Graphical Abstract - from the publication

Kosuke Tanaka (Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Environmental Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Japan) and colleagues have published in the journal Current Biology on feeding plastics to chicks of streaked shearwater Calonectris leucomelas.

The paper’s summary follows:

“Plastic debris is ubiquitous and increasing in the marine environment. A wide range of marine organisms ingest plastic, and its impacts are of growing concern. Seabirds are particularly susceptible to plastic pollution because of high rates of ingestion. Because marine plastics contain an array of hazardous compounds, the chemical impacts of ingestion are concerning. Several studies on wild seabirds suggested accumulation of plastic-derived chemicals in seabird tissues. However, to date, the evidence has all been indirect, and it is unclear whether plastic debris is the source of these pollutants.  To obtain direct evidence for the transfer and accumulation of plastic additives in the tissues of seabirds, we conducted an in vivo plastic feeding experiment. Environmentally relevant exposure of plastics compounded with one flame retardant and four ultraviolet stabilizers to streaked shearwater (Calonectris leucomelas) chicks in semi-field conditions resulted in the accumulation of the additives in liver and adipose fat of 91 to 120,000 times the rate from the natural diet. Additional monitoring of six seabird species detected these chemical additives only in those species with high plastic ingestion rates, suggesting that plastic debris can be a major pathway of chemical pollutants into seabirds. These findings provide direct evidence of seabird exposure to plastic additives and emphasize the role of marine debris ingestion as a source of chemical pollution in marine organisms.”

Reference:

Tanaka, K., Watanuki, Y., Takada, H., Ishizuka, M., Yamashita, R., Kazama, M., Hiki, N, Kashiwada, F., Mizukawa, K., Mizukawa, H., Hyrenbach, D., Hester, M., Ikenaka, Y. & Nakayama, S.M.M.  2020.  In vivo accumulation of plastic-derived chemicals into seabird tissues.  Current Biology doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2019.12.037.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 December 2020

Pink-footed Shearwater at sea, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Writing in Spanish, Rodrigo Silva (Programa Aves Marinas, Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile) and colleagues have reviewed the impacts of light pollution on 17 species of Chilean seabirds (including the ACAP-listed Pink-footed Shearwater or Fardela blanca Ardenna creatopus) in the journal Ornitología Neotropical.

The paper’s abstract follows in both English and Spanish:

“Light pollution affects seabirds through the attraction to light sources and its fallout all over the world, being petrels and shearwaters the most affected species. Light pollution is increasing globally and its effects on seabirds will likely increase during the next years. A global assessment of this issue has been made, but there is no detailed information about South America; thus, the aim of this article is to assess the situation in Chile, in order to suggest technical measures to be considered into the national light pollution policy, which could promote the addressing of the issue in South America. To do so, a diagnosis on marine bird species was made through direct consultation with experts, a systematic review, and research in free access databases. We found 17 seabirds species affected by fallout in Chile, including six species not previously recognized in the literature. The impact is mainly distributed in islands and coastal localities, but also inland, as far as 100 km from the shore. Most of the management of this phenomenon done in Chile is restricted to the rescue and release of affected birds, although there is no evidence of the long-term success of this approach. Measures, such as turning off lights or light replacement are rare, implemented at a small scale, and have unknown results. An update of the light pollution policy is required in Chile, which should consider the protection of biodiversity as a goal, the national geographic scope beyond areas of astronomical interest, and including new lighting technologies such as LED lights. Finally, the development of stronger regulations for human activities, like lighting near sensible points, including seabirds’ breeding grounds, is especially important.”

“Resumen  La contaminación lumínica afecta a las aves marinas por la atracción hacia fuentes de luz y su posterior caída (fallout) en todo el mundo, siendo los petreles y fardelas las especies más afectadas. La contaminación lumínica está aumentando globalmente y probablemen-te sus efectos sobre estas aves se incrementen en los próximos años. Pese a que existe una evaluación global de esta materia, no existe in-formación detallada para Sudamérica; por esto, el objetivo de este artículo es elaborar un diagnóstico de la situación en Chile, a fin de sugerir un enfoque técnico y político para el país y promover la discusión y acciones al respecto para la región sudamericana. Para ello, se elaboró un diagnóstico de las especies de aves marinas y territorios afectados a través de la consulta directa a investigadores, la revisión sistemática y búsqueda en bases de datos de acceso libre. En Chile, 17 especies de aves marinas son afectadas por la contaminación lumínica, incluyendo seis especies no identificadas previamente en la literatura. El impacto se distribuye principalmente en islas y localidades costeras, con algu-nos casos de localidades a más de 100 km al interior desde la costa. La mayor parte del manejo de este fenómeno en Chile consiste en el rescate y liberación de aves, aunque no hay evidencia del éxito de este enfoque a largo plazo. Medidas como el apagado o recambio de luces son escasas y sólo se han adoptado a pequeña escala y con resultados desconocidos a la fecha. Por ello, una actualización de la política de contaminación lumínica es requerida en Chile y debe considerar la biodiversidad como objeto de protección, el alcance geográfico nacional más allá de las áreas de interés astronómico y debe incluir nuevas tecnologías de iluminación, como luces LED. Finalmente, será de especial importancia la generación de regulaciones más estrictas sobre actividades humanas, incluyendo la iluminación en las cercanías a puntos sensibles, como colonias reproductivas de aves marinas.”

