Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP Latest News

Read about recent developments and findings in procellariiform science and conservation relevant to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels in ACAP Latest News.

UPDATED. Next step achieved: progress with USA efforts to become a Party to the Albatross and Petrel Agreement

UPDATE:

Dear Colleagues,
Earlier today, H.R. 1305, the Albatross and Petrel Conservation Act, cleared the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources. This legislation would implement the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) and its lead sponsor in the House is Representative Alan Lowenthal (D-CA). The bill was approved by the Committee on a party-line vote, 21-12. Although H.R. 1305 still needs to clear the full House and Senate, gaining approval by the House Committee on Natural Resources is the high-water mark to date in terms of action to advance ACAP. Stay tuned for opportunities to encourage action on ACAP in both the House and Senate.
~Stan Senner, Vice President, Bird Conservation, National Audubon Society.

Posted by the Pacific Seabird Group, 19 June 2019 on World Albatross Day

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On 26 March the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife of the House Natural Resources Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives held a legislative hearing on Bill H.R. 1305 “To implement the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, and for other purposes” with the short title “Albatross and Petrel Conservation Act.” The bipartisan bill was introduced by Representative Alan Lowenthal from California (click here and here).

Ed Melvin (Washington Sea Grant, University of Washington, Seattle, USA), and an expert member of the ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group since its inception in 2007, testified on the bill to the Subcommittee following his introduction (30:50 mark) by Rep. Pramila Jayapal from Washington State (click here to access his written statement and videoed spoken presentation and his response to questions by Rep. Ed Case from Hawaii at the 52:10 and 1:16: 40 marks, respectively).

Ed Melvin gives his testimony to the Subcommittee on Water, Oceans, and Wildlife

Mi Ae Kim, Office of International Affairs and Seafood Inspection, US National Marine Fisheries Service (and regular attendee at ACAP meetings as part of the USA Delegation) takes notes far right

Photograph courtesy of the House Natural Resources Committee

In his written testimony Ed Melvin stated the following as to why the USA should implement the Agreement, encouraging the Subcommittee to support H.R. 1305 and to facilitate its passage in the House and the Senate:

“This bill would allow the US to formally join the international effort to maintain a favorable conservation status for albatrosses and petrels by joining the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.

As the 14th nation to join the Agreement, the US would have a formal vehicle to use its formidable leadership position to extend the science based conservation measures already in place in US fisheries to the fisheries of other nations and to international tuna commissions that have jurisdiction over any part of the range of albatrosses and petrels that breed or forage in the US. As noted earlier, the US already participates in the ACAP process, but joining the Agreement would give the US a seat at the table for decision-making, research, and policy development and would allow US representatives and experts to hold positions of leadership in ACAP working groups, the Advisory Committee and the MoP. Being a party to the Agreement would allow us to more efficiently share our skills and experience to the benefit of these species and to the functioning of the Agreement itself.

No government bordering the North Pacific Ocean is Party to the Agreement at this time preventing the critical mass necessary to protect albatrosses and petrels worldwide. The US would thus be the first North Pacific nation to join the Agreement and could lead by example to encourage other North Pacific range states and governments to join the Agreement and the essential international effort to protect these vulnerable species. Canada, Japan, Chinese Taipei, The Peoples Republic of China, Russia, and South Korea all have large longline fleets that operate in the waters overlapping the foraging range of North Pacific Albatrosses. In most of these countries seabird conservation measures are lacking and/or not enforced nor are fishing operations monitored at sufficient levels to quantify the extent of seabird bycatch. Once the North Pacific albatrosses leave US waters, they have little to no protection from fishery mortality. We already collaborate with Japan (and Canada) on the recovery and protection of Short-tailed albatross through the ESA Recovery Team. Personally, I have worked closely with the Japanese tuna industry and the Japanese fishery management agencies on developing best practices to avoid seabird bycatch for their longline fisheries. I also have collaborated extensively with scientists in Chinese Taipei, Canada and Russia on seabird bycatch mitigation for their fisheries. My experiences and instincts tell me that these countries could follow the US into ACAP if the US were to lead. US status and leadership could also influence governments beyond the North Pacific to join the effort to protect these vulnerable species by joining the Agreement.

