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.

ACAP attends a meeting of the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation for the first time

The 11th Annual Scientific Committee Meeting of the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO) was held from 30 September to 09 October in Windhoek, Namibia.

The Agreement attended a SEAFO meeting for the first time, represented by Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor of ACAP’s Seabird Bycatch Working Group (click here).

Although the level of fishing effort within the SEAFO Convention Area is currently relatively low, the area is known to be important for a number of ACAP species.  In 2012 SEAFO adopted Conservation Measure 25/12 On Reducing Incidental By-catch of Seabirds in the SEAFO Convention Area which replaced a similar CM 15/09, which itself replaced a 2006 measure (click here).  CM 25/12 has been informed by ACAP best-practice advice, and applies both to demersal longline and trawl fishing.

Black-browed Albatross, photograph by Oli Yates 

The meeting considered a report regarding exploratory bottom fishing by Japan in 2014 in the area of the Discovery Seamount, during which three seabirds were incidentally caught, one Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris and two Great Shearwaters Puffinus gravis. Following requirements in CM 25/12 the vessel was required to revert to fishing at night following capture of the third seabird, after which no more seabirds were reorted caught.

The SEAFO Scientific Committee noted that it would be useful for SEAFO and ACAP to develop a closer working relationship on issues of seabird bycatch and conservation, and recommended that the two Secretariats investigate how best to achieve this.

Click here for the meeting's official report.

Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor, ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, 04 November 2015

Creating a new colony of Hawaiian Petrels by translocation at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian island of Kauai

The United States Fish & Wildlife Service is this week to translocate up to 10 chicks of the Vulnerable Hawaiian Petrel or ‘Ua‘u  Pterodroma sandvicensis from its montane colonies into a fenced and predator-free site at Nihoku within the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

The fenced area is also expected to offer a safe breeding site to ACAP-listed Laysan Albatrosses as well as to Wedge-tailed Puffinus pacificus and Endangered Newell's P. newelli Shearwaters.

Hawaiian Petrel

“The Service completed an environmental assessment (EA)  on Management Actions for Immediate Implementation to Reduce the Potential for Extirpation of ‘Ua‘u from Kaua‘i.  The Service has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the EA (click here).  While this project will be the first translocation of chicks of listed seabirds on Kaua‘i and within Hawai‘i, translocation of closely related seabird species has been used with great success in New Zealand in order to create new colonies.  It is hoped that similar outcomes will be achieved on Kaua‘i.  This project will protect nesting ʻUaʻu from predation by non-native feral cats and rats, and now potentially mongooses [click here], a new introduced predator that may have become established on Kaua‘i”.

The Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge (KPNWR) was established in 1985 to preserve and enhance seabird nesting colonies.  In 1988 the refuge was expanded to include Crater Hill (Nihoku) and Mōkōlea Point.

The translocation project is being conducted in collaboration with the American Bird Conservancy, Kaua'i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Pacific Rim Conservation and the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Read more on the translocation exercise here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 November 2015

An employment opportunity to work with BirdLife Marine Programme’s Seabird Tracking Database

BirdLife International is seeking to hire a Marine Technical Officer with expertise in GIS (and a familiarity of R) to assist with managing its Seabird Tracking Database, undertake analysis of data for varied regional projects, and provide technical inputs to submissions to a range of international agreements.

The successful applicant will work as part of the BirdLife Science team (based in Cambridge, UK in the new Cambridge Conservation Initiative Sir David Attenborough Building) and will have frequent contact with the wider BirdLife Marine Programme as well as the Information Management and Policy teams.

 

Black-browed Albatross on Marion Island, photograph by Genevieve Jones

“Contract duration: 9 month fixed term contract with potential to extend subject to funding availability”.  Closing date: 07 December 2015.  Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 November 2015

Separating Atlantic and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses at sea

Bob Flood (St. Mary’s, Isles of Scilly) has published an illustrated account in the ornithological magazine Birding on identifying ACAP-listed Atlantic Yellow-nosed Thalassarche chlororhynchos and Indian Yellow-nosed T. carteri Albatrosses.

 

Full-page colour paintings by John Gales of birds in flight show various stages of both species from fledgling to adult.  Close-ups of birds on the water show diagnostic differences in head and bill between the two species as well as changes in age.

Reference:

Flood, R.L. 2015.  The 2 yellow-nosed albatrosses molt, age, and identification.  Birding 47(3): 31-41.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 31 October 2015

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement contributes to the World Seabird Conference

A goodly number of ACAP staffers and chief officers have been attending and contributing to the Second World Seabird Conference (WSC2) in Cape Town, South Africa this week.

As well as presenting a number of talks and a poster as listed by title and authors below, ACAP co-organized and led a session at WSC2 with the title “International Agreements and Seabird Conservation”.  The session’s theme follows:

“Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on Migratory Species, and the Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels play key roles in defining national policy, legislation and targets for seabird and marine conservation.  Ensuring that appropriate legislation is in place to tackle the threats and pressures acting on seabird populations is therefore of vital importance if conservation gains are to be made.  The session will serve to demonstrate the main issues involved in trying to conserve seabirds on an international scale and aim to engage the wider seabird research community (especially those who have not been directly involved in the work of MEAs).  The session will showcase examples of success within conventions, illustrating the challenges faced, progress achieved to date, and encourage greater engagement of seabird researchers in the future.”

 

Mark Tasker (ACAP Advisory Committee Vice-Chair) & Marco Favero (ACAP Advisory Committee Chair and ACAP Executive Secretary Elect) confer at the podium before a session 

ACAP presentations at WSC2 with their lead authors

Cooper, John.  The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels: a growing resource for information on procellariiform research and conservation (poster).

Favero, Marco.  Building a framework to prioritise conservation actions: the work of ACAP in facing land-based and at-sea threats to albatrosses and petrels.

Tasker, Mark.  Working with governments and international organisations – experience from ACAP.

Wolfaardt, Anton.  Bycatch issues – which agreements/conventions have a role to play.

Wolfaardt, Anton.  Seabird bycatch in small-scale fisheries: an ACAP (Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels) perspective.

 

ACAP's poster at WSC2

Click here to access abstracts of the above presentations.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 October 2015

The Agreement on the
Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP is a multilateral agreement which seeks to conserve listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters by coordinating international activity to mitigate known threats to their populations.

About ACAP

ACAP Secretariat

119 Macquarie St
Hobart TAS 7000
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Email: secretariat@acap.aq
Tel: +61 3 6165 6674