Thousands of albatross die each year from entanglement with fishing gear. Primarily, albatrosses scavenge for baits containing hooks that are dropped over the side of vessels fishing for tuna and other pelagic fish (see BirdLife International's website "Save the Albatross" for more details. Of course the birds don't know that when they bite into the fish, they are being hooked and eventually pulled underwater by the wait of the longline as it sinks. Unfortunately, this is one of the greatest threats to albatross populations.