Branchline weighting options tested, from left to right: 50 g 16/0 Procella hook, 62 g 16/0 Procella hook, 14/0 weighted swivel hook (53 g total weight), Hookpod and 60 g lumo lead with 22 g 16/0 hook.  Hookpod with 22 g 16/0 hook, 60 g lumo lead, 40 g lumo lead. Note lumo leads were deployed on branchlines with 22 g 16/0 circle hooks (from the publication)

D. Goad and C Schweder-Goad (Vita Maris, New Zealand) have produced a final report for the New Zealand Department of Conservation’s Conservation Services Programme (CSP) on sink rates of weighted longline hooks.

The report’s Summary follows:

“The use of line weighting to rapidly sink baited hooks under the protection of a tori line is recognised as an effective mitigation measure to reduce the bycatch of seabirds during the deployment of pelagic longlines.

Time depth recorders (TDRs) were used to compare sink profiles of heavy hooks and hook shielding devices to established best practice line weighting configurations. Tests were conducted both from a stationary vessel and during fishing operations. Sink times to depth were slower and more variable under real-world fishing conditions than under controlled conditions.

Both 60 g and 50 g heavy hooks sank with similar profiles to the current ACAP best practice line weighting recommendations of 60 g at a metre from the hook or 40 g at half a metre. The size and density of hook shielding devices reduced sink times, particularly under fishing “conditions, indicating that the bulk of devices added to branchlines should be considered.”

Reference:

Goad, D. & Schweder-Goad, C. 2025.  Assessment of Weighted Hooks as a Seabird Bycatch Mitigation Option for Surface Longline Fisheries. MIT2024-03. Final Report.  Vita Maris.  9 pp.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 03 April 2026

An Antipodean Albatross breeds next to the megaherb, Lance-leaf Button Daisy Pleurophyllum hookeri, on Adams Island, Auckland Island, photograph by Colin ODonnell

UPDATE:

New Zealand introduced a report (UNEP/CMS/COP15/Doc.31.2.9) to the Committee of the Whole (CoW) at the Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP15) of the Convention on Migratory Species on implementation of the Concerted Action for the Endangered Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis (UNEP/CMS/Concerted Action 13.12) that had been submitted by the Governments of Australia, Chile and New Zealand, noting engagement with fisheries and improved understanding with tracking tools (see below).  The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) supported the proposed Concerted Action.  The CoW then submitted the report to the COP, which formally approved the Concerted Action at its final plenary meeting on 29 March.

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The Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS, also known as the Bonn Convention) is considering a report (UNEP/CMS/COP15/Doc.31.2.9, also available in French and Spanish) on the Endangered Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis (listed on CMS Appendix I) at its Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP15), being held this week in Campo Grande, Brazil.  The 16-page report on implementation of the Concerted Action for the albatross, (UNEP/CMS/Concerted Action 13.12) adopted at COP13 in 2020, has been submitted by the Governments of Australia, Chile and New Zealand.  Its Summary follows:

“This report provides the third implementation update for the Antipodean albatross Concerted Action.  Good progress towards achieving the various fisheries management and research objectives is reported.  In particular, a number of new domestic fisheries management measures have been implemented and intensive satellite tracking has identified key areas of overlap with fishing activity in the high seas.  However, progress in addressing high seas fishery bycatch (the greatest threat) remains limited and population monitoring shows no recovery.  As such, a revised Concerted Action is proposed for the next intersessional period, with a particular focus on addressing high seas fishery bycatch.”

Antipodean Albatross, artwork by Lea Finke for the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June 2020, after a photograph by Kirk Zufelt

The report ends with a call for action: “Given the lack of recovery of Antipodean albatross, and the slow progress in addressing the greatest threats (fisheries bycatch in the high seas), we propose an updated Concerted Action is endorsed for the next intersessional period.  The updated Concerted Action will guide and prioritise future actions, in particular towards addressing the threat of fisheries bycatch in the high seas.”

"CMS Appendix I comprises migratory species in danger of extinction in the wild throughout all or a significant portion of their range. Parties that are Range States to a migratory species listed on Appendix I endeavour to strictly protect them by prohibiting the taking of such species (including the deliberate killing, capture or disturbance), with a very restricted scope for exceptions; conserving and, where appropriate, restoring their habitats; preventing, removing or mitigating obstacles to their migration; and controlling other factors that might endanger them" (click here).