Reference:

Silva, R., Medrano, F., Tejeda, I., Terán, D., Peredo, R., Barros, R., Colodro, V., González, P., González, V., Guerra-Correa, C., Hodum, P., Keitt, B., Luna-Jorquera, G., Malinarich, V., Mallea, G., Manríquez, P., Nevins, H., Olmedo, B., Páez-Godoy, J., de Rodt, G.H., Rojas, F., Sanhueza, P., Suazo, C.G., Toro, F. & Toro-Barros, B. 2020.  Evaluación del impacto de la contaminación lumínica sobre las aves marinas en Chile: diagnóstico y propuestas  [Assessing light pollution impacts on seabirds in Chile: diagnosis and proposals].  Ornitología Neotropical 31: 13-24.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 December 2020

A wild Laysan Albatross incubates its egg in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge, photograph by Lindsay Young

A three-year project over 2015/16 to 2017/18 by the environmental NGO Pacific Rim Conservation (PRC) to create a new colony from 50 translocated Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis chicks hand raised within a predator-fenced site at the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian island of Oahu resulted in 46 chicks fledging.  Since commencement of the project to create a breeding site safe from sea-level rise over 900 sightings of wild (= non translocated) Laysan Albatrosses have been made at the site, attracted by decoys, broadcasted calls and the presence of translocated chicks.

With first breeding expected only after three to five years, it is still a little too early to say whether the translocation exercise will end in a new colony for the globally Near Threatened albatross, but it continues to look promising with so far four hand-reared birds from the 2015/16 and 2016/17 cohorts recorded displaying multiple times in the refuge.

In December 2017 a single pair of wild Laysan Albatrosses commenced incubating within the refuge, with three more wild birds observed sitting on empty nests.  In each of the following two seasons two nests were present outside the predator-proof fence.  The PRC now reports on the current 2020/21 breeding season via its Facebook page: “We have not one, but two nests inside the fence!  Both nests are [of] wild birds that came naturally through social attraction, but with all the returning chicks, we are hopeful that more nests are coming”.

Pacific Rim Conservation has been hand-raising three other Hawaiian seabirds within the refuge, including the globally Near Threatened Black-footed Albatross P. nigripes.

The NGO’s seabird conservation work within the refuge is supported by Pacific Islands: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Navy, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation and American Bird Conservancy.

With thanks to Lindsay Young, Pacific Rim Conservation.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 December 2020

An Argentinean side-haul trawler with attending albatrosses around the net

Leo Tamini (Albatross Task Force Argentina, Programa Marino, Aves Argentinas, Buenos Aires, Argentina) and colleagues have published in the journal Bird Conservation International on the incidental capture of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters by Argentinean side-haul trawlers.

An entangled Great Shearwater within the trawl net

The paper’s summary follows:

“Between April 2008 and July 2015, we conducted a total of 18 trips on five different side-haul trawlers fishing within the Argentine Exclusive Economic Zone, monitoring 486 hauls. We observed 100% of the hauls and monitored trawl cables for 136.7 hours, about 5% of the trawl effort, to identify the levels of seabird bycatch from net entanglements and collisions with trawl cables. A total of 35 net entanglements of White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis, Great Shearwaters Ardenna gravis, Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris and Southern Royal Albatross Diomedea epomophora were recorded, all of which occurred during the autumn and winter. Additionally, 656 seabird collisions against trawl cables were recorded including 39 heavy, 96 medium and 521 light. Further, we recorded nine Black-browed Albatrosses and two Great Shearwaters potentially dead. Although in the study fishery the number of deaths in the trawl cables could surpass the number of birds incidentally killed in nets, the mortality rate caused by the latter type of interaction far exceeds those observed in nets from other trawl fisheries operating in the Patagonian Shelf. Fortunately, 26% of the seabirds entangled in the net were recovered and released alive, which indicates that awareness and training in safe bird handling and release may improve captured seabird survival rates. The main objectives of this work is to highlight a little-studied source of seabird mortality by entanglement, to generate discussion on potential technical mitigation measures for side-haul trawl fisheries, and to propose crew training in safe handling and release of seabirds as an immediate mitigation measure.”

A Southern Royal Albatross approaches an Argentinian trawl net

Photographs by Leo Tamini

With thanks to Leo Tamini for information and photographs.

Reference:

Tamini, L.L., Chavez, L.N., Dellacasa ,R.F., Crawford, R. & Frere, E.  2020.  Incidental capture of seabirds in Argentinean side-haul trawlers.  Bird Conservation International doi.org/10.1017/S095927092000062.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 December 2020