Read news from the archives regarding Albatross and Petrel conservation, with an emphasis on action taken under the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.
Details of the fourth WAD2020 competition, a colouring-in exercise for children, may be found in the Education section. View all the entries in the Banner Challenge, Great Albicake Bake Off and Colouring-in Competitions in albums on ACAP's Facebook page. For the winners and runners up of these three competitions look for posts in ACAP Latest News by scrolling down here.
Australian Antarctic Division’s Station Leader Finn Taylor (left) and Chef Arvid Brinkkemper display their WAD2020 banner on Macquarie Island
See the winners of the photograph competition here.
A Light-mantled Albatross preens its tail, photograph by Oli Prince
As part of raising awareness of the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June this year ACAP challenged field teams working with albatrosses at breeding localities or going to sea as observers on fishing vessels to make a suitably-worded banner (or poster) advertising ‘WAD2020’. Photographs of the banners have then been used to draw attention to the conservation crisis facing the world’s 22 albatross species.
By the end of May banner photos had come from 23 islands with breeding albatrosses, two fishing vessels and one institute. As photographs of WAD2020 banners were submitted to ACAP they have been featured along with their stories in ACAP Latest News (click here).
Requests to join the ‘banner challenge’ on breeding islands have emphasized that local regulations in respect to minimum approach distances to albatrosses and their nests should be adhered to and that birds (and their chicks) should not show signs of disturbance (or be held or restrained) when the photos were taken.
A total of 53 photographs, one for each “photo opportunity”, has now been loaded to an album on ACAP’s Facebook Page. Readers are invited to visit the album and click ‘like’ or ‘love’ on the ones they particularly think help the most to spread the message of albatross conservation. Click on just one or as many as you like. At the end of June the likes and loves will be totalled up and the photograph with the greatest number of clicks will be declared the challenge winner. The person who submitted the winning photograph will then receive a book on South Africa’s Sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands co-authored and signed by ACAP’s Information Officer, as well as a printed WAD2020 poster suitable for framing. Read more here.
A selection of banner challenge photos follows in individual posts for each country or territory involved. Click below the photograph captions to read about each one.
With thanks to all who have made, photographed and submitted WAD2020 banners to ACAP Latest News.
Updated 20 June 2020
Introduction
ACAP is particularly pleased to have been able to collaborate with Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) on its 30th and 35th Projects for the duration of January and February in 2020 and again in the same months in 2021. The projects' tasks were first to paint and draw the world’s 22 species of albatrosses that could then be used as online images to help raise awareness of the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June, and then to follow up a year later with paintings of the nine ACAP-listed petrels and shearwaters in a project entitled "Painting Petrels in Peril".
Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature was founded by Brazilian-based Kitty Harvill and Christoph Hrdina in 2016. ABUN is a collection of nature and wildlife artists who serve the conservation community with their images for use in promoting awareness. Kitty writes to ACAP Latest News: “We range from beginners and hobby artists, children and adults to seasoned professionals, joined together by our love of nature and desire to be of service to that cause, the process of creating art and the respect for all artistic expressions produced in the group.”
For the 2020 project 58 photographers made several hundred photographs featuring all 22 albatross species available to ABUN (directly or via ACAP) that artists could then use as inspiration for their artworks. After the two months of the project 77 artists had produced no less than 324 paintings and line drawings of albatrosses for ACAP; several artists accepting the challenge of painting all 22 species. The artists have given the right to ACAP to use images of their paintings and drawings for educational and promoting purposes. Many of them have sent high-resolution versions of their works directly to ACAP Latest News. Several of these high-resolution artworks have been chosen to create ‘WAD2020’ posters; others are being used to illustrate posts to ACAP Latest News, replacing hitherto-used photographs. In addition, ABUN has used the artworks and photographs to create a World Albatross Day video with specially composed music entitled 'Flight of the Albatross' and a special poster with artwork from all 77 contributing artists to help ACAP draw attention to the conservation crisis that continues to be faced by albatrosses. Below you can view 132 selected artworks by ABUN artists arranged by albatross species.
A total of 54 artworks produced by ABUN for the nine ACAP-listed petrels and shearwaters has been selected from the 106 produced for ABUN Project #35 "Painting Petrels in Peril", along with a number of posters (scroll down below).
Read more about how ABUN operates here.
With grateful thanks to Kitty Harvill, all the ABUN artists and to the many photographers who have generously allowed their work to be used by ACAP in the service of the conservation of albatrosses and petrels.
A collage of ABUN Project #30 albatross artworks
Last updated 09 March 2021
Introduction
Infographics depicting the conservation threats faced by the Critically Endangered Tristan Diomedea dabbenena and Waved Phoebastria irrorata Albatrosses and Vulnerable Wandering Albatross D. exulans have been produced to support this year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June and its chosen theme “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries”. The ACAP Species Infographics have been produced in the three ACAP official languages of English, French and Spanish. In addition, a Portuguese version of the Tristan Albatross infographic takes note that the species visits the waters of Brazil.
They have been designed to help inform the general public, including school learners. They serve to complement the more detailed and referenced ACAP Species Assessments and the more concise and illustrated ACAP Species Summaries. See below to view at full size.
The infographics may be freely downloaded at a high resolution to allow for printing professionally in two poster sizes (approximately A2 and A3). Please note they are only being made available for personal use or when engaging in activities that will aid in drawing attention to the conservation crisis faced by the world’s albatrosses and petrels – when ACAP will be pleased to receive a mention. It is envisaged further infographics will be produced as new featured species are chosen to support future World Albatross Days.
Infographic illustrator, Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim at her worktable
The three infographics have been created by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim from Bangkok, who is currently based in Wellington, New Zealand. Namo, who works in gouache, is a graduate of the School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design. She used preliminary concept designs by World Albatross Day Group member, Michelle Risi, along with photographs supplied by ACAP supporters to guide her work.
With thanks to Mark Anderson, Christophe Barbraud, Jonathon Barrington, Kate Huyvaert, Gustavo Jimenez, Namasri Niumim, Richard Phillips, Stephanie Prince, Michelle Risi and Patricia Serafini for their various inputs to the infographics.
Last updated 13 June 2021