Access ACAP's report (UNEP/CMS/COP15/Inf.10.3.2) to COP15 here.  In its report ACAP welcomes the third report on the implementation of, and proposal for, a continuation of the Concerted Action for the Antipodean Albatross.  It also  notes the proposal for a Concerted Action for the Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes that links to the proposal for the listing of this species on Appendix II (read more here).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 25 March 2026, updated 02 April 2026

Flesh-footed Shearwater in flight, photograph by Mike Double

The Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) held its Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP15) in Campo Grande, Brazil over 23-29 March 2026.  Australia, France and New Zealand had proposed (UNEP/CMS/COP15/Doc.30.2.6) including the Near threatened Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes on Appendix II of the Convention (click here).

The proposal stated that the species’ “listing on Appendix II will elevate the suitability score of flesh-footed shearwater for inclusion on Annex 1 of ACAP.  A listing on Annex 1 of ACAP would further facilitate the anticipated benefits identified here as ACAP is very active in the development and promotion of best-practice seabird bycatch mitigation advice for relevant fisheries.”

During the week’s meeting, the Committee of the Whole (CoW) recommended the proposal, supported by ACAP, to add the shearwater to Appendix II be adopted by the Conference of Parties.

New Zealand then introduced the proposed Concerted Action for the Flesh-footed Shearwater (UNEP/CMS/COP15/Doc.31.3.10), emphasizing the need for scaled-up action on the threat posed by bycatch.  ACAP supported the proposal, noting it was “well-overdue”.  The CoW forwarded both proposals to the COP for adoption.

Approved!

The Conference of Parties met in plenary on the last day of COP15 and accepted both the COW’s proposals, formally adopting the Flesh-footed Shearwater onto Appendix II and approving the proposed Concerted Action for the species.

Two shearwaters, the Critically Endangered Balearic Puffinus mauretanicus and the Vulnerable Pink-footed Ardenna creatopus, are listed on Annex 1 of the Albatross and Petrel Agreement.  Both are also listed on Appendix 1 of the Convention on Migratory Species, now joined by the Flesh-footed Shearwater.  Two earlier ACAP Monthly Missives have considered whether the Flesh-footed Shearwater should be listed by the Albatross and Petrel Agreement (click here).

At COP15, the Federal Government of Germany, depository of the Convention and host of the CMS Secretariat, offered to host COP16 in Bonn in 2029.  COP16 will coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the Convention, also known as the Bonn Convention, which was signed in Bonn in June 1979.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 01 April 2026

Photograph by Tom McDonnell, from the LIFE Raft Facebook page

In 2021, the LIFE Raft (Rathlin Acting for Tomorrow) project began with the aim to remove feral Ferrets Mustela furo and Brown or Norway Rats Rattus norvegicus to help secure the future of Northern Ireland’s largest seabird colony on inhabited 1371-ha Rathlin Island, off the north coast of County Antrim. Ferrets were released on the island in the 1980s and rats have been present since the 19th century.

“Rathlin is home to over 250 000 seabirds, including internationally important populations of Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots.  Researchers on Rathlin found one ferret was responsible for killing 27 adult birds in just two days” (click here).

“In 2025 following the successful eradication of the ferrets [formally announced in March 2026], which were preying on eggs, chicks, and adult seabirds, Manx Shearwaters were recorded breeding on the island for the first time in over two decades.  “Using night-vision technology, the LIFE Raft team captured footage of young birds ready to fledge from their burrows, providing the confirmation of Manx Shearwaters successfully nesting and raising chicks on the island.”

From the LIFE Raft Facebook page

Tthe ferrets were removed by the deployment of 600 kill and live traps. To eliminate the rats over 6500 rodenticide bait stations made of corrugated plastic piping were then placed every 50 m over the whole island, supported by volunteer teams, rope work on cliffs, field cameras, thermal drones, 28 000 wax chew blocks to detect presence and Woody, the rat detection dog.  “No ferrets have been seen on the island since Autumn of 2023 and only two rats have been seen in 2025.  The project is currently following international eradication best practice and will continue our rat eradication efforts this Winter, starting November 2025” (click here).

According to ‘Biz’ Bell of Wildlife Management International, Rathlin is the first island from which ferrets have been eliminated.

Manx Shearwater fledglings leave their Rathlin burrows at night, from the LIFE Raft Facebook page

Watch a video about the natural history of Rathlin Island, read a press release about the end of the ferrets and see an earlier ACAP Latest News article on the island’s shearwaters.

News of the project’s success comes in a year when ACAP has chosen “Habitat Restoration” as its theme for World Albatross Day on 19 June 2026.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 31 March 2026