The USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has designated the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary, home of the vast majority of the world’s Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Alvatrosses, with the publication of a final rule on 16 January 2025.  Following the National Marine Sanctuaries Act, after the final rule for sanctuary designation is published, sanctuary designation will take effect following 45 days of continuous session of the U.S. Congress.  The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and its expansion out to 200 nautical mile, were established under the Antiquities Act of 1906 through, respectively, Presidential Proclamations in 2006; 2007 and 2016.

A Laysan Albatross flies over Midway Atoll, photograph by Eric VanderWerf

“NOAA is designating Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary (sanctuary) to protect nationally significant biological, cultural, and historical resources and to manage this special place as part of the National Marine Sanctuary System. The sanctuary consists of an area of approximately 582,570 square statute miles (439,910 square nautical miles) of Pacific Ocean waters surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and the submerged lands thereunder. NOAA is establishing the terms of designation for the sanctuary and the regulations to implement the national marine sanctuary designation. NOAA has also published a final environmental impact statement (final EIS) in coordination with the State of Hawai'i, final management plan, and Record of Decision” (click here).

A brooding Black-footed Albatross on Midway Atoll, photograph by Wieteke Holthuijzen

Copies of the final environmental impact statement (EIS) and management plan described in this rule and the record of decision (ROD) are available here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 January 2025

The latest ACAP Species Infographic released today, the 18th to be produced in the 31-species series, is for the Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli (Least Concern).  It is the third to be produced for an ACAP-listed petrel, following those for the Near Threatened Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea and the Vulnerable White-chinned Petrel P. aequinoctialis.  The other 15 infographics are all for albatrosses.  It is also being produced in the official ACAP languages of French and Spanish.. These versions will be released soon.

Northern Giant Petrel chick on Marion Island, watercolour by ABUN artist Andrea Siemt, after a photograph by Liezl Pretorius

The ACAP Species Infographic series has been designed to help inform the public, including school learners, of the threats faced by albatrosses and petrels and what is being and can be done to combat them.  They serve to complement the more detailed and referenced ACAP Species Assessments, the concise and illustrated ACAP Species Summaries and the ACAP Photo Essay series.  English and Portuguese language versions of the infographics produced to date are available to download here.  French and Spanish versions can be found in their respective language menus for the website under Infographies sur les espèces and Infographía sobres las especies.

The 18 infographics produced to date may be freely downloaded at a high resolution to allow for printing professionally in two poster sizes (approximately A2 and A3). .Please note they are only being made available for personal use or when engaging in activities that will aid in drawing attention to the conservation crisis faced by the world’s albatrosses and petrels – when ACAP will be pleased to receive a mention.  They should not be used for personal gain.

Work has now commenced on producing the infographics for the Southern Giant Petrel M. giganteus, sponsored by the Australian Antarctic Division.

The ACAP Species Infographics are being created by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim from Bangkok.  Namo is a graduate of the School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design.

With thanks to Pep Arcos, Jonathon Barrington, Karine Delord, Johannes Fischer and Richard Phillips for their help.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 17 January 2025

Sooty Albatross by ABUN artist Jayashree Sadasivan for the “Conservation Campaign for Marion Island”.  Digital, after a photograph by Stefan Schoombie

The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project is a registered non-profit company in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross- and petrel-killing House Mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean.  The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.  Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate.

To increase awareness, and to raise funds, the project team has been working with artists from around the world in two important ways.

The “Conservation Campaign for Marion Island” Special Project

For the three months of November 2024 to January 2025 the MFM Project has been collaborating with the collective Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) in a special project entitled “Conservation Campaign for Marion Island”.  ABUN artists are invited to create and submit artworks that the MFM project may use.  Their chosen subjects are inspired by photograph’s of Marion Island’s biota, notably its avifauna that is threatened by the mice  To date, 30 artworks have been submitted; they can all be viewed here.  The artists’ original art remains their own property.

Grey Petrel and chick by ABUN artist Andrea Siemt for the “Conservation Campaign for Marion Island”.  Gouache on black watercolour paper, after a photograph by Ben Dilley

Auction aboard the Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage

“Subantarctic Soaring” by Hannah Shand; a print will be auctioned

On 24 January 2025, the MSC Musica will set sail from Durban, South Africa towards sub-Antarctic Marion and Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean on a week-long cruise with 1850 excited birdwatchers aboard.  On the last night of the voyage the Mouse-Free Marion Project will hold a live auction, with well-known author of seabird guides and project patron, Peter Harrison MBE as the auctioneer.  The project has received a number of donated artworks, both originals and high-quality prints to auction.  These include artworks by ACAp-illustrator Namo Niumim, who lives in Bangkok, Thailand, Caren Loebel-Fried from Volcano, Hawaii, New Zealanders Angela Newport and Hannah Shand, and Kitty Harvill (ABUN Co-founder) and Holly Parsons who reside in the USA.  South African contributing artists include Elizabeth Poulsom and Leigh Wolfaardt.

