Applications are invited for the post of Executive Secretary in the Secretariat to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP). ACAP has a small Secretariat consisting of an Executive Secretary, a Science Officer and an Information Officer, based in Hobart. Tasmania.  Since ACAP's inception there have been only two Executive Secretaries, the incumbent, Marco Favero, taking over from the first, Warren Papworth in February 2016, after Warren had been in the role for six years.  ACAP is now searching for its third Executive Secretary to pick up the reins from 1 December 2018.

Nice place to work: entrance to the ACAP Secretariat's office suite in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

The Executive Secretary will be appointed in accordance with the terms and conditions determined by the Agreement’s Staff Regulations. Appointment will be for a term of four years, commencing on 1 December 2018, and subject to a satisfactory performance evaluation at the end of the first year of employment. The successful applicant shall be eligible for reappointment for one additional term, with the total length of employment not exceeding eight years. A remuneration package will include a salary in a range that, at present, commences at AUD 148 869. Allowances including superannuation (pension programme) will be provided to the successful applicant.

Applications are invited from persons meeting the following criteria:

Essential criteria

Must be a national of an ACAP Party

2. Experience or detailed knowledge of the operations of international intergovernmental organisations.

3. Representational and promotional skills.

4. Fluency in one of the ACAP official languages (English, French or Spanish).

5. Demonstration of an appropriate level of managerial experience and proven competence, including: (a) the preparation of financial budgets and the management of expenditures, and (b) the organisation of meetings and provision of Secretariat support for high-level committees.

Desirable criteria

6. Familiarity with the conservation of albatrosses and petrels.

7. Relevant experience and qualifications.

8. Proficiency in the ACAP languages.

Applications should be emailed to the Executive Secretary, Dr Marco Favero (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by close of business 29 April 2018 (UTC+10). Applicants are requested to complete a personal information form and to provide a statement (maximum 1500 words) in support of their application addressing the above selection criteria.

All applications will be screened by the ACAP Recruitment Sub-committee and those successful at the initial screening will be invited to complete a full application (indicative date, 5 June 2018). These will be reviewed and follow-up interviews by telephone may occur. A final shortlist of two candidates will be invited to attend a face-to-face interview with the Recruitment Sub-committee.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 March 2018

Following consideration at the Tenth Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee, held in Wellington, New Zealand in September last year, three updated documents that review best-practice advice for mitigating seabird mortality in demersal longline, pelagic longline and pelagic & demersal trawl fisheries have been posted to this website (click here).

Deploying bird-scaring lines behind both longline and trawl vessels is a best-practice measure, photograph by Amanda Gladics

The documents can also be accessed individually:

ACAP 2017. Review and Best Practice Advice for Reducing the Impact of Demersal Longline Fisheries on Seabirds. 28 pp.

ACAP 2017 Review and Best Practice Advice for Reducing the Impact of Pelagic Longline Fisheries on Seabirds. 26 pp.

ACAP 2017 Review and Best Practice Advice for Reducing the Impact of Pelagic and Demersal Trawl Fisheries on Seabirds. 21 pp.

French and Spanish versions of the three documents will be posted to this website soon.

Earlier versions adopted at the 2014 and 2016 meetings of the ACAP Advisory Committee remain available online (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 March 2018

Following fund raising from the public by the Million Dollar Mouse campaign, along with other support, in July 2016 New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Antipodes Island was aerially treated with poison bait in an endeavour to rid it of introduced House Mice Mus musculus.

A return expedition has been on the island this year searching for signs of mice, using trained dogs and other techniques such as ink-tracking cards, wax tags and chew cards. The expedition has recently returned from the island with the news that it found no mice or signs of them.

As a consequence the island has been formally declared as mouse free by New Zealand’s Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage on the advice of the Department of Conservation’s Island Eradication Advisory Group. “Special plants and wildlife, including 21 species of breeding seabirds [including seven ACAP-listed species of albatrosses and petrels), more than 150 species of insects - 17 per cent of them only found on the Antipodes; 21 uncommon plant species and four unique land birds are found on the Antipodes Island. They can now thrive with mice no longer preying on the insects or competing with the land birds”.

This adds the Antipodes to a steadily growing list of seabird islands in the Southern Ocean where alien mammals have been eradicated: chapeau New Zealanders!

A pair of globally Endangered Antipodean Albatrosses Diomedea antipodensis on Antipodes Island, photograph by Erica Sommer

The next task for New Zealand will be to remove the suite of alien mammals (domestic pigs Sus scrofa, feral cats Felis catus and mice) on its sub-Antarctic Auckland Island. Planning for this has already commenced (click here).

Read more and view photographs of the successful eradication exercise here and access previous postings to ACAP Latest News on the eradication project here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 March 2018

The Hookpod is a reusable hook-shielding device that encloses the point and barb of a longline hook in a polycarbonate case, making it impossible for seabirds to become hooked when closed.  Upon reaching a depth of 10-15 m water pressure fires an internal piston which causes the device to open, releasing the hook to begin fishing. The Hookpod has a LED built into the casing, so there is no need to use chemical light sticks, which are often discarded at sea once used.

Hookpod in the closed position protecting the hook

Hookpod in the open position after the hook is released

The Hookpod company now plans to produce 20 000 pods and distribute them in fisheries in Australia, Brazil, New Zealand and South Africa.  Working with the Brazilian NGO Projeto Albatroz it is intended to equip five fishing vessels to use hookpods under commercial conditions in in Brazilian waters (click here).

Use of the hookpod has been assessed by ACAP to meet its performance requirements and is therefore considered to represent best practice in pelagic longline fisheries (click here).

Read more on hookpods here.

Selected Literature:

ACAP 2017. ACAP Review and Best Practice Advice for Reducing the Impact of Pelagic Longline Fisheries on Seabirds. Reviewed at the Tenth Meeting of the Advisory Committee Wellington, New Zealand 11 – 15 September 2017. 26 pp.

Sullivan, B.J., Kibel, B., Kibel, P., Yates, O., Potts, J.M., Ingham, B., Domingo, A., Gianuca, D., Jiménez, S., Lebepe, B., Maree, B.A., Neves, T., Peppes, F., Rasehlomi, T., Silva-Costa, A. & Wanless, R.M. 2017. At-sea trialling of the Hookpod: a ‘one-stop’ mitigation solution for seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries. Animal Conservation DOI: 10.1111/acv.12388.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 March 2018