In addition, it is also likely that joining the Agreement would trigger further prioritization of seabird conservation work in our federal agencies. NOAA Fisheries could augment and institutionalize its capacity to lead mitigation research and fishermen training, and facilitate the participation of its scientists and managers in the ACAP process. The US, already a powerful voice in international fishing bodies (Regional Fishery Management Organizations), would be better positioned to advocate for worldwide adoption of fishery conservation measures based on the US experience and ACAP best practice advice. Further, joining the Agreement is likely to broaden the focus of conservation efforts in US fisheries from the endangered Short-tailed albatross to all North Pacific albatrosses and possibly the Pink-footed shearwater. As it is, protection for other seabirds, including Laysan and Black-footed albatrosses, is incidental to ESA based protections for Short-tailed Albatross. With regard to land threats, joining the Agreement is likely to elevate prioritization of the North Pacific albatrosses within the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This would result in provision of more consistent and reliable resources to monitor and assess albatross populations breeding on the Hawaiian Archipelago, better conservation plans to maintain habitat and eradicate predators on breeding colonies, and more reliable participation in the Agreement process.”

Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses on Kure Atoll, photograph from the Kure Atoll Conservancy

Erik Schneider, Policy Analyst at the USA's National Audubon Society, which has been involved with encouraging the USA to ratify ACAP for some years (click here), writes to ACAP Latest News: "we were encouraged by the hearing on the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, and we’re very thankful for Rep. Alan Lowenthal and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick for leading the effort to pass the bill, and for the House Natural Resources Committee deciding to hold a hearing on the legislation. We now hope that the Committee will next take a vote on the bill, often referred to as a “markup”, in which amendments are offered and the committee votes on whether or not to move the bill out of committee for a possible vote by the full chamber. We’re hopeful that the bill will pass the House. The legislation then needs to be introduced and moved through the Senate, and signed by the President. The Agreement separately needs to be ratified by the Senate, and at that point, the US can become a Party to the Agreement. Thus, we are in the early stages, but this is the first time the bill has had a hearing, so we are optimistic about the attention and energy behind it."

According to the NGO Pacific Seabird Group’s Facebook page “the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels legislation has long languished in Congress, but getting attention in this committee hearing is a step in the right direction”. Read an ALN posting on the USA’s earlier efforts to become an ACAP Party.

Click here to read the full text of the bill “To implement the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, and for other purposes.”

With thanks to Mi Ae Kim, Ed Melvin and Erik Schneider for information and photograph.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 April 2019, updated 19 June 2019

ACAP proposes a World Albatross Day to increase global awareness of the conservation crisis facing albatrosses and petrels

At last month’s Advisory Committee meeting (AC11) in Brazil the ACAP Secretariat tabled an Information Paper (AC11 Inf 05) with the proposal to initiate a World Albatross Day. The committee expressed considerable support for this initiative, as it aligned well with its desire of giving the Agreement greater visibility to address the conservation crisis facing albatrosses and petrels (click here). It was thought that a World Albatross Day could initially be modest in scope, without requiring large resources, with the aim to commence the day in 2020.

An intersessional group was formed to explore this proposal further comprising Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, the UK, Humane Society International and Projeto Albatroz, to be led by Verónica López from Chile with ACAP’s Information Officer acting as the group’s Secretary. The group held its first meeting during AC11 and discussed various ideas for the way forward. It was agreed that the day should be marked annually on 19 June, the date in 2001 that the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels was signed in Canberra, Australia (click here). In coming to this decision it was noted that this date does not appear to overlap with any other internationally recognized animal days. Among seabirds, there seems to be only a World Penguin Day in existence, marked on 25 April, so there appears to be scope for a day for the procellariiform seabirds, which are equally threatened as a group.

The intersessional group decided it should use the 12 months until 19 June 2020 to spread the word via social media and websites in selected countries (notably among the albatross breeding range states and high-seas fishing nations), as well as designing a logo, taking up a theme for the inaugural year and creating downloadable materials such as a poster and other educational materials in ACAP’s three official languages and in Portuguese. The meeting also decided to co-opt Michelle Risi, a seabird researcher currently based on Gough Island monitoring Critically Endangered Tristan Albatrosses Diomedea dabbenena, who had made the original proposal for a World Albatross Day to ACAP.

