A Black Petrel off North Cape, New Zealand, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Nicholas Daudt (Department of Marine Science, University of Otago, Dunedin, Aotearoa, New Zealand) and colleagues have published open access in the Journal of Marine Systems giving the first quantitative data on seabird assemblages off northeast Aotearoa/New Zealand.  Total seabird biomass was strongly influenced by the seasonal occurrence of four medium-sized migratory procellariiforms, including the ACAP-listed and globally Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Migratory species may influence structural components of species assemblages, such as biomass and diversity patterns. A total of 10 ship-based, strip-transect seabird surveys were undertaken in all seasons (2019–2024) off the northeast coast of Northland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Almost all seabird species recorded were migratory or wide-ranging dispersive (23 of 25). Multivariate model-based ordinations revealed that season primarily explained species assemblages, while including environmental variables such as sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a (useful proxies for studying seabird distribution) offered little extra explanatory power at the assemblage level. There was no clear spatial pattern in the assemblages, suggesting that the study area was used uniformly by the species present at the time. The total seabird biomass present was strongly influenced by the seasonal occurrence of four medium-sized, migratory procellariiforms: tāiko (black petrel; Procellaria parkinsoni), rako (Buller’s shearwater; Ardenna bulleri), ōi (grey-faced petrel; Pterodroma gouldi) and toanui (flesh-footed shearwater; Ardenna carneipes). The biomass estimates showed an eight-fold increase from winter (243 kg/km) to summer (1885 kg/km). Northland will likely be the first region in Aotearoa/New Zealand to experience the consequences of oceanic warming. The study establishes a baseline against which to measure potential future changes in seabird occurrences. Based on descriptive and modelling approaches, the study demonstrated the role of species’ phenologies in shaping assemblages of seabird species and their impact on total estimated biomass, which may affect ecosystem functioning and energy fluxes.”

With thanks to the Pacific Seabird Group.

Reference:

Daud, N.W., Guerra, M., Brough, T., Dwyer, S.L., Zaeschmar, J.R., Schofield, M.R., Smith, R.O., Bugoni, L., Woehler. E.J. & Rayment, W.J. 2026.  Migratory species strongly affect seabird biomass in seasonal assemblages off northeast Aotearoa/New Zealand.  Journal of Marine Systems 255. doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2026.104201.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 16 March 2026

John Croxall CBE FRS will be the Keynote Speaker at the Fourth World Seabird Conference, to be held in Hobart, Tasmania over 7-11 September 2026.  John is an Emeritus Professor at the Universities of Durham and Birmingham and Founder and Chair until 2020 of the BirdLife International Marine Programme.

“Formerly Head of Higher Predator Studies and Conservation Biology at British Antarctic Survey, where [he] led research into dynamics of Antarctic marine ecosystems, especially the role of seabirds and marine mammals, including pioneering 30-year studies of albatross, penguin and fur seal population and trophodynamics.  [He] used new technology to study foraging behaviour and movements, including multi-species, season and year tracking studies and established global databases to enable collaborative studies and inputs to national, regional and global marine spatial planning.”

John was involved with ACAP in the early days serving as Chair of the First Scientific Meeting associated with the First Meeting of Parties, held in Hobart in November 2004, for which he was an Advisor to the United Kingdom Delegation.

John Croxall on Bird Island in the South Atlantic

He was active within the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), at one stage chairing its then SCAR Bird Biology Subcommittee, as well as within the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) during the 1980s and 1990s.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 13 March 2026

D23 (band readable on expanding) in Chilean waters, photograph by Dan Mosher

Dan Mosher has reported on Facebook of photographing an Endangered Northern Royal Albatross Diomedea sanfordi off the coast of Chile.  The bird carried a black plastic band on its left leg engraved with D23.

He writes “I recently returned from a cruise [aboard the] Oosterdam from San Antonio, Chile to the Antarctica Peninsula to Buenos Aires and back again.  I’m a deck-watcher and enjoy seeing and photographing the pelagic seabirds we encounter along the way.  On the return trip from Puerto Montt Chile going [north] toward San Antonio, we came across a tagged royal albatross that was quite close to the ship.  The tag clearly reads D23”.  He adds in a comment that the date was 21 February 2026.

Following enquiries posted to his page, the bird was confirmed to be a Northern Royal Albatross from the Taiaroa Head/Pukekura mainland colony near Dunedin in New Zealand, and that it is a male, hatched in 2023, one of 33 chicks to fledge from the colony that [2022/23] season.

Let’s hope it will return to the colony and eventually commence breeding.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 12 March 2026

Big Ben on Heard Island, photograph by Barbara Wienecke

ACAP Latest News has previously reported on the presence of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Southern Elephant Seals on Australia’s Heard Island, following a summer 2025/26 expedition.  New information on the HPAI virus now comes from its detection in a Gentoo Penguin Pygoscelis papua on Heard.

“Scientists onboard the research vessel RSV Nuyina have returned from a second expedition to Australia’s Heard Island in the remote sub-Antarctic and have confirmed that H5 bird flu is spreading among the island’s wildlife.  The virus was detected in samples from Southern Elephant Seals, Antarctic Fur Seals and Gentoo Penguins. 

At this stage we don’t know how many Gentoo Penguins are affected or whether other bird species on the island have also contracted the virus, owing to the difficulties associated with monitoring species on remote sub-Antarctic islands.   Expedition scientists have reported that they didn’t observe any signs of mass mortality in mammals or birds while they were on the island.  Data from aerial surveys is [sic] currently being analysed by scientists and may reveal a clearer picture about the extent of the outbreak.”

The avian flu has yet to be reported from the three ACAP-listed Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris, Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria palpebrata and Southern Giant Petrels Macronectes giganteus that breed on Heard Island.

Read the full account here.  Read the Australian Government’s media release here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 11 March 2026