Cruise vessels in New Zealand waters are being asked to dim their night lighting to avoid dazzling seabirds after globally Vulnerable and nationally Naturally Uncommon Buller's Shearwaters Ardenna bulleri came aboard the cruise liner Pacific Jewel late last year.

Buller's Shearwater, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Approximately 70 birds came aboard the vessel.  Some “died or were injured after the crew boxed them up together in some large boxes and delivered them to the Department of Conservation (DOC) once the ship berthed in Auckland.  By that time 20 were dead and a further 13 died despite treatment by Bird Rescue [New Zealand Bird Rescue Charitable Trust] which released the remainder after treatment.”

“DOC principal science advisor Graeme Taylor said bright lights on cruise ships posed a risk to seabirds flying at night in the Hauraki Gulf foraging for food and young birds departing from their breeding colonies on their first trip to sea.  Cruise ships were being asked to close blinds or curtains on cabin windows, reduce unnecessary exterior lighting, and try to shield essential deck lights to avoid attracting seabirds.”

The P&O's Pacific Jewel

Read more here.

Land-based light pollution is also a problem for many small procellariform seabirds that visit and leave their breeding sites at night (click here and here).

References:

Black, A. 2005.  Light induced seabird mortality on vessels operating in the Southern Ocean: incidents and mitigation measures.  Antarctic Science 17: 67-68.

Ryan, P.G. 1991.  The impact of the commercial lobster fishery on seabirds at the tristan da Cunha Islands, South Atlantic Ocean.  Biological Conservation 57: 339-350.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer 29 March 2019

Meg Duhr (Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Research Complex, Burbank, Washington, USA) and colleagues have published in the proceedings of an international conference on island invasives held in 2017 in Dundee, Scotland on controlling House Mice Mus musculus that have been attacking and killing breeding Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes (globally Near Threatened) and Laysan Phoebastria immutabilis (globally Near Threatened) Albatrosses on Midway Atoll in the North Pacific.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Sand Island, Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (MANWR), is home to 21% of all nesting black-footed albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) and 47% of all nesting Laysan albatross (P. immutabilis) worldwide. During the 2015–2016 nesting season predation and disturbance by non-native house mice (Mus musculus), here documented for the first time, resulted in 70 abandoned nests, 42 adult birds killed and 480 wounded. In the following nesting season the affected area increased, resulting in 242 dead adults, 1,218 injured birds and 994 abandoned nests. Mouse predation activities triggered a mouse control response to reduce mouse densities in the affected areas using multi-catch live traps, kill traps, and limited use of anticoagulant rodenticides in bait stations. In 2016–2017 we applied a pelleted cholecalciferol rodenticide, AGRID3 (Bell Laboratories, Madison, WI), at a rate of 20 kg/ha in all affected areas. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using AGRID3 to reduce mouse density and rate of mouse attacks on nesting albatrosses on Sand Island. Mouse attacks decreased and mouse abundance was reduced following rodenticide applications in the plots treated in December but changes in attack rates in the plots treated in January were not detectable and mouse abundance increased subsequent to treatment. The plots in the December treatments were much larger than those used in January and rainfall rate increased after December. A minimum size of treatment area may be necessary to achieve a reduction in injury rates in albatrosses. No deleterious effects were observed in non-target organisms. The casualties resulting from mouse predation (mostly Laysan albatross) represent a small proportion of the 360,000 pairs nesting on Sand Island.  However, the risk to adult breeding albatrosses representing such a large fraction of the global population prompted the United States Fish & Wildlife Service to prioritise mouse control efforts.”

Laysan Albatrosses wounded by House Mice on Midway Atoll in 2016

Read earlier postings on Midway’s mice in ACAP Latest News, including reporting on the final Environmental Assessment for a mouse-eradication exercise on Midway.

Reference:

Duhr, M., Flint, E.N., Hunter, S.A., Taylor, R.V., Flanders, B., Howald, G. & Norwood, D. 2019.  Control of house mice preying on adult albatrosses at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge.  pp. 21-25.  In: Veitch, C.R., Clout, M.N., Martin, A.R., Russell, J.C. & West, C.J. (Eds). Island Invasives: Scaling up to meet the Challenge.  Occasional Paper SSC No. 62. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.  xiv + 734 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 March 2019

