Loss of climatic habitat, including an increase in sea surface temperature, caused by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is a potential threat to Abbott’s booby and many other species. Management requires both domestic and international action, and is beyond this recovery plan.
Abbott’s booby are threatened by stochastic events such as storms and cyclones, which are atypical of the region, but there is no practical or feasible way to manage this process.
Abbott’s booby may face threats in the marine environment, including those associated with global warming, but poor knowledge of the species’ pelagic distribution limits identification of these threats and development of management responses.
Interaction between Abbott’s boobies and longline fishing gear has not been recorded. However, the potential for this to occur should not be discounted without observer studies of the development of any new fisheries in the waters adjacent to Christmas Island.