“The Albatrosses of the Prince Edward Islands"  by Leigh Wolfaardt; the original will be auctioned on the Flock voyage

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 16 January 2025

Finding Home, a Hawaiian Petrel’s Journey

Caren Loebel-Fried is an author and artist who resides in Volcano, Hawaii.  She has written and illustrated eight award-winning storybooks for young people, including A Perfect Day for an Albatross, published in 2017 by the Cornell Lab Publishing Group, and reviewed in ACAP Latest News.  Caren’s has conducted fieldwork on Midway Atoll with the albatross census team, which she has co-led, and studied the Endangered Hawaiian Petrel or `ua`u Pterodroma sandwichensis.  Her latest book is Finding Home, a Hawaiian Petrel’s Journey, published by the University of Hawai`i Press in September last year, an outcome of her research into the species.

Caren Loebel-Fried on Midway Atoll with her preparatory sketch of a Laysan Albatross

The publisher’s synopsis follows:

“Eleven-year-old Makani Kealoha Morton adores ‘ua‘u, Hawaiian petrels. She grew up marveling at the seabird’s magical evening sky-dance and murmurs from their underground burrows. Living over the ocean, gliding thousands of miles on the wind to wherever food was abundant, they returned yearly to their burrows in the Hawaiian Islands. Over thousands of years, their guano helped to make Hawaiʻi fertile and habitable for humans. Yet humans brought predators and environmental changes that caused ʻuaʻu numbers to plummet to near extinction.

Makani’s biologist mom and her team devise a plan to save the seabirds.  Ten ʻuaʻu chicks are raised within a protected place. The chicks leave for the sea one by one - but Makani’s favorite is very late to fledge.  Makani worries: Will this young petrel survive at sea? Will she return to the refuge to raise her own young?  Will the plan to save the ‘ua‘u work?  By the story’s end, Makani finds her own way to make a difference for the seabirds she loves so dearly.

Based on the true story of ʻuaʻu and the people working to save them, Finding Home, a Hawaiian Petrel’s Journey is filled with Caren Loebel-Fried’s colorful block prints, dynamic drawings, and maps. Following the story, a back section provides scientific facts on the habitat and lifestyle of ‘ua‘u and their connection to Hawaiian culture and history. The book’s middle-grade content includes place-based learning that incorporates natural science, wildlife conservation biology, literature, and art. Appealing to all ages, this hopeful, empowering story brings awareness to the threats humans have brought upon seabirds and inspires us to find ways we can help them survive and thrive.”

Caren learned the art of block printing from her mother.  She hand carves rubber or linoleum blocks and then transfers their images with oil-based ink to hand-made paper, she then colours the prints with pencils and black ink.  The ensuing artworks are then used to illustrate her books.  Caren aims to bring people closer to the natural world in the hope that they will want to help care for it.  Her books and art are doing just that.

Caren kindly gifted me a signed copy of her artwork “’U’au Over a Bioluminescent Sea” that appears in her latest book after our day out together in my home city

The book ends with a truly comprehensive 30-page section entitled “The Story Behind the Story” that includes information on the biology, conservation and threats facing the Hawaiian Petrel, references about the bird, information on the other seabird species that breed in Hawaii, glossaries of English and Hawaiian words, and more!  Clearly a boon for older children looking for information for their school essays and reports.  My three-year-old granddaughter is a little too young to have my signed copy of Caren’s book read to her.  I shall need wait a year to do so but look forward to the task.

I had the pleasure of meeting Caren and her husband Neil when they visited Cape Town in 2022.  We spent a day together travelling to view the colony of now Critically Endangered African Penguin Spheniscus demersus at Stony Point.  There are no penguins in the Hawaiian islands for Caren to study and illustrate so might I suggest the subject for her next book be the Critically Endangered and Hawaiian endemic Newell’s Shearwater Puffinus newelli instead?

Reference:

Loebel-Fried, C. 2025.  Finding Home, a Hawaiian Petrel’s Journey.  Honolulu: University of Hawai`i Press.  111 pp.  Hardback. ISBN-13: 9780824895716.  USD 19.99.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 15 January 2025