ACAP Latest News

Campbell Albatross observed on 17 July 2024, ~95 km off Ilo, southern Peru, photograph by Javier Quiñones, from the publication

Javier Quiñones (Instituto del Mar del Perú, Callao, Perú) and Carlos Moreno have published in the open-access journal Marine Ornithology on a sighting of a Vulnerable Campbell Albatross Thalassarche impavida in waters off Peru.  The record adds a new range state for the ACAP-listed species.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“We report the first confirmed record of Campbell Albatross Thalassarche impavida in Peruvian waters, observed on 17 June 2024 at 18°31'S, 72°39'W during an Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP)-funded at-sea survey.  This sighting occurred approximately 1,650 km north of previous sightings in the Humboldt Current.  Two records of the species in Chilean waters, one from March and the other from May 2022, were previously reported.  The Chilean sightings occurred within outer shelf and upper slope waters (200-400 m depth), whereas the Peruvian record occurred in waters over the outer continental slope (~4,000 m depth).  Multi-species assemblages at each location reflected the latitudinal oceanographic gradient, transitioning from austral migrants in Chilean waters to subtropical and tropical species off Peru.  Although no bycatch of this species has been reported in South American fisheries, other albatross species have been caught; therefore, its known attraction to longline vessels and discarded bait represents a latent risk.  Enhanced observer coverage in eastern South Pacific longline fisheries between 18° and 47°S during the austral autumn and winter is recommended to assess fishery interactions and monitor the occurrence of this species and other seabirds in the region.”

Yellow circles represent the three sightings of Campbell Albatrosses.  The turquoise line represents the boundaries of Peruvian (northernmost) and Chilean EEZs.  The Peruvian sighting is >1600 km north of the northernmost Chilean sighting, from the publication

Reference:

Quiñones, J. & Moreno, C.A. 2026.  Northward extension of Campbell Albatross Thalassarche impavida in the eastern South Pacific Ocean.  Marine Ornithology 54: 321-325.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 23 October 2026

Already colour banded.  One of the two successful 2025/26 Black-footed Albatross chicks approaches fledging age.  Two decoy models are behind

The environmental NGO, Pacific Rim Conservation, has reported on its Facebook page on the successful breeding of Near Threatened Black-footed Albatrosses Phoebastria nigripes in the 6.5-ha predator-proof fenced translocation site within the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

“The 2025-2026 season was an exciting one for our Oʻahu colony: over the summer, two wild kaʻupu (Black-footed albatross) chicks successfully fledged!

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1095450703086997

In total our colony had 7 nests this season. 3 nests belonged to female-female pairs, each of which laid 2 infertile eggs. The remaining 4 nests contained fertile eggs, 2 of which hatched into the chicks that successfully fledged, while the other 2 eggs failed early in development.

Of the 14 breeding adults at the colony, 12 were returning translocation birds, while the other two were unbanded individuals socially attracted to the site.

Throughout the season, our team resighted 34 individual kaʻupu through a combination of in-person observations and game camera photos/videos. We had one especially exciting day in February where we recorded a season high of 14 kaʻupu present at the colony at once.  The 2026-2027 season is fast approaching - last year we had our first kaʻupu sighting on Oʻahu on 01 November.”

A Black-footed Albatross chick begs for food in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge

 A total of 102 Black-footed Albatross chicks was taken from Midway Atoll and Tern Island within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and hand reared within the James Campbell NWR over the period 2017-2022.  The first wild Black-footed Albatross chick fledged from the refuge in 2024.  Its parents were translocated birds (V434 and V666), which bred again successfully in the 2025/26 season

Construction is currently underway on a second mammalian exclusion fence at the refuge that will protect c. 240 ha.  Upon completion it will be the largest mammalian exclusion fence in Hawaii.

Access previous ACAP Latest News articles on Black-foots in the refuge here.

Photographs from Pacific Rim Conservation.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 22 October 2026

Frequency of occurrence of plastic in seabirds, from the publication

Stephanie Avery-Gomm (School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Biology Letters on the frequency of occurrence of ingested plastic material in 93 281 individual seabirds representing 240 species.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Seabirds are especially vulnerable to ingesting plastic pollution. However, we have a limited understanding of which traits might increase their risk of plastic ingestion.  Here, we use a dataset of seabird plastic occurrence records (93 281 birds from 240 species) to investigate which species accumulate plastic and whether this is related to diet, foraging method, pelagic specialism, body mass or phylogenetic position.  In our dataset, 182 of the 240 species (76%) contained plastic.  Within orders, the highest levels were in pelicans (Pelecaniformes; 67%) and the lowest in penguins (Sphenisciformes; 5%).  In our phylogenetically informed analysis, accounting for artefacts of study design (e.g. sample size, year, ocean, source, age class and sampling method), none of the ecological traits we tested had a consistent effect on plastic occurrence.  Instead, phylogenetic relatedness was the best predictor in our models, reflecting the tight correlation between seabird phylogenetic groupings and their traits.   This suggests that phylogenetic position may serve as a rapid way to identify species likely to accumulate plastic. Future research should focus on developing predictions of plastic accumulation risk for understudied species, implementing standardized methodologies and investigating species-specific morphological and environmental variables that may affect their risk of plastic accumulation.”

With thanks to Alex Bond.

Reference:

Avery-Gomm, S., Potapova, N., Potter, C., Bond, A.L., Borrelle, S.B., Lavers, J.L., Portugal, S.J., Possingham, H., Provencher, J. & Cooper, N. 2026.  Frequency of plastic occurrence varies across phylogeny but not ecology in seabirds.   Biology Letters 22 (10): 20260079.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 21 October 2026

A view of Macquarie Island, photograph by Aleks Terauds

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI, “bird flu”) has been detected in a seal and a gull on Australia’s Macquarie Island in the southern Pacific Ocean (click here).  Samples collected from a Southern Elephant Seal Mirounga leonina and a Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus were returned to with island personnel and subsequently tested, returning a positive result for H5 bird flu.

“Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins told parliament three other species had returned negative tests, including skuas, giant petrels [ACAP-listed Macronectes sp.] and penguins.  She also said there had been no signs of any mass mortality events among the island's wildlife at this stage.  Ms Collins said the samples from the southern elephant seal and kelp gull would undergo further testing at a CSIRO laboratory.”

The expeditioners on Macquarie have now all been removed, leaving the island uninhabited, following an earlier decision related to bird flu.  It has not been announced publicly when the island will be reinhabited.

Bird flu Has now been recorded on nearly all the sub-Antarctic islands where samples have been collected in the South Atlantic and southern Indian Oceans (see articles in ACAP Latest News from here).  Macquarie Island falls within the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean.

With bird flu reported from mainland Australia (including Tasmania) and New Zealand, it seems only a matter of time before it is reported from the sub-Antarctic island groups south of New Zealand – completing the circle of Southern Ocean islands that have been affected.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 October 2026