries and the high seas. 

"It’s hugely important because now we have a comprehensive international framework that allows different countries to collaborate on the conservation issues facing this group of seabirds, and for all countries that have breeding populations of these species to take collective responsibility for their conservation in the high seas. 

"This type of research could not have been produced any other way."