Ms Graça Bauleth D’Almeida

The Fifteenth Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (AC15) is being held over five days in the Swakopmund Plaza Hotel, 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 observers to many of its meetings over the years.  AC15 follows on from the previous week’s meetings of its Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG9), the Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG13) and a joint SBWG13/PaCSWG9 meeting.  Reports of these three meetings will be considered by AC15.

Day One of AC15 was opened with an address from Ms Graça Bauleth D’Almeida, Director: Resources Management, Directorate: Marine Ecosystem and Fisheries Research,  Namibia Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, who also is attending the Advisory Committee meeting as Head of Delegation for Namibia as an observing Range State.  The Directorate is mandated to conduct research to determine the status of the stocks and providing scientific advice on the sustainable management of Namibia's marine ecosystem and promoting public awareness.  In her address she welcomed delegates and observers to the meeting saying “I wish you all a pleasant stay in Swakopmund and hope that you have time to explore the beautiful Namibian scenery and experience the wonderful hospitality by the Namibian people.  It is indeed a great honour for Namibia to host the 15th Advisory Committee and Subsidiary body meetings of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) and we look forward to participating in an Observer capacity and contribute to the deliberations of the meeting.”

She continued “Namibia continues to translate international commitments into practical conservation actions.   Such examples include the introduction of seabird bycatch mitigation measures into our hake fisheries regulations, which saw a 98% reduction in seabird bycatch in the longline and 95% reduction in the trawl fisheries.  The Namibian hake fishery is one of only two fisheries in Africa certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).  During its first five-year certification period, significant efforts were made to reduce the fisheries’ impact on seabirds.”

Ms D’Almeida closed her remarks by saying that Namibia understands the importance of becoming a Party to Agreement, saying "we have made progress towards accession and expect the instrument of depository to be made by the end of this year, if not before the next ACAP annual meeting.”

In reply, Dr Michael Double, as Chair of the ACAP Advisory Committee, thanked Ms D’Almeida for her welcoming remarks and on behalf of the delegates and observers expressed pleasure that Namibia would become a Party to the Agreement in not too long a time.

During the day the meeting considered the report of the Taxonomy Working Group that conducts its business by correspondence. The working group’s report was presented by its Convenor, Mark Tasker, who is also attending AC15 as the UK’s Member of the Advisory Committee.  Tomorrow the meeting will consider reports on the Population and Conservation Status and Seabird Bycatch Working Groups.  On Wednesday 3 June the meeting, among other matters, will consider the venue and timing for AC16, due to be held in 2027.  On Thursday 4 June the attendees will be taken on an excursion to the nearby fishing town of Walvis Bay.  The meeting will close on Friday 5 June, which will be devoted to adopting the Advisory Committee’s report.  More details of daily discussions are given in the provisional meeting schedule.

AC15 is being attended by 11 of the 13 Parties to the Agreement: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom and Uruguay.  In addition, observers are present from Namibia, Chinese Taipei, BirdLife International, the Namibian Nature Foundation and the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO).

The first day of AC15 ended with an evening function with a view of the sun setting into the ocean from the Seaview Restaurant in the Seaside Hotel & Spa. The event was hosted by the Government of Namibia and was enjoyed by all the meeting attendees.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses, 02 June 2026

 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

Two Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatrosses fly past Gough Island, by ABUN artist, Deepti Singh, after photographs by Chris Jones and Laurie Smaglick Johnson

Since 2020 ACAP has collaborated with the international collective Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) to generate artworks depicting ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels in support of World Albatross Day, held each year on 19 June.  Over the seven years no less than 760 artworks illustrating all 31 ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels have been created, using photographs made available by ACAP supporters to act as inspiration

This year ACAP’s theme for “WAD2026” is “Habitat Restoration”.  It features the Endangered Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos, endemic to the Tristan da Cunha islands, part of the United Kingdom Overseas Territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, and the Vulnerable Chatham Albatross Thalassarche eremita, endemic to The Pyramid, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.  ABUN Project #52 commenced on 16 February and ran to 03 May, resulting in 64 artworks illustrating the two chosen albatrosses by 37 artists, including several who produced more than one work.

Collage poster design for ABUN Project #52 “Habitat Restoration” by Co-founder Kitty Harvill

To help round off the project, ABUN Co-founder Kitty Harvill has produced a collage poster depicting all the artworks created to support WAD2026.  The artworks themselves may be viewed and downloaded from a photo album on ACAP’s Facebook page.  Five of them have been chosen to be made into posters that will become available for downloading from this website by World Albatross Day on the 19th of next month.

