Shaun Schneier on the plateau of Cape Town’s Table Mountain – with the Southern Ocean over the horizon

Following the Mouse-Free Marion Project’s interview with Roeloff Botha, one of the very few who so far have sponsored at least 100 hectares of the 30 000-ha island to help rid it of introduced House Mice that have taken to attacking albatross chicks, the project has turned to another member of the prestigious and select ‘Wandering Albatross’ sponsorship category.  He is South African Shaun Schneier, who currently leads the challenge by sponsoring a magnificent 145 hectares (at 1000 South African Rands a hectare).  The project’s interview with Shaun follows.

MFM:  Have you had a personal connection with Marion, perhaps by visiting the island?

SS:  No, unfortunately I have not yet visited the island but would certainly consider a future visit.

MFM:  What motivated you to make your sponsorship?9

SS:  When I was still at school I watched a documentary about albatrosses. I do not recall if it was about different species or just the Wandering Albatross. What really captivated me was their size and their way of taking off and landing, running and gaining speed into the wind and sometimes landing quite clumsily due to their considerable momentum. I could not help comparing this style of flight to that of an aeroplane as they soar so effortlessly once airborne! I subsequently gained great respect for their ability to remain at sea for long periods of time, the long journeys they make, the distances they travel just to enable them to feed their chicks and their ability to fly gracefully in gale-force winds. It is horrifying that creatures of such grace and dignity are being subjected to being eaten alive due to human carelessness which has enabled rodents to invade their habitat. I also find it disturbing that places as remote as Marion Island can so easily be degraded by invasive species and plastic waste. It is up to us as a species to do everything we can to undo the damage we are causing to our planet and its wonderful ecosystems.

MFM:  Any other information about yourself that will give context to your donation?

SS:  From 1984 to 2007 I worked in the Marine and Coastal Management Branch of the (then) South African Department of Environmental Affairs (now the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment). I then did some consulting work and am now retired. Although my academic background was in marine science and coastal management, I noticed that politicians and decision-makers were generally more persuaded by economic arguments than scientific ones. Recognizing the importance of environmental economics as a field which assigns economic value to ecosystems and their services, I completed some courses in economics and environmental economics. I have also been a member of environmental NGOs such as BirdLife South Africa and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA).

MFM:  Anything else you might like to have mentioned?

SS:  In order to assist you to encourage others to support the eradication of the "killer" mice, I would like to contribute the following.  As mentioned on the Marion-Free website, “Marion Island is the jewel in South Africa’s island crown – it is huge and beautiful, hosts an astonishing array of endemic species and charismatic marine megafauna” and should be pristine. The island’s ecological value prompted the South African Government in 2003 to declare the Prince Edward Islands (which include Marion) a Special Nature Reserve, in terms of the Protected Areas Act. A plague of mice on the island now poses a threat to the survival of 18 of the 27 seabird species that breed on the island, including that charismatic icon of the open ocean, the Wandering Albatross.  Mice also have significant impacts on invertebrates such as the flightless moths and weevils, plant communities and nutrient cycles.

The costs of leaving mice unchecked on Marion Island would be extremely serious. The island’s ecological integrity and the rationale for declaring it as a Special Nature Reserve would be undermined. In contrast, the benefits of eradicating the mice from the island would be enormous. Successful mice eradication projects on New Zealand’s Antipodes Island and the United Kingdom’s South Georgia [Islas Georgias del Sur*] have demonstrated the viability of such projects and ecological restoration is already evident!  Because Marion will be by far the largest island on which a mice eradication project is executed, this project will represent a great conservation achievement for South Africa and all the individuals who contribute.

MFM:  Thank you!

Will there be further sponsorships to match or even exceed Shaun Schneier’s 145 hectares, either from individuals or from groups?  Marion Island’s beleaguered seabirds definitely hope so!

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 May 2021

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

Note:  This news post in a slightly different version also appeared today on the Mouse-Free Marion Project’s website.

The 2021 Short-tailed Albatross chick approaches fledging, photograph from the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

George and Geraldine make up the sole pair of Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatrosses Diomedea albatrus that breed on Midway Atoll’s Sand Island.  They commenced breeding on the island in 2018 after first meeting up on the island in 2016 and have attempted breeding every year since. Their third chick was thought to have hatched on 1 January and will soon be fledging, according to a post and video by the Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge Facebook page:

“Watch the 2021 short-tailed albatross chick as it practices wing flapping while its mother makes a slow walk to the beach to depart after potentially her final feeding and the chick's possible last glance at its' mother. This chick will spend it most its growing up years out foraging and getting to know its home at sea. The chick will likely fledge from Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within the next couple of weeks.”

Watch the video here.

George and Geraldine’s latest chick was banded recently (click here).

