The Pacific Seabird Group and the Waterbird Society will meet jointly in San José, Costa Rica over 6-9 January 2025 (click here).

“La Waterbird Society y el Pacific Seabird Group se reunirán conjuntamente en San José, Costa Rica, a principios de 2025. ¡Marque sus calendarios del 6 al 9 de enero! Empiece a hacer planes para una reunión extraordinaria y viaje a un destino increíble. ¡Visite el sitio web para obtener detalles actuales, pero mas detalles sobre la reunion se estaran brindando pronto!”

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 10 April 2024

Woody, the Department of Conservation's Stoat-hunting dog, was deployed to Great Barrier Island, photograph by the Auckland Council (click here)

Beth McKeague (School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom) and colleagues have published early view in the journal Seabird on the value of conservation detection dog handler teams supporting the conservation of procellariiform seabirds, such as petrels, shearwaters and storm petrels.

All weathers.  Joanna Sims with Miro looking for breeding Black Petrels on Great Barrier Island on a wet day, photograph from DabChickNZ (click here)

An example included in the paper is using dogs to help protect ACAP-listed Black Petrels Procellaria parkinsoni (categorized both globally and nationally Vulnerable) on New Zealand’s Great Barrier Island/Aotea.

The paper’s abstract follows:

"Conservation detection dog handler teams (CDDHTs) offer many potential benefits to the world of conservation. Seabird populations are an important component of marine ecosystems.  However, they are threatened by several anthropogenic activities, including the introduction of invasive species.  Although CDDHT can support seabird conservation through invasive species management efforts and population assessments, they are under-utilised.  A lack of methodological standardisation within CDDHT work and the under-publishing of their use within seabird research leads to difficulties in conducting new CDDHT seabird-related studies due to an inability to learn from previous research.  This study aimed to address these shortcomings by investigating the techniques and methods used by those actively working with, or planning to work with, CDDHT on a seabird project to better understand them, and propose best practices in the field.   Seven professionals who have used, or will use, CDDHT as part of a seabird project (four handlers, three ecologists/researchers) participated in structured written surveys which were thematically analysed.  Five superordinate themes emerged from the survey data: Training, Location, Role of Handler, Wildlife Considerations, and Dog Selection Criteria, with the first two themes having several subordinate themes.  A summary of best practices was developed from the findings, with notable recommendations including preparation across all project elements, networking with other professionals, and making judgments on the use of techniques like discrimination and field trials based on the specific project and dog(s).  These results can serve to benefit future seabird studies involving CDDHT as well as supporting the development of standardisation in the CDDHT field."

Read about an ACAP-funded secondment of a detection dog-handler from the South Atlantic to New Zealand’s Conservation Dogs Programme, managed by the Department of Conservation here.

Reference:

McKeague, B., Chapman, S., Cripps, R., González-Solís, J., Hartman, J., Johnson, K., Kerrigan, P., McClelland, G.T.W., Militão, T., Smith, H. & Finlay, C. 2024.  Recommendations for the use of conservation detection dogs in seabird research: a thematic analysis.  Seabird 36(2) doi.org/10.61350/sbj.36.2.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 09 April 2024

The 154^th Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, co-hosted by the Western Division and the Pacific Islands Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, is taking place 15 – 19 September 2024 in Honolulu, Hawaii, under the theme, “Conserving Fishes and Fishing Traditions through Knowledge Co-Production”. 

The program contains a broad variety of sessions, including one on Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) entitled "Large blue-water Marine Protected Areas: benefits and costs", described as follows:

"A number of large MPAs in the open ocean have been established and more are planned. This session will address what is known about the consequences of these closed areas, in terms of changes in the marine ecosystem, impacts on fisheries, and impacts on local communities. There will also be a focus on the methodology needed to estimate the impacts, in particular what constitutes a control. We anticipate papers will be presented evaluating existing examples, and model based evaluations of the potential impacts."

Session organiser, Ray Hilborn (University of Washington) is seeking a diversity of views on the global state of Blue Water MPAs, with a particular emphasis on those in the Pacific.

If you are interested in submitting an abstract for the session but travel to the meeting is an impediment, please contact Ray Hilborn at, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss further.

Abstracts for this, or any session, can be submitted, here.

The deadline for abstract submission is 26 April 2024.

Registration for the meeting has now opened and more information on the programme, travel details and abstract submission, can be found at the AFS website, here.

8 April 2024

Short-tailed Albatrosses "George and Geraldine enclosed in an ethereal protective boundary" by Agnieszka Elliott from a photo by Jonathan Plissner

Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) have extended the date for artwork submissions to Project #47 for this year’s World Albatross Day under the theme, “Marine Protected Areas – Safeguarding our Oceans”, until 21 April 2024.

This year marks ACAP’s fifth collaboration with ABUN for World Albatross Day and though contributions were a little slow to begin with, ABUN artists appear to have hit their stride with many more pieces submitted over the last couple of weeks. 

Top row left to right: "They heard there was a party going on!" by Di Roberts; Short-tailed Albatross 'George' by Lois Davis from a photo by Jonathan Plissner; "All you need is love & Zumba" by Grace Innemee; 
Bottom row left to right: "Short-tailed Albatross pair George and Geraldine" by Lisa Riley; "Albatross colony near Dunedin" by Christina Rebekah Todd from a photo by her husband; "Short-tailed Albatrosses George and Geraldine" by Shary Page Weckwerth after a photo by Jonathan Plissner 

23 stunning pieces from 16 artists have been submitted to the project (view them all in an ACAP Facebook album), with some artists having produced multiple works for the project. Ellyn Bousman Lentz and Sandhaya Verma have both produced two pieces for the project, whilst Flávia F. Barreto has created four.

 Top row left to right by Flávia F. Barreto: "Buller´s albatrosses" from a photo by Dominique Filippi; "Short-tailed albatross and Torishima Island" from two ACAP photos; "Buller´s Albatross" from a photo by Laurie Smaglick Johnson
Bottom row left to right: "Short-Tailed Albatrosses George and Geraldine on Midway" by Sandhaya Verma from a photo by Jonathan Plissner; "Short-Tailed Albatross chick at 16 weeks on Midway" by Sandhaya Verma from a photo by  Jonathan Plissner; "OUR SEAS" by Georgia F. Feild; 

This year's World Albatross Day, celebrated on 19 June is focusing on the connection between albatrosses and the ocean, highlighting how Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) can help improve the conservation status of these magnificent birds. 

"Buller's Albatross Portrait" by Rosana Venturini from a photo by Ross Wheeler

New Zealand’s Near Threatened Buller's Albatross Thalassarche bulleri and the Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus have been chosen as the featured species for 2024’s World Albatross Day celebrations.

Find out more about this year's World Albatross Day at the ACAP website, here.

5 April 2024