Guy Preston (Department of Environmental Affairs, Cape Town, South Africa) and (many!) colleagues have published in the proceedings of an international  island invasives conference held in 2017 in Dundee, Scotland on South Africa’s intention to rid its sub-Antarctic Marion Island of House Mice Mus musculus.  The mice have turned to attacking seabirds, including ACAP-listed albatrosses (click here).  Fund raising has commenced towards an eradication attempt planned for 2021.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“House mice (Mus musculus) were introduced to South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island, the larger of the two Prince Edward Islands, by sealers in the early 19th century.  Over the last two centuries they have greatly reduced the abundance of native invertebrates.  Domestic cats (Felis catus) taken to the island in 1948 to control mice at the South African weather station soon turned feral, killing large numbers of breeding seabirds. An eradication programme finally removed cats from the island by 1991, in what is still the largest island area cleared of cats at 290 km².  Removal of the cats, coupled with the warmer and drier climate on the island over the last half century, has seen increasing densities of mice accumulating each summer. As resources run out in late summer, the mice seek alternative food sources. Marion is home to globally important seabird populations and since the early 2000s mice have resorted to attacking seabird chicks.  Since 2015 c. 5% of summer-breeding albatross fledglings have been killed each year, as well as some winter-breeding petrel and albatross chicks.  As a Special Nature Reserve, the Prince Edward Islands are afforded the highest degree of protection under South African environmental legislation. A recent feasibility plan suggests that mice can be eradicated using aerial baiting. The South African Department of Environmental Affairs is planning to mount an eradication attempt in the winter of 2021, following a partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to eradicate mice on Gough Island in the winter of 2020. The eradication programme on Marion Island will be spearheaded by the South African Working for Water programme – Africa’s biggest conservation programme focusing on the control of invasive species –which is already driving eradication projects against nine other invasive species on Marion Island.”

Scalped!  A House Mouse feeds on the head of a downy Wandering Abatross Diomedea exulans chick at night on Marion Island

Photograph by Stefan Schoombie

Reference:

Preston, G.R., B.J. Dilley, J. Cooper, J. Beaumont, L.F. Chauke, S. L. Chown, N. Devanunthan, M. Dopolo, L. Fikizolo, J. Heine, S. Henderson, C.A. Jacobs, F. Johnson, J. Kelly, A.B. Makhado, C. Marais, J. Maroga, M. Mayekiso, G. McClelland, J. Mphepya, D. Muir, N. Ngcaba, N. Ngcobo, J.P. Parkes, F. Paulsen, S. Schoombie, K. Springer, C. Stringer, H. Valentine, R.M. Wanless & P.G. Ryan 2019. South Africa works towards eradicating introduced house mice from sub-Antarctic Marion Island: the largest island yet attempted for mice.  pp. 40-46.  In: Veitch, C.R., Clout, M.N., Martin, A.R., Russell, J.C. & West, C.J. (Eds). Island Invasives: Scaling up to meet the Challenge.  Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. xiv + 734 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 March 2019

Jose Peiro Crespo and Rory Crawford have produced a report for BirdLife International that reviews the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of 23 fisheries and concludes that the process “does not guarantee that a fishery is addressing the incidental capture, or ‘bycatch’, of marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, sharks and rays”.

“Our report highlights that MSC need[s] to take the opportunity of their forthcoming review of their standards to implement serious improvements to their bycatch requirements,” says Rory Crawford, Bycatch Programme Manager for the BirdLife Marine Programme. “As it stands, consumers cannot be fully confident that certified fish comes without impacts on non-target species – from sharks to seabirds to whales” (click here).

The report’s Executive Summary follows in part:

“The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a seafood certification scheme and ecolabel that sets and maintains a standard for sustainable fishing based on three principles: 1) sustainable target fish stocks; 2) the environmental impact of fishing; and 3) effective management. Twelve percent of global marine wild catch is currently certified under the MSC Fisheries Standard.

Following the codes of best practice established under the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation and International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling, MSC’s Fisheries Standard has been reviewed and revised several times since it was first developed.  However, the standard does not yet fully ensure that certified fisheries are operating to one of the general principles set out in the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries: the minimisation of non-target catch or ‘bycatch’.

This study undertook a review of non-target bycatch (including elasmobranchs, marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles) in 23 fisheries (or groups of fisheries) which have been certified by the MSC to assess the effectiveness of the MSC criteria and standard in ensuring that the impacts of certified fisheries on non-target species are minimised, or at least reduced.  To facilitate comparisons, the 23 fisheries were grouped into six case studies: North Atlantic gillnets, North Atlantic longline, tuna purse seine, Southern Hemisphere trawl, North Sea mixed fisheries and Northwest Atlantic trap fisheries.

This review found that the existing standard is not yet delivering consistent reductions in endangered, threatened and protected species bycatch, with only three of the fisheries reviewed achieving an overall green score.  This study concludes that MSC must strengthen the bycatch elements of the MSC standard at the next full Fisheries Standard Review, to prevent fisheries with unacceptably high impacts from being certified and to ensure that mortality of non-target species in certified fisheries is minimised. To that end, this review makes a series of recommendations for improvements.”

The face of 'bycatch': a Black-browed Albatross killed by a longliner, photograph by Graham Robertson

Read a popular article on the report here.

Reference:

Crespo, J.P. & Crawford, R. [2019].  Bycatch and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC): a Review of the Efficacy of the MSC Certification Scheme in Tackling the Bycatch of Non-Target Species.  BirdLife International.  39 pp.

The full case studies underpinning the report are available here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 March 2019