Amanda Gladics (Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Newport, USA) and colleagues have published in the journal Fisheries Research on the use of bird-scaring lines and night setting in a North Pacific demersal fishery.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Bird scaring lines (BSLs) protect longline fishing gear from seabird attacks, save bait, reduce incidental seabird mortality and are the most commonly prescribed seabird bycatch mitigation measure worldwide. We collaborated with fishermen to assess the efficacy of applying BSL regulations from the demersal longline sablefish fishery in Alaska to a similar fishery along the U.S West Coast. In contrast to Alaska, some U.S. West Coast vessels use floats along the line to keep hooks off the seafloor, where scavengers degrade the bait and the target catch. Our results confirmed that BSL regulations from Alaska were sufficient to protect baits from bird attacks on longlines without floats, but not baits on longlines with floats. Longlines with floats sank below the reach of albatrosses (2 m depth) at a distance astern (157.7 m ± 44.8 95% CI) that was 2.3 times farther than longlines without floats (68.8 m ± 37.8 95% CI). The floated longline distance was well beyond the protection afforded by BSLs, which is approximately 40 m of aerial extent. Black-footed albatross attacked floated longlines at rates ten times more (2.7 attacks/1000 hooks, 0.48–4.45 95%CI) than longlines without floats (0.20 attacks/1000 hooks, 0.01–0.36 95% CI). Retrospective analysis of NOAA Fisheries Groundfish Observer Program data suggested that seabird bycatch occurs in a few sablefish longline fishing sectors and a minority of vessels, but is not confined to larger vessels. Analysis also confirmed fishermen testimonials that night setting reduced albatross bycatch by an order of magnitude compared to daytime setting, without reducing target catch. Night setting could be an effective albatross bycatch prevention practice if applied to the U.S. West Coast sablefish longline fishery and provide a practical alternative for vessels that elect to use floated longlines. These results highlight the importance of understanding region-specific longline gear modifications to identify effective bycatch reduction tools and the value of working collaboratively with fishermen to craft solutions.”

Read popular articles on the paper here and here.

Twin bird-scaring lines keep birds at bay on a USA West Coast longline vessel, photograph by Amanda Gladics

Black-footed Albatross at sea, photograph by Vicki Miller

Reference:

Gladics, A.J., Melvin, E.F., Suryan, R.M., Good^, T.P., Jannot^, J.E. & Guy, T.J. 2017. Fishery-specific solutions to seabird bycatch in the U.S. West Coast sablefish fishery. Fisheries Research 196: 85-95.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 October 2017

At the Our Oceans Conference held last week in Malta Chile announced the establishment of two new large marine protected areas  closed to fishing and all other extractive activities.

One of the new reserves protects more than 117 000 km² of ocean around the Diego Ramírez Islands, off South America's Cape Horn.  At 484 000 km², the second new MPA lies around the Juan Fernández Islands in the southern Pacific.

Diego Ramírez supports breeding populations of ACAP-listed Black-browed Thalassarche melanophris (Near Threatened) and Grey-headed T. chrysostoma (Endangered) Albatrosses. The Juan Fernández Islands support breeding Pink-footed Shearwaters Ardenna creatopus, an ACAP-listed Chilean endemic with a globally Vulnerable status.

Grey-headed Albatrosses on Diego Ramirez, photograph by Graham Robertson

The two new MPAs come after Chile announced a 740 000-km² marine park known as Rapa Nui Rahui that halts industrial fishing, mining and other extractive activities in the Exclusive Economic Zone around Easter Island at the Fourth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (MPAC4) held in Chile last month (click here). Chile had previously declared a large MPA at the 2014 Our Ocean Conference held in its own country (click here). From 2014 to 2017 the three previous Our Ocean Conferences resulted in the designation of 9.9 million square kilometres as new Marine Protected Areas.

Distinguished guests at the conference included Prince Charles and Prince Albert II. The welcoming speech on the first day of the two-day conference was given by European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, who announced developments with an MPA in the Adriatic Sea.

Read more here.

Selected Literature:

Lawton, K., Robertson, G., Kirkwood, R., Valencia, J., Schlatter, R. & Smith, D. 2006. An estimate of population sizes of burrowing seabirds at the Diego Ramirez archipelago, Chile, using distance sampling and burrow-scoping. Polar Biology 29: 229-238.

