ACAP Latest News

Read about recent developments and findings in procellariiform science and conservation relevant to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels in ACAP Latest News.

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Laysan Albatrosses commence breeding in Hawaii’s James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge

The James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian island of Oahu has its first breeding pair of globally Near Threatened Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis.

After three years of social attraction with decoys and a call-broadcasting system and more than 700 recorded visits from wild adults, a wild pair has laid an egg and commenced incubation. The pair was banded in the refuge so its provenance is unknown. Three more birds are sitting on empty nest bowls within the predator-proof fenced area where chicks artificially hatched from eggs translocated from the island of Kauai have been had-reared until fledging over the last three breeding seasons (click here).

The first Laysan Albatross egg gets incubated in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, sex of the bird awaits confirmation, photograph by Lindsay Young

The breeding area in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge is protected by a predator-proof fence, photograph by Lindsay Young

According to Pacific Rim Conservation a few more nests are expected to be established this season. This will be the first year translocated chicks could be expected to return as pre-breeders.

The refuge is also being used to hand rear translocated chicks of the globally Near Threatened Black-footed Albatross P. nigripes. The overall aim is to create a new breeding colony for both albatross species which at most of their low-lying breeding sites are at risk from sea level rise predicted to be caused by climate change (click here).

Albatross conservation work within the refuge is carried out by Pacific Rim Conservation, with support from partners Pacific Islands: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Navy, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation and American Bird Conservancy.

With thanks to Lindsay Young, Pacific Rim Conservation for information and photographs.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 December 2017

BirdLife holds a seabird-identification course for Indonesian and Taiwanese fisheries scientists in New Zealand

Last month Karen Baird from BirdLife International based in New Zealand organised the fourth in a series of seabird identification courses which began in 2011 for international fisheries scientists involved in managing seabird bycatch issues in their respective countries. As the ‘Seabird Capital of the World’ and a having a high level of expertise in seabirds, New Zealand is an ideal place to hold such a course.

‘Biz’ Bell (Wildlife Management International) and Igor Debski (Department of Conservation) combined with Karen to run a week-long course for three scientists from Indonesia and Taiwan earlier this month. The three visiting scientists had hands-on experience under the expert guidance of Biz who confirms observer seabird identifications and undertakes necropsies of dead birds returned from vessels fishing in New Zealand waters. A wide range of information is gathered which will assist in understanding the factors which contribute to bycatch. In addition, samples are taken for analysis by other scientists who study plastic ingestion by seabirds.

The scientists also discussed their various observer programmes and the type of data that are gathered and exchanged ideas on ways for improvements.

 

Biz Bell (left) looks on as Prawira Tampubolon measures a Procellaria Petrel.  Julia Hwang and Yu-min Yeh (right) watch and record the bird's statistics

The highlight of the course was a day out to sea from Kaikoura with Albatross Encounter where Julia Hwang and Yu-Min Yeh from Taiwan saw live albatrosses and petrels for the first time in their lives. Julia said that she had been analysing observer data from Taiwanese vessels for 10 years but this was the first time she had ever seen a live albatross.

We were lucky enough to see two species of great albatrosses on the outing, Antipodes Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni and Northern Royal D. sanfordi, as well as the smaller mollymawk Salvin’s Thalassarche salvini and White-capped T. steadi Albatrosses, both highly bycaught by New Zealand fisheries. Another lucky encounter was to see all three of New Zealand’s Procellaria petrels: Westland P. westlandica, Black P. parkinsoni and White-chinned P. aequinoctialis, which can be difficult to tell apart. Julia Hwang, Yu-min Yeh from Taiwan and Prawira Tampubolon from Indonesia thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to see live seabirds at sea.