In support of the poster, Kitty has also produced a five and half minute video that depicts the 64 artworks, backed by evocative music entitled “The Peak” by musician John Nicolosi of Niko Records Studio, based in Clarksville, Tennessee, USA.

John Nicolosi, Niko Records Studio (front) and Christoph Hrdina, ABUN Co-founder, record the music for the ABUN video “Life for the Albatross” for World Albatross Day 2022

Five music videos illustrated with ABUN artworks have been produced by Kitty and John from 2020 to 2023.  They are "Flight of the Albatross" for the WAD2020 theme of  Eradicating Island Pests; "Petrels in Peril" in 2021; "The Seabird Wanderers of ACAP" for the WAD2021 theme of Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries; "Life for the Albatross" for the WAD2022 theme of Climate Change; and "Fidelity" for the WAD2023 theme of Plastic Pollution.  No music videos were produced for World Albatross Day in 2024 or 2025.

Creating a new colony.  Decoys and a speaker surrounded by a predator-proof fence have attracted two prospecting Laysan Albatrosses in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands in 2020, photograph from Pacific Rim Conservation

The WAD2026 theme of Habitat Restoration includes such management activities as eradication or control of introduced plants and animals at breeding sites, provision and maintenance of predator-proof fences, establishment of new breeding colonies by attraction techniques such as use of decoys and sound systems and translocations of eggs and chicks, candling and substituting infertile with fertile eggs, placement of artificial nests, supplementary feeding and hydration of chicks and adults, artificial incubation during hatching, and the use of artificial nests, wind breaks, fly repellents and sprinkler systems to improve breeding success.  You can search for projects among over 850 that utilize such management activities on the Seabird Restoration Data Base.

ACAP’s logo for World Albatross Day is available in landscape and portrait versions in the ACAP official languages of English, French and Spanish, as well as in Portuguese.  Designed by Namo Niumim, they are available for downloading here.

The WAD2026 theme follows on from the inaugural theme “Eradicating Island Pests” in 2020, “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries” in 2021, “Climate Change” in 2022, “Plastic Pollution” in 2023, "Marine Protected Areas” in 2024 and “Effects of Disease” in 2025, all of which have been supported by ABUN Projects.

With grateful thanks to ABUN Co-founder, Kitty Harvill, John Nicolosi and to all the artists and photographers who have contributed to Project #52.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 29 May 2026

Graphical abstract

Alix de Jersey (Tasmanian School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia) and colleagues have published in the journal Environmental Research on using blood to assess plastic load in four species of fledgling shearwaters and petrels.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Plastic ingestion is a well-established threat to wildlife, inducing a series of lethal and sublethal physiological consequences.  Yet, in free-living populations, many of these health consequences remain effectively ‘invisible’ to conventional monitoring, making the development of a minimally invasive biomarker for plastic exposure a longstanding priority. To date, biomarker approaches have focused on detecting exposure (e.g., presence/absence of plastic additives/plasticisers) rather than identifying or classifying biological injury associated with plastic ingestion.  Here, we evaluate whether the proteomic signatures previously identified in de Jersey et al. (2025) can be validated and extended across Procellariiform seabirds as a potential biomarker of plastic ingestion. We analysed blood plasma using data-independent mass spectrometry (DIA-MS) from four species during developmental stages including Sable Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) fledglings, Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) fledglings, Black-winged Petrel (Pterodroma nigripennis) fledglings and Providence Petrel (Pterodroma solandri) chicks with varying levels of plastic ingestion. Using a pathway-level approach that integrates functionally related proteins rather than relying on single-protein markers, we identified a consistent and conserved proteomic signature associated with plastic ingestion across species, achieving 96% classification accuracy. The proposed biomarker includes elevated evidence of cell lysis, compromised stomach permeability and fibrosis, and a decrease in secreted proteins. The detected physiological patterns are aligned with emerging models of plastic-induced pathology and diseases, such as plasticosis. However, as plasma proteomes shift substantially across life stages and retention time of plastic ingestion in adults is unknown, application of the biomarker to adults will require additional targeted validation to associate plastic ingestion to proteomic response. Our findings establish a foundation for a non-lethal, tool capable of diagnosing plastic exposure across seabird taxa, with potential applications in broader ecological monitoring and conservation programs.”

Reference:

de Jersey, A.M., Lavers, J.L., Bond, A.L., Wilson, R., Shick, J.C., Charlton Shick, C.M., Connelly, W.M., Zosky, G.R., & Rivers-Auty, J. 2026.  A novel blood biomarker for plastic ingestion in fledgling procellariiform seabirds.  Environmental Research 303. 124703.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 28 May 2026