Robertson, G., Moreno, C.A., Lawton, K., Arata, J., Valencia, J. & Kirkwood, R. 2007. An estimate of the population sizes of Black-browed (Thalassarche melanophrys) and Grey-headed (T. chrysostoma) Albatrosses breeding in the Diego Ramírez Archipelago, Chile. Emu 107: 239-244.

Robertson, G., Wienecke, B., Suazo, C.G., Lawton, K., Arata, J.A. & Moreno, C. 2017. Continued increase in the number of black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophris) at Diego Ramírez, Chile. Polar Biology 40:1035-1042.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 October 2017

Stefan Schoombie (FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa) and colleagues have published in the journal Antarctic Science on the occurrence of avian pox virus in regionally and globally Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans and regionally and globally Vulnerable White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis at South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Albatrosses are among the most threatened groups of seabirds with the main land-based threats being alien invasive species, human disturbance and habitat degradation. Disease outbreaks in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic seabird populations are uncommon, but in the past few decades there has been an increase in reported cases. The sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands (46°S, 37°E) in the south-western Indian Ocean provide breeding grounds for many seabird species, including 44% of all wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans L.). In 2015, five wandering albatrosses and two penguins (Eudyptes chrysocome Forster and Aptenodytes patagonicus Miller) with pox-like lesions were observed on Marion Island, the larger of the two Prince Edward Islands. Despite intensive study of the wandering albatross population since the 1980s, the only previous records of such lesions are one case in 2006 and another in 2009 in white-chinned petrels (Procellaria aequinoctialis L.). Molecular and phylogenetic analysis of tissue samples from two albatross chicks confirmed the presence of avian pox virus (Avipoxvirus). This highlights the need for research into the diseases present on sub-Antarctic islands, for strict controls to limit the risk of accidental introduction of diseases through human activities and the need for effective conservation measures in the event of an outbreak.”

Wandering Albatross with its chick on Marion Island, photograph by John Cooper

Reference:

Schoombie, S., Schoombie, J., Oosthuizen, A., Suleman, E., Jones, M.G.W., Pretorius, L., Dilley, B.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2017. Avian pox in seabirds on Marion Island, southern Indian Ocean. Antarctic Science https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102017000347.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 October 2017

Nina O'Hanlon (Environmental Research Institute, University of the Highlands and Islands, Thurso, United Kingdom) and colleagues have reviewed in the journal Environmental Pollution the levels of plastic pollution via entanglement, nest incorporation and ingestion affecting seabirds occurring in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean. Procellariiform seabirds covered in the paper include the ACAP-listed and Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus (but for which no plastic pollution records were found), along with eight other species of gadfly petrels, shearwaters, a fulmar and storm petrels.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Marine plastic pollution is an increasing, and global, environmental issue. Numerous marine species are affected by plastic debris through entanglement, nest incorporation, and ingestion, which can lead to lethal and sub-lethal impacts. However, in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, an area of international importance for seabirds, there has been little effort to date to assess information from studies of wildlife and plastic to better understand the spatiotemporal variation of how marine plastic affects different seabird species. To improve our understanding of seabirds and marine plastic in this region, we completed a synthesis of the published and grey literature to obtain information on all known documented cases of plastic ingestion and nest incorporation by this group. We found that of 69 seabird species that commonly occur in the northeastern Atlantic, 25 had evidence of ingesting plastic. However, data on plastic ingestion was available for only 49% of all species, with 74% of investigated species recorded ingesting plastic. We found only three published studies on nest incorporation, for the Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) and Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). For many species, sample sizes were small or not reported, and only 39% of studies were from the 21st century, whilst information from multiple countries and years was only available for 11 species. This indicates that we actually know very little about the current prevalence of plastic ingestion and nest incorporation for many species, several of them globally threatened. Furthermore, in the majority of studies, the metrics reported were inadequate to carry out robust comparisons among locations and species or perform meta-analyses. We recommend multi-jurisdictional collaboration to obtain a more comprehensive and current understanding of how marine plastic is affecting seabirds in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.”

Balearic Sheawater at sea

With thanks to Alex Bond.

Reference:

O'Hanlon, N.J., James, N.A., Masden, E.A. & Bond, A.L. 2017. Seabirds and marine plastic debris in the northeastern Atlantic: a synthesis and recommendations for monitoring and research, Environmental Pollution. doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.08.101.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 October 2017