---
title: "ACAP sails into the South Atlantic"
---

# ACAP sails into the South Atlantic

  Very early in the morning, well before sunrise on 21 August 2008, a hardy group from among the delegates attending the Fourth Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee joined South Africa’s F.R.S. *Africana* in Cape Town’s harbour in Table Bay for breakfast and to view albatrosses and petrels in the South Atlantic.

  The *Africana* is a fisheries research vessel of the [South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s](http://www.environment.gov.za/) Marine and Coastal Management Branch.  The at-sea outing was sponsored by South Africa, the host nation for the Advisory Committee meeting being held in Somerset West over the period 22-25 August 2008.

  After about four hours of sailing the *Africana*reached the trawling grounds in the “Cape Valley” region south-west of the Cape Peninsula and met up with the *Forest Lily*, a demersal stern trawler belonging to [Irvin & Johnson](http://www.ij.co.za/), a large South African company working in the fishing and food-supply field.  The delegates were then treated to the tremendous spectacle of thousands of seabirds, including seven ACAP-listed taxa (see list below), wheeling about and landing on the sea behind the trawler.  The most abundant ACAP species present was the Black-browed Albatross *Thalassarche melanophris*, along with smaller numbers of three other albatross taxa, both species of giant petrels *Macronectes* spp. and of the White-chinned Petrel *Procellaria aequinoctialis*.  The most abundant seabird present (perhaps as many as ten thousand individuals) was the Pintado or Cape Petrel *Daption capense*.  Two sea mammal species were seen on the voyage: Dusky Dolphin *Lagenorhynchus obscurus* and Cape Fur Seal *Arctocephalus pusillus*.

 

  A special and unexpected touch was the presence of a welcoming banner displayed on the trawler’s bridge, bearing the words “Working to Save Albatrosses and Petrels”, along with the logos of ACAP, DEAT and I&J.  Irvin & Johnson is taking the reduction of seabird mortality by its trawling vessels seriously, and it was heartening to see that the *Forest Lily* had paired streamer lines in place as it trawled, thus keeping the attendant hordes of seabirds safely away from its trawl warps.

  Following an excellent lunch provided aboard, the *Africana*returned to Cape Town, punching its way through a choppy sea to arrive back in the harbour some time after dark.  All the ACAP delegates who joined the cruise wish to thank the officers and crew of the *Africana*, I&J and the host country through DEAT-MCM for providing an unforgettable excursion.

 

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, posted 23 August 2008*

 **SPECIES LIST**

 *Black-browed Albatross *Thalassarche melanophris*

*Shy/White-capped Albatross *T. cauta/steadi*

*Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross *T. chlororhynchos*

*Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross *T. carteri*

*White-chinned Petrel *Procellaria aequinoctialis*

*Northern Giant Petrel *Macronectes halli*

*Southern Giant Petrel *M. giganteus*

 

Pintado/Cape Petrel *Daption capense*

 

 

Prion *Pachyptila* sp.

 

Soft-plumaged Petrel *Pterodroma mollis*

 

 

Sooty Shearwater *Puffinus griseus*

 

 

Great Shearwater *P. gravis*

 

 

Wilson’s Storm Petrel *Oceanites oceanicus*

 

 

Cape Gannet *Morus capensis*

 

Kelp Gull *Larus dominicanus*

Arctic Tern *Sterna paradisaea*

Subantarctic Skua *Catharacta antarctica** *

*ACAP-listed species