Their diet is composed mainly of krill followed by fish.^[9] White-chinned petrels feed by surface seizing and by undertaking shallow dives,^[10] and they will readily follow ships to collect fisheries discards,^[11] making them vulnerable to longline fisheries.

Several of the breeding islands are protected areas. Ongoing studies and population monitoring are occurring at South Georgia, the Prince Edward Islands, Kerguelen Islands, and Crozet Islands. Finally, they are a part of ACAP Annex