Meanwhile, the latest chick of Wisdom, the well-known Laysan Albatross P. immutabilis, and her mate Akeakamai, is also doing well on Midway (watch video).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 May 2021

Globally Vulnerable Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans on Australia's Macquarie Island, photograph by Kerry Steinberner

The Australian draft National Recovery Plan for albatrosses and petrels (2021) is now available for comment in accordance with the provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) until 27 August 2021.  This recovery plan is the third plan for threatened albatross and petrel species occurring in Australia (and its sub-Antarctic islands) and will replace the previous plan that was  adopted in 2011.  The objective of the recovery plan is to improve the conservation of albatrosses and petrels so their status in Australia is no longer threatened (click here).

An overview of the plan follows:

“The draft National Recovery Plan for albatrosses and petrels (2021) provides a national strategy to guide the activities of government, industry, research organisations, and other stakeholders in the protection, conservation and management of listed threatened albatross and petrel species. The plan outlines the research and management actions necessary to stop the decline of, and support the recovery of the species, so that their chances of long-term survival in nature are maximised. The plan also outlines the major benefits to other albatross and petrel species that are not listed as threatened, but will be affected by the implementation of the plan.

The recovery plan recognises that threatened albatrosses and petrels will take longer than the 10-year life of the current plan to recover. It further acknowledges that a recovery plan should remain in place for affected species until such time as the conservation status of the species breeding and/or foraging in Australian jurisdiction has improved to the point where populations are considered secure. The plan aims to provide continuity for recovery actions for these long-lived species, and also recognises that within the five-year timeframe for reviewing progress under a recovery plan there is insufficient time to determine accurately changes affecting the recovery of the species within Australian jurisdiction. The plan also aims to provide continuity for international advocacy by Australia, particularly through the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, relevant regional fisheries and conservation bodies, and through engaging with range states, and international bodies with an interest an expertise in conserving the species.

The long-term vision under this recovery plan is that the albatross and petrel species' populations breeding and/or foraging in Australian jurisdiction have increased to such a size that the species no longer qualify for listing as threatened under any of the EPBC Act listing criteria.”

To view a list of the 18 species of albatrosses and giant petrels Macronectes spp. covered, obtain the draft report and to read how to submit comments (by 27 August 2021) click here.

Reference:

Commonwealth of Australia 2021.  Draft National Recovery Plan for albatrosses and petrels (2021).  [Canberra]: Commonwealth of Australia.  227 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 May 2021

The tension device (white cylinder) deployed on a trawler's bird-scaring line with its hanging streamers in harbour, photograph by Reason Nyengera

The following is extracted from the 2020 Annual Report of the environmental NGO BirdLife South Africa on the development and testing of a tension device to monitor deployment of bird-scaring lines on both demersal trawl and longline vessels.  The work, led by Andrea Angel of the Albatross Task Force, received funding from the ACAP Small Grants programme in 2020.

“In the late 1980s bird-scaring lines (BSLs) were developed to mitigate seabird deaths in the fishing industry. While their use is regarded as standard best practice, compliance remains a challenge. Assessing compliance is only possible if an observer is aboard the fishing vessel to ensure the BSL is deployed at every set. To improve and monitor the use of BSLs, BirdLife South Africa partnered with Imvelo Blue Environment Consultancy (IBEC) on a project to further develop its prototype BSL compliance monitoring device. The BSL device was conceived by IBEC founder Sihle Victor Ngcongo and developed by Nelson Miranda of Argonaut Science, a South African company. It can monitor compliance of the use of BSLs during a trip and works by recording the change in tension created by the drag of the BSL in the water.The project was funded by the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. During 2020 we were able to complete a series of at-sea trial deployments and data collection aboard demersal trawl and longline vessels.

We improved the technical specifications of the device’s data collection software and adjusted its sensitivity to various deployment conditions at sea, such as weather and fluctuations in tension. The device was also protected from potential tampering and can detect erroneous or false BSL deployments. These ongoing improvements will make it easier to use on various fleets and with different types of BSLs. The aim is for it to be useful as a compliance tool in the absence of on-board observers. The device includes remote data collection access and a USB port, eliminating the need to remove it from its attachment point on a vessel.

Electronic monitoring is often seen as intruding on the privacy of crew members, but because the form of electronic monitoring provided by this device is not intrusive, we hope it is more likely to be accepted by fishermen. The device can complement and validate official log-book data and compliance with night-setting for longline vessels. It also has the potential to record location and linkups with the Vessel Monitoring and Automatic Identification systems that most vessels are obliged to carry. The project has helped to develop improvements in hardware and software technology, resulting in a resilient device that will directly address issues with compliance.”

Left: A trawler crew member clips the tension device to the bird-scaring line; Right: the tension device deployed at sea at night, photograph by Sihle Victor Ngcongo

Read an earlier ACAP Latest News post on development of the BSL tension device.

With thanks to Andrea Angel, Albatross Task Force Manager, BirdLife South Africa

Reference:

BirdLife South Africa 2021.  BirdLife South Africa Annual Report 2020.  Johannesburg:  BirdLife South Africa.  40 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 May 2021