ACAP completes its working group meetings in Namibia

 Attendees at the ACAP working group meetings in the Swakopmund Plaza Hotel, photograph by Barry Baker

Last week the Agreement on Albatrosses and petrels held five days of meetings of two of its working groups in the coastal town on Swakopmund, Namibia.  This is the first time ACAP has met in the country.  Although Namibia is not a Party to the Agreement, it has sent a delegate to many of its meetings over the years.

PaCSWG convenors - Patricia Pereira Serafini, Richard Phillips and Marco Favero, Swakopmund, Namibia, photograph by Barry Baker

On Monday 25 May the Ninth Meeting of the Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG9) met under the Convenorship of Mark Favero (Argentina), Richard Phillips (UK) and Patricia Pereira Serafini (Brazil).  The PaCSWG9 meeting was followed by a joint SBWG13/PaCSWG9 meeting held on Tuesday 26 May to discuss cross-cutting issues.

SBWG convenors - Megan Tierney, Igor Debski, Sebastián Jiménez and Dimas Gianuca, Swakopmund, Namibia, photograph hy Barry Baker

A meeting of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG13) held over 27-29 May completed the week.  The three-day meeting was convened by Igor Debski (New Zealand), Dimas Gianuca (BirdLife International), Sebastián Jiménez (Uruguay) and Megan Tierney (UK).  The meeting considered 23 Documents and 17 Information Papers. 

Members attending the Seabird Bycatch Working Group meeting deliberate in Swakopmund, photograph by Barry Baker

The reports of the meetings, and of the Taxonomy Working Group, that conducts its work online under the convenorship of Mark Tasker (UK), will be considered at the Fifteenth Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (AC15) during Week Two of the Swakopmund events, being held from Monday 1 to Friday 5 June in the Swakopmund Plaza Hotel.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses, 01 June 2026