“Sun Setting on Marion Island”, gouache and coloured pencils, by Namo Niumim

Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim, who resides in Bangkok, Thailand, is the illustrator for the ACAP Species Infographics series.  The series, produced in English, French and Spanish (with some also in Portuguese), is now over halfway through with 17 produced out of 31 ACAP-listed species.  The infographic for the Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli is nearing completion.  .ACAP Species Infographics are freely downloadable from the ACAP website at a resolution suitable for printing and framing for educational purposes or personal use.

Namo, who works in gouache, 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.

Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim

At the request of ACAP’s Emeritus Information Officer, Namo has produced and donated an original artwork for an auction to raise funds for the Mouse-Free Marion Project.  The project aims to eradicate the island’s introduced House Mice that have taken to attacking and killing breeding seabirds and their chicks, including the Vulnerable Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans.  The auction will take place aboard the cruise ship MSC Musica at the end of the month.  The ship will sail to the waters of the Prince Edward Islands with 1850 birdwatchers aboard on a voyage entitled Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025.  Namo writes “My donated artwork shows a couple of Endangered Grey-headed Albatrosses Thalassarche chrysostoma sitting calmly while the sun is setting behind them.”

The ACAP Species Infographic for the Wandering Albatross was co-published by ACAP and the Mouse-Free Marion Project

The next ACAP Species Infographic to be illustrated by Namo will be for the Southern Giant Petrel M. giganteus, completing the series for all the eight ACAP-listed species that breed on Marion Island.

 Namo produced this poster of the four albatrosses that breed on the island for the Mouse-Free Marion Project, using artwork from her ACAP infographics.  You can download your own free copy from the MFM Project website (read more about it here).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 14 January 2025

Janice Molloy, photograph from the Southern Seabirds Trust

Janice Molloy of Waikanae has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to wildlife conservation in King Charles III’s 2025 New Year Honours List.  Janice is Convenor of the environmental NGO Southern Seabirds Trust.

Her citation follows:

“Ms Janice Molloy has been supporting fishers and the wider seafood industry in their journey towards seabird-safe fishing for more than 20 years.

Ms Molloy was instrumental in bringing together fishing industry leaders, environmental organisations, government agencies, scientists, and recreational fishing interests in 2002, leading to the establishment of the Southern Seabirds Trust.  She has been Convenor of the Trust since its establishment, promoting a collaborative approach to reduce the capture of New Zealand’s seabirds through fishing activities.  Under her guidance, the Trust encourages fishers to take ownership of the problem and find solutions by giving them the knowledge and the practical support they need to address seabird captures.  This has created change in fishing practices, demonstrating that conservation through cooperation can achieve results.  Ms Molloy’s contributions have had direct implications for coastal communities in New Zealand, helped the New Zealand commercial fishing industry improve its environmental performance, and assisted the wider international community in its responsibility for the sustainable management of the world’s oceans and fisheries.”

The Southern Seabirds Trust writes on its Facebook page that “it is very proud of our Convenor Janice Molloy’s appointment as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.  Janice has been supporting fishers and the wider seafood industry in their journey towards seabird-safe fishing for more than 20 years.”

The ACAP Secretariat congratulates Janice on this well-deserved award, which reflects her long-standing commitment to, and promotion of, seabird-safe fisheries.

In the same honours list Julian Fitter, co-author of the 2008 book ‘Albatross, Their World Their Ways’ has also been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to conservation (click here).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 10 January 2025

           
The publication’s graphical abstract

Guilherme dos Santos Lima (Environmental Studies Center, São Paulo State University, Rio Claro, Brazil) and colleagues have published in the journal Environmental Pollution on levels of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in seabirds from the south-western Atlantic Ocean, including Atlantic Yellow-nosed Thalassarche chlororhynchos and Black-browed T. melanophris Albatrosses and Southern Giant Macronectes giganteus and White-chinned Procellaria aequinoctialis Petrels.

