ACAP Latest News

White-chinned Petrel at sea, watercolour by Helen Worthington of Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for ACAP, after a photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Victoria Warwick-Evans (Ecosystems, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK) and colleagues have published in the journal Royal Society Open Science on at-sea tracking of Vulnerable White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis from three colonies in the South Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“By-catch in fisheries is the leading cause of population decline in pelagic sea-birds.  The white-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) is the most by-caught sea-bird species in the Southern Ocean, and many populations are in decline.  To better understand by-catch risk, we tracked white-chinned petrels from three sites across South Georgia throughout the annual cycle.  There was no spatial segregation among colonies in at-sea distributions of failed or non-breeding birds, but birds tracked during chick-rearing from the easternmost site (Cooper Island) and the centre (King Edward Point), travelled both east and west of South Georgia, whereas those tracked from the west (Bird Island) only travelled west.  Consequently, white-chinned petrels from Cooper Island overlapped less with fisheries than those from the other sites.  Habitat models suggest that white-chinned petrels from all sites foraged in areas with similar environmental characteristics and that suitable conditions were present both east and west of South Georgia.  Thus, broad-scale areas of high by-catch risk could be identified from predicted distributions, but overlap at finer scales could be distinguished more clearly from tracking data.  Although the driver of spatial segregation in foraging areas was unclear, it affects by-catch risk and has implications for conservation and management.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips, British Antarctic Survey.

Reference:

Warwick-Evans, V., Pearmain, E. & Phillips, R.A. 2026.  Year-round spatial segregation and fisheries overlap of white-chinned petrels from multiple populations at South Georgia.  Royal Society Open Science 13: 260099.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 01 October 2026

Stomach contents of a beached Arctic Fulmar in 2025 – see details of all 76 beached individuals here

Once again, Susanne Kühn (Wageningen Marine Research, Den Helder, The Netherlands) and colleagues have produced an annual report in their series on plastic pollution in beach-wrecked Arctic Fulmars Fulmarus glacialis from The Netherlands.

“In 2025, we received 76 fulmars, of which 65 still had an intact stomach.  As the annual numbers vary, we usually combine results in 5- year averages (2021-2025).  From this period, 283 fulmars were available. 92% of them ingested some plastic, on average 23 pieces weighing 0.24g per bird.  48% had more plastic in their stomach than required by the OSPAR/EU Fulmar Threshold Value of 0.1 gram.  The long-term goal is than no more than 10% of these birds exceed this threshold. According to our forecast, this target could be reached in the year of 2061.”

An Arctic Fulmar in the North Sea

Access the project’s previous annual report here, which stated the 10% target would be reached only in 2077.

With thanks to Susanne Kühn.

Reference:

Kühn, S., Meijboom, A., Bittner, O. & Van Franeker, J.A. 2026.  Fulmar Litter Monitoring in the Netherlands – Update 2025.  Den Helder: Wageningen Marine Research Report C045/26 and RWS Centrale Informatievoorziening Report.  Pp. 28.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 30 October 2025

Flesh-footed Shearwater, photograph by Mike Double

Jennifer Lavers (Gulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia) and colleagues have published open access in the Journal of Hazardous Materials: Plastics on plastic pollution and kidney dysfunction in Near Threatened Flesh-footed Shearwaters Ardenna carneipes

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Plastic pollution is increasing rapidly and poses significant risks to wildlife health. Seabirds are particularly vulnerable because floating plastics resemble prey and contain diverse chemicals that can leach into digestive tissues.  We revisited blood data and ingested plastic loads from Sable Shearwater Ardenna carneipes fledglings collected in 2014 and compared these with new data from 2025 to assess changes in physiological responses over time.  Fledglings in 2025 exhibited substantially higher plastic burdens (mean ± SD plastic mass in g; 2014: 0.100 ± 0.211, 2025: 12.966 ± 16.670), which were closely associated with disruptions in electrolyte balance, including decreased sodium, chloride, and calcium and increased potassium and carbon dioxide.  These patterns are consistent with impaired renal function.  Glucose concentrations declined with increasing plastic mass, and mediation analysis showed that body mass did not account for this relationship.  The findings indicate that direct effects of plastic exposure, rather than nutritional status, are associated with the observed physiological impairments.  The worsening of key health indicators over the past decade highlights the need for continued long term monitoring and for research into the mechanisms by which plastics contribute to kidney dysfunction and metabolic disruption in marine wildlife.”

Reference:

Lavers, J.L., de Jersey, A.M., Rivers-Auty, J. & Bond, A.L. 2026.  Ingested plastic alters physiological variation independent of body mass in seabird fledglings.  Journal of Hazardous Materials: Plastics 5, 100082.

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

East Island, French Frigate Shoals, before and after Hurricane Walaka

Amy Steel (Curtin University, Beeloo/Bentley, Western Australia, Australia) and Jennifer Lavers have pre-published open access in the journal npj biodiversity on two case histories on cyclones affecting seabird islands.  One island group, of special interest to ACAP, is the French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where a cyclone in 2018 resulted in the inundation and loss of East Island, where Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses once bred.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Islands are key to global biodiversity, yet extreme weather events cause significant mortality of many island species.  Using field and satellite data, we describe two cases where increasing cyclone activity has significantly reduced habitat availability and resulted in mortality on low-lying tropical islands.  We thus advocate for considering future cyclone activity and subsequent ecological recovery in developing suitable adaptation actions, especially in the context of translocation of endangered populations.”

Read more in ACAP Latest News about the loss of East Island here.

Reference:

Steel, A.C. & Lavers, J.L. 2026.  Blown away: cyclone threats to tropical island biodiversity in a changing climate.  npj biodiversity doi.org/10.1038/s44185-026-00155-4.

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