Julia Hwang, Yu-min Yeh and Prawira Tampubolon at sea off Kaikoura with Igor Debski (right)

Karen Baird, BirdLife International, New Zealand, 27 December 2017

Research shows Hookpods on pelagic longliners save albatrosses and petrels from drowning without affecting catch rate of fish

Ben Sullivan (Fishtek Marine, Totnes, Devon, UK) and colleagues have published early view in the journal Animal Conservation on a new mitigation measure for pelagic longliners

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Bycatch of pelagic seabird species in longline fisheries is recognized as one of the most important and pervasive sources of mortality, contributing to an increased risk of their extinction. Uptake of mitigation measures to reduce seabird bycatch has not been widespread by the industry. Here, we present the results of 18 at-sea trials conducted between 2011–2015 onboard pelagic longliners targeting tuna (Thunnus spp) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in South African, Brazilian and Australian waters, using a recently designed seabird bycatch mitigation device. The ‘Hookpod’ is a polycarbonate capsule that encases the point and barb of baited pelagic longline hooks to prevent seabirds from becoming hooked and drowning during line-setting operations. The assessment was based on efficacy (i.e. reducing rates of seabird bycatch without impacting target catch rate) and practicality (i.e. how the Hookpod fitted into fishing operations). We observed 59 130 experimental branchlines over 129 sets and recorded a single seabird mortality on the Hookpod branchlines compared to 24 on the control branchlines, a bycatch rate of 0.04 birds/1000 hooks and 0.8 birds/1000 hooks, respectively. No difference in catch rate of target fish species between Hookpod and control treatments was detected. These findings demonstrate that Hookpods do not negatively affect catch rate of target species and could make an important contribution to halting the decline of many seabird populations if adopted as a mitigation measure by the pelagic longline fishing industry.”

Black-browed Albatrosses - at risk to longlining, photograph by Kollette Grobler

With thanks to Susan Mvungi, Niven Librarian, FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town.

Reference:

Sullivan, B.J., Kibel, B., Kibel, P., Yates, O., Potts, J.M., Ingham, B., Domingo, A., Gianuca, D., Jiménez, S., Lebepe, B., Maree, B.A., Neves, T., Peppes, F., Rasehlomi, T., Silva-Costa, A. & Wanless, R.M. 2017. At-sea trialling of the Hookpod: a ‘one-stop’ mitigation solution for seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries. Animal Conservation DOI: 10.1111/acv.12388.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 December 2017

Season's Greetings from the ACAP Secretariat - and best wishes for 2018

 

With thanks to Michelle Jones for her photograph of a curious Sooty Albatross Phoebastria fusca at Marion Island

Marco Favero, Wiesława Misiak & John Cooper, ACAP Secretariat, 25 December 2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Keeping it warm: egg temperatures of southern albatrosses

Philipp Boersch-Supan (Department of Geography, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA) and colleagues have published in the journal Emu Austral Ornithologyon albatross egg temperatures.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Knowledge of thermal traits is essential for understanding and modelling physiological responses to environmental change. Egg temperatures are poorly studied in most tubenose species. We employed a contactless infrared thermometer to measure egg and nest surface temperatures throughout the incubation period for four albatross species at Bird Island, South Georgia. The observed mean warm-side temperature of 33.4°C for Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans) was similar to measurements obtained from this species using dummy eggs elsewhere. Observed mean warm-side temperatures for Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris), Grey-headed Albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma), and Light-mantled Albatross (Phoebetria palpebrata), reported here for the first time, were 30.7–31.5°C, which is lower than the egg temperatures reported for most Procellariiformes. Temperature gradients across viable eggs declined by up to 9°C during incubation, reflecting increased embryonic circulation and metabolic heat production. This suggests that bioenergetic models should not assume constant egg temperatures during embryo development. Non-viable (addled) eggs could be identified by large temperature gradients in late incubation, indicating that infrared thermometry can be used to determine whether the embryo has died or the egg is infertile in monitoring and managed breeding (e.g. translocation) programmes. Egg temperatures were correlated with ground temperatures, indicating that incubated eggs are vulnerable to environmental variability.”

An incubating Wandering Albatross on Marion Island, photograph by Linda Clokie

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Boersch-Supan, P.H., Johnson, L.R., Phillips, R.A. & Ryan, S.J. 2017. Surface temperatures of albatross eggs and nests. Emu Austral Ornithology doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2017.1406311.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 December 2017

The Agreement on the
Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP is a multilateral agreement which seeks to conserve listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters by coordinating international activity to mitigate known threats to their populations.

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