A Southern Giant Petrel guards its chick, artwork by Leigh Wolfaardt

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Seabirds are particularly susceptible to potentially toxic elements (PTEs) due to the tendency of biomagnification of some elements, thus serving as potential bioindicators for assessing environmental health. In this study, we analyzed As, Cd, Cu and Zn concentrations in liver samples from nine seabird species (51 specimens) collected along the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Results revealed substantial variations in PTE concentrations among species, with taxonomic orders influencing accumulation patterns. The observed PTE concentrations in seabirds suggest potential trends in bioaccumulation, influenced by species-specific behaviors and diets. For instance, As ranged from 0.47 mg kg⁻¹ in Nannopterum brasilianus to 70.25 mg kg⁻¹ in Thalassarche melanophris, while Cd ranged from 0.01 mg kg⁻¹ in N. brasilianus to 232.73 mg kg⁻¹ in Spheniscus magellanicus. Generalized Linear Model (GLM) results identified body length and species as the main factors influencing PTE concentrations for most elements. Spearman correlation analysis revealed a strong positive correlation between Cd and Cu (ρ = 0.68), Cd and Zn (ρ = 0.67) and between Zn and Cu (ρ = 0.56), suggesting that seabirds with higher Cd levels also tend to have higher Cu and Zn concentrations. Multivariate statistical analysis demonstrated distinct PTE compositions among bird groups. Although significant variations in total concentrations of elements like Zn and Cu were observed among species, the relative contributions of each element to the overall load in the organism showed a convergence in proportions. This underscores the need for further research on homeostatic processes and the potential impacts of environmental PTEs on seabird health.”

With thanks to Patricia Serafini.

Reference:

dos Santos Lima, G., Suarez, C.A., Gemeiner, H., Serafini, P.P., Alves de Deus, J.P., Viana, J.L.M. & Menegario, A.A. 2025.  Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in seabirds foraging across a heterogeneous landscape: cross-species bioaccumulation patterns.  Environmental Pollution 367. 125609.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 09 January 2025

A Laysan Albatross incubates within the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge in the current 2024/25 breeding season, photograph from the Friends of Kauai Wildlife Refuges

UPDATE:  The final total for the 2024/25 breeding season was 44 fertile Laysan Albatross eggs given.to birds elsewhere on Kauai that had infertile eggs for a translocation programme that commenced in 2005, according to Brooke Mcfarland, Natural Resources Manager, Pacific Missile Range Facility.

As of 12 December, 27 fertile Laysan Albatross or Mōlī Phoebastria immutabilis eggs from occupied nests in the Pacific Missile Range Facility had been successfully swapped with infertile eggs (often laid by female-female pairs) on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.  "The Pacific Missile Range Facility on the west side of Kauai [is] where nesting is dangerous for aircraft and albatross.  Eggs there are confiscated, put into an incubator, candled for fertility and adopted out.  Placed on both federal and private lands, the project means more than two dozen additional chicks may fledge from the island in the current breeding season”. Information from the Facbook page of Hob Osterlund.  Watch a video of candling an egg in the field to test for viability here.

Egg swaps have been a regular activity on Kauai for some years (click here).

A Laysan Albatross pair inspects their egg within the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge in the current 2024/25 breeding season, photograph from the Kilauea Point Wildlife Reserve

Within the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on Kauai, the Facebook page of the Friends of the Kaua'i National Wildlife Refuges reports that 151 Laysan Albatross occupied nests have been counted  within two breeding colonies.  These birds now breed behind predator-proof fencing.  In the previous (2023/24) breeding season the 158 eggs counted constituted  a record number (click here). A more recent total is given as 153,  An article by Hob Osterlund adds "We have an estimated 388 nests [for Kauai], a first-place photo finish with [2017/18], when there were 392 nests. Of those, thirty-nine percent (153 nests)  are on US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) federal land at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge. Sixty-one percent (235 nests) are on private lands. Private land colony sizes vary from as few as one nest to as many as 63 nests". 

With thanks to Brooke Mcfarland and Hob Osterlund.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 08 January 2025, updated 09 January 2025