Albatrosses of the world, artwork by Jamie Watts

With thanks to marine ecologist, expedition leader and naturalist guide Jamie Watts for the use of his artwork.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer & Verónica López, Oikonos, Chile, 19 June 2019

Follow ACAP on Facebook: over four thousand others do!

All postings to ACAP Latest News (ALN, commenced 2006) are shared to the Agreement’s Facebook page. Inaugurated in March 2011 the page has grown steadily in usage over eight years and by this month 4000 individuals had “liked” the page, with currently 4063 following it (note it is possible to follow (and view) Facebook postings without actually liking the page).

A screenshot from ACAP's Facebook page

ALN in the main posts news relating to the biology and conservation of the 31 ACAP-listed species of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters that face a conservation crisis, as well on the few species, mainly shearwaters, that have been identified as potential candidates for listing, such as the globally Near Threatened Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes (click here). It also carries news of ACAP’s activities, not only of its own meetings but also of ACAP’s attendance and contributions to other bodies – notably Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs). In contrast the contents of ACAP’s Facebook page cover a wider field that does the website. Perhaps most importantly ACAP’s page shares postings from other pages and from websites that cover all tubenose seabirds in the order Procellariiformes, including gadfly petrels, storm petrels, diving petrels, fulmars and prions. The page also carries news relating to the conservation of tubenose habitats, both on land and at sea.

So the message here is if you not already following ACAP on Facebook, have a look at it and click on “like” and learn more about all the members of your favourite group of birds, the true “pelagics” of the world’s oceans.

Followed by ACAP on Facebook: an Endangered Bermuda Petrel or Cahow Pterodroma cahow gets a data logger, photograph by Nicholas Carlile

Reference:

Cooper, J. & Baker, G.B. 2008. Identifying candidate species for inclusion within the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. Marine Ornithology 36: 1-8.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 June 2019

UPDATED. Laysan Albatross eggs commence hatching at Oahu’s new colony at Kahuku Point while the established Ka’ena Point colony continues to grow

UPDATE: All the six Laysan Albatross eggs laid at Kahuku Point last year hatched, according to Sheldon Plentovich, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Pacific Islands Coastal Program Coordinator, in correspondence with ACAP Latest News: "One chick depredated by a [Small Indian] mongoose [Herpestes javanicus], one died of exposure and accelerated by tropical fire ant [Solenopsis geminata] attacks. Four remaining chicks doing well." All four chicks were metal and colour banded in late May (click here).

"Dr. Sheldon Plentovich fastens the band on the Laysan albatross's leg while Tim Tybuszewski [Director of Conservation, North Shore Community Land Trust] gently holds the bird in place. Each time a wild animal is handled, the benefit to the animal or species must outweigh the risk associated with handling.

Bird Banding lab permit: 22570. Photo credit: Alice Terry"

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Last month ACAP Latest News reported on a new colony of Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis (Near Threatened) being established at Kahuku Point on the northern shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu with six eggs being laid in the current season, following various activities to increase their protection (click here).

Following five years of unsuccessful breeding attempts at the locality, for the first time, two of these nests have downy chicks, hatched on 4 February (click here).

A Kahuku Point Laysan Albatross stands to reveal its downy chick, photograph from Hawaii Marine Animal Reponse

“The coastline at Kahuku Point where the chicks hatched has been under restoration since February 2015, according to the North Shore Community Land Trust, which in 2015 played an instrumental role in helping to preserve 630 acres [255 ha] of open space along five miles [8 km] of coastline between Kahuku Point and Kawela Bay. Volunteers have worked for year [sic] to stabilize the dunes and remove invasive species at Kahuku Point, one of the few remaining places on Oahu with intact coastal strand habitat … . They have also worked … to control predators of the birds, primarily mongooses, using humane traps. Visitors to the area are asked to keep their distance from the albatross, and to make sure their dogs are on a leash. Volunteers are currently monitoring four other Laysan albatross nests nearby, and hope to see more hatchlings … .”

Meanwhile Laysan Albatross numbers at the Kaʻena Point Natural Area Reserve on Oahu, protected by a predator-proof fence, continue to increase. A total of 106 albatross pairs is reported to have commenced breeding in the current (2018/19) season. Additionally, the number of Wedge-tailed Shearwater Puffinus pacificus chicks within the reserve has more than tripled in the last seven years (click here).

