The Sooty Shearwater Puffinus (Ardenna) griseus is almost extinct on the mainland of New Zealand.  A small breeding group can be found near a colony of New Zealand Fur Seals Arctocephalus forsteri at Cape Foulwind on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island.  This colony, which is close to a walkway, is being monitored by the West Coast Penguin Trust.  A predator trap line helps to protect the shearwaters from Stoats Mustela erminea and taped calls are played through speakers to attract them.

On 21 December this year the trust carried out its annual check; 12 burrows were occupied by shearwaters with nine containing incubating birds, similar to the previous year’s census of 10 incubators.  “Unlike last year, virtually all other suitable burrows showed signs of recent use by shearwaters so although numbers breeding have not increased, the number of shearwaters visiting the colony have, which is very encouraging.”

In the hour after dusk between November and April the public can view Sooty Shearwaters circling overhead at Cape Foulwind from the walkway before the birds crash-land in the flax and enter their burrows.

Sooty Shearwater, photograph courtesy of the West Coast Penguin Trust

The West Coast Penguin Trust is a charitable trust that aims to conserve penguins and other threatened seabirds and their habitat on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island.  The Trust raises funds, conducts research and implements practical projects relating to penguins in particular, as well as to other birds subject to similar threats.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 December 2015

BirdLife International’s Marine Programme has produced an eight-minute video with a sound track in Taiwanese that is addressed to skippers and crew of longline vessels, highlighting the issue of seabird bycatch and describing the simple and effective measures that can be taken to minimise fishing impacts on seabird populations.

According to BirdLife, Taiwan has over 300 large-scale and 1000 small-scale tuna longline vessels, making it one of the world leaders in longline fishing.

Mayumi Sato, BirdLife Marine Programme Asia Coordinator states:

"So far we have had a very positive engagement with the Taiwanese Fisheries Agency and industry groups on seabird bycatch.  Videos such as this help us and our partners explain both the threats and solutions directly to fishers and fisheries officials.  We hope that we can continue to expand our work with Taiwanese fleets to increase the uptake of seabird mitigation measures and work collaboratively to save albatrosses.”

The video has also been produced in English, with more language versions planned.

A bird-scaring line deployed with streamers flapping, photograph by Vero Cortes 

BirdLife received funding from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation towards the making of the video.  Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 December 2015

Dario Capizzi (Latium Region—Regional Park Agency, Rome, Italy) and colleagues have published in a book on problematic wildlife showing that breeding success of Scopoli’s Calonectris diomedea and Yelkouan Puffinus yelkouan Shearwaters increases after eradication of Black Rats Rattus rattus on Italian islands in the Mediterranean.  The latter species has been identified as a potential candidate for listing within the Agreement.

The chapter’s abstract follows

“The black rat (Rattus rattus) is thought to be the most widespread mammal on Mediterranean islands.  In recent years, many field studies have documented its detrimental impact on native species, communities and ecosystems.  In order to restore island ecosystems by eliminating the impacts of black rat, several projects have been planned and implemented during the last 15 years on Italian islands.  Although these projects were specifically aimed at protecting nesting shearwaters Calonectris diomedea and Puffinus yelkouan from rat predation, they were also planned in order to provide benefits to other island ecosystem components, species and communities.  Rats were eradicated from small islands (about 1 ha of surface) to very large islands (over 1000 ha, i.e. Montecristo).  Monitoring programmes showed that shearwater reproductive success increased after rat eradication.  During these years, we obtained data on different aspects related to the problem of rat impact and control on islands: (1) rat impact on target species; (2) benefits for native species from rat removal; (3) field techniques and bait delivery methods; (4) impact of rodenticides on non-target species; (5) rat abundance, home range and movements and (6) rat reinvasion after eradication.  Furthermore, we developed a model aimed at identifying priority islands where rat eradication should be carried out, and/or establish recommended actions.”

Scopoli's Shearwater fledgling 

Reference:

Capizzi, D., Baccetti, N. & Sposimo, P. 2016. Fifteen years of rat eradication on Italian islands.  In: Angelici, F.M. (Ed.).  Problematic Wildlife.  A Cross-Disciplinary Approach.  Berlin: Springer International Publishing.  pp 205-227.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 December 2015

Paco Bustamante (Littoral Environnement et Sociétés, Université de la Rochelle, France) and colleagues have published in the journal Environmental Research on mercury levels in Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans.

The paper’s abstract follows

“Hg can affect physiology of seabirds and ultimately their demography, particularly if they are top consumers.  In the present study, body feathers of >200 wandering albatrosses from Possession Island in the Crozet archipelago were used to explore the potential demographic effects of the long-term exposure to Hg on an apex predator.  Variations of Hg with sex, age class, foraging habitat (inferred from δ13C values), and feeding habits (inferred from δ15N values) were examined as well as the influence of Hg on current breeding output, long-term fecundity and survival.  Wandering albatrosses displayed among the highest Hg feather concentrations reported for seabirds, ranging from 5.9 to 95 µg g−1, as a consequence of their high trophic position (δ15N values).  These concentrations fall within the same range of those of other wandering albatross populations from subantarctic sites, suggesting that this species has similar exposure to Hg all around the Southern Ocean.  In both immature and adult albatrosses, females had higher Hg concentrations than males (28 vs. 20 µg g−1dw on average, respectively), probably as a consequence of females foraging at lower latitudes than males (δ13C values).  Hg concentrations were higher in immature than in adult birds, and they remained fairly constant across a wide range of ages in adults.  Such high levels in immature individuals question (i) the frequency of moult in young birds, (ii) the efficiency of Hg detoxification processes in immatures compared to adults, and (iii) importantly the potential detrimental effects of Hg in early life.  Despite very high Hg concentrations in their feathers, neither effects on adults' breeding probability, hatching failure and fledgling failure, nor on adults' survival rate were detected, suggesting that long-term bioaccumulated Hg was not under a chemical form leading to deleterious effects on reproductive parameters in adult individuals.”

Wandering Albatross incubating, photograph by Linda Clokie

Reference:

Bustamante, P., Carravieri, A., Goutte, A., Barbraud, C., Delord, K., Chastel, O., Weimerskirch, H. & Cherel, Y. 2016.  High feather mercury concentrations in the wandering albatross are related to sex, breeding status and trophic ecology with no demographic consequences.  Environmental Research 144A: 1-10.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 December 2015