Ready to fledge: a healthy Wandering Albatross chick on Marion Island in December 2008, photograph by John Cooper

A Media Statement by the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has announced  that the High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus is suspected to have reached Marion Island, one of South Africa’s two sub-Antarctic islands in the southern Indian Ocean, and is possibly responsible for causing mortalities in at least three breeding seabird species.

After an initial suspected case in a Brown or Subantarctic Skua Catharacta antarctica in mid-September 2024, another five suspected cases were found in early November 2024, involving three Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans chicks and two Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus adults.

“The situation is being closely monitored by the 11-field personnel overwintering on the island, who have been trained to recognise possible HPAI signs in birds and seals, and in the necessary monitoring and mitigation methods.  They will be taking all precautions to ensure they do not spread the virus, and they are collecting information to assist with decisions about the appropriate response.  The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, the management authority for the Prince Edward Islands, has developed a Protocol for the Management of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza in Seabirds together with the Western Cape Veterinary Services, marine ornithologists, marine mammal biologists, disease experts and colleagues overseas with similar experience, and will continue to work to monitor and hopefully limit the spread of the virus on the island,”

At least 58 Wandering Albatrosses, along with other seabird species, succumbed to avian flu on Bird Island in the South Atlantic during the 2023/24 austral summer (click here and here and references below).  The new field observations from Marion Island, once confirmed, expand the spread of the virus a year later to ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels breeding in the southern Indian Ocean.

References:

Banyard, A.C., Bennison, A., Byrne, A.M.P. et al. 2024.  Detection and spread of high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the Antarctic Region.  Nature Communications 15, 7433.  doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51490-8.

Bennison, A., Adlard, S., Banyard, A. C., Blockley, F., Blyth, M., Browne, E., … Phillips, R.A. 2024.  A case study of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 at Bird Island, South Georgia: the first documented outbreak in the subantarctic region.  Bird Study, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00063657.2024.2396563.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 15 November 2024

Beached Short-tailed Shearwaters, photograph from the research group Adrift Lab

Reports in the mainstream  and social media are showing that Short-tailed Shearwaters Ardenna tenuirostris have been dying at sea and their corpses washing ashore in very large numbers on the coast of New South Wales and Victoria, with reports also coming from Tasmania.  Some birds are making it ashore alive, but in an emaciated condition, signaling a shortage of their prey.

Ongoing discussions centre on how “normal” the wreck is, with a view expressed that it is caused by ocean warming affecting food supply and is not directly related to migration or to an individual bad weather event.

This Short-tailed Shearwater has been beached while still alive, photograph from Adrift Lab

“Authorities on the alert for the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu have tested the dead shearwaters, also known as muttonbirds, in NSW and Victoria for avian influenza, but have so far found no sign.”  Notably, Australia has so far remained free of the virus.

Read more about the wreck here.

14 November 2024

Amsterdam Albatross at sea: a southern Indian Ocean specialty.  Artwork by Birgit Bührlé and photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Adrien Chaigne (Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Villiers en Bois, France) and colleagues have published a technical report that analyses four decades (1978-2020) of at-sea surveys of 71  species of seabirds in the Southern Indian Ocean.

The report’s executive summary follows:

“Seabirds are conspicuous and important marine predators. They mostly forage on a diversity of zooplankton (copepods, euphausiids, amphipods) and nekton (squid and fish) prey. Because of their position in the trophic web, high energy requirements, mobility and longevity, these top marine predators can be used as indicators of the spatial variability of marine ecosystem functions and dynamics. We present here distribution maps of resident and migratory seabirds observed in two regions of the Southern Indian Ocean.

The present Atlas focuses on seabird's distribution in the Southern Indian Ocean using a unique long-term dataset (1978-2020) of at-sea observations made repeatedly over two time periods separated by 10 years to examine spatial and seasonal variation in seabird abundance and occurrence at a large spatial scale. Cruises encompassed a 30° latitudinal gradient through tropical, subtropical, subantarctic and Antarctic waters of the Southern Indian Ocean, allowing to explore the distribution of 71 seabird species (or pooled species). This is the first comprehensive summary of information on how some species or communities of seabirds of the Southern Indian Ocean use the habitats of this immense area. The present Atlas aims (1) to summarize the information on the occurrence and abundance of subantarctic and Antarctic seabirds over the period 1978-2020, according to season (austral summer versus austral winter) in two distinct geographical areas in the Southern Indian Ocean (western and eastern areas), and (2) to quantify the species diversity using diverse metrics.

The produced maps provide insights on biogeographic affinities, habitat associations, and "hotspots" of biodiversity and potential predator-prey dynamics. Identifying hotspots is potentially valuable in the design of offshore marine protected area networks. Within the study regions, we found apparent hotspots in subantarctic and Antarctic waters, especially in the vicinity of subantarctic islands. We observed strong seasonal changes in the distribution and abundance of seabirds, which alters the relative importance of these hotspots. The value of hotspots for the protection of these far-ranging pelagic species deserves further study.”

With thanks to Karine Delord.

Reference:

Chaigne, A., Delord, K., Mansoux, B., Bost, C.-A., Weimerskirch, H. & Barbraud, C. 2024.  Seabird Distribution in the Southern Indian Ocean: Four Decades of at sea Surveys.  CEBC-CNRS Marine Top Predators Team.  203 pp.

13 November 2024

The ACAP Species Infographic series is designed to help inform the general public, including school learners, of the threats faced by albatrosses 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. To date, 17 species infographics (out of the 31 ACAP-listed species) have been produced, the latest being for the Vulnerable White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis, recently released in English.

Versions for the White-chinned Petrel are now available in the other two ACAP official languages, French and Spanish, and also in Portuguese.  The last version reflects that the species visits the waters of Brazil (a Party to the Agreement).  Previously, Portuguese versions have been was produced for the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbeneena and for the Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris.  A few more ACAP-listed species that regularly visit Brazilian waters will also have infographics produced in Portuguese.

The 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).  English and Portuguese language versions of infographics are available to download here, whilst 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.

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.

The infographics are created by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim from Bangkok.  With thanks to ‘Pep’ Arcos, Karine Delord and Patricia Serafini for their careful checking of texts in their home languages.

12 November 2024