“The reserve is open to hiking and wildlife viewing, however it is illegal to bring in dogs, even on a leash, as they frighten nesting birds and have caused mass deaths of seabirds in the past. Visitors should stay on marked trails, properly dispose of trash, and observe wildlife respectfully, from a distance.”

New Zealand considers the Flesh-footed Shearwater for possible nomination to the ACAP list

At the Eleventh Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (AC11), held in Brazil in May this year, New Zealand reported that based on current listing prioritisation advice and knowledge of shared threats with other ACAP-listed species, it was considering the merit of nominating the globally Near Threatened and Nationally Vulnerable Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes for listing by ACAP. Flesh-footed Shearwaters are regularly caught as bycatch by commercial fisheries in New Zealand waters. The species has been previously identified by ACAP as a potential candidate species for such listing (see AC11 Inf 04).

Flesh-footed Shearwater at sea off New Zealand, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Australia has considered whether the Flesh-footed Shearwater should be listed in its Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act of 1999, following the species' nomination in 2012 (click here). After an assessment the decision was made in 2014 not to list the species, meaning that a recovery plan would not need to be produced (click here). Flesh-footed Shearwaters breed on Australia’s Lord Howe Island where they have decreased in numbers (and have been found to ingest large loads of plastic items), as well as on islands elsewhere in the country. The species also breeds on France’s St Paul Island in the southern Indian Ocean. Both Australia and France are Parties to ACAP.

Two globally threatened shearwaters, the Critically Endangered Balearic Puffinus mauretanicus and the Vulnerable Pink-footed A. creatopus, have already been listed by ACAP.

Access the AC11 report (see paragraph 14.5 on p. 18) here.

With thanks to Igor Debski.

References:

Baker, G.B. & Wise, B.S. 2005. The impact of pelagic longline fishing on the Flesh-footed Shearwater Puffinus carneipes in eastern Australia. Biological Conservation 126: 305-316.

Bond, A.L. & Lavers, J.L. 2015. Flesh-footed Shearwaters (Puffinus carneipes) in the northeastern Pacific Ocean: summary and synthesis of records from Canada and Alaska. Canadian Field-Naturalist 129: 263-267.

Cooper, J. & Baker, G.B. 2008. Identifying candidate species for inclusion within the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. Marine Ornithology 36: 1-8.

Jamieson, S.E. & Waugh, S.M. 2015. An assessment of recent population trends of flesh-footed shearwaters (Puffinus carneipes) breeding in New Zealand. Notornis 62: 8-13.

Lavers, J.L. 2014. Population status and threats to Flesh-footed Shearwaters (Puffinus carneipes) in South and Western Australia. ICES Journal of Marine Science: 72: 316-327.

Lavers, J.L., Bond, A.L. & Hutton, I. 2014. Plastic ingestion by Flesh-footed Shearwaters (Puffinus carneipes): implications for fledgling body condition and the accumulation of plastic-derived chemicals. Environmental Pollution 187: 124-129.

Priddel, D., Carlile, N., Fullagar, P., Hutton, I. & O'Neill, L. 2006. Decline in the distribution and abundance of flesh-footed shearwaters (Puffinus carneipes) on Lord Howe Island, Australia. Biological Conservation 128: 412-424.

Reid, T., Hindell, M., Lavers, J.L. & Wilcox, C. 2013. Re-examining mortality sources and population trends in a declining seabird: using Bayesian methods to incorporate existing information and new data. PLoS ONE 8(4): e58230. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0058230.

Taylor, G.A. 2000. Action plan for seabird conservation in New Zealand, Part B: Non-threatened seabirds. Threatened Species Occasional Publication No. 17. Wellington: Department of Conservation. pp. 357-360.

Taylor, G.A. 2013. Flesh-footed Shearwater. In: Miskelly, C.M. (Ed.). New Zealand Birds Online.

Waugh, S.M., Patrick, S.C., Filippi, D.P., Taylor, G.A. & Arnould, J.P.Y. 2016. Overlap between flesh-footed shearwater Puffinus carneipes foraging areas and commercial fisheries in New Zealand waters. Marine Ecology Progress Series 551: 249-260.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 June 2019