BirdLife International has this week released its taxonomic review of the World’s non-passerine birds, including seabirds, on behalf of the World Conservation Union’s Red Data List (click here). This gives an opportunity to assess the current conservation status of the 30 ACAP-listed species.

All of the World’s 22 species of albatrosses remain threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable) or Near Threatened in the new listing; none is categorized as Least Concern (click here).

Waved Albatross: still Critically Endangered, photograph by Kate Huyveart

A similar situation exists for the five species of Procellaria Petrels with four categorized as Vulnerable and only one, the Grey Petrel P. cinerea, being accorded the status of Near Threatened (although recategorization as Vulnerable has been proposed for this species).  In contrast, the two giant petrels Macronectes spp., remain as Least Concern.  The 30th ACAP-listed species, the Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, continues to be Critically Endangered (click here).

Two species of shearwaters that have been proposed for ACAP listing retain their threatened status: the Pink-footed Shearwater P. creatopus of Chile (Vulnerable) and the Yelkouan Shearwater P. yelkouan of the Mediterranean (Vulnerable).

The 2014  listing includes some “new” species of seabirds due to taxonomic splitting, such as the Desertas Petrel Pterodroma deserta of the Macaronesian Island of Bugio, coming in as Vulnerable.  However, other newly-described or recognized species, such as Bryan’s Shearwater Puffinus bryani and the Pincoya Storm Petrel Oceanites pincoyae have not as yet been included on BirdLife’s RDB list.

ADDED NOTE:

Bryan's Shearwater does appear on the IUCN official list (2014.2) as Critically Endangered (click here). The Pincoya Petrel appears as Data Deficient (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 July 2014

A number of ACAP-listed albatross and petrel species visits Namibian waters in the south-east Atlantic, including the Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena from Gough Island (click here).

Tristan Albatross, photograph by Katrine Herian

These visitors are at risk to Namibian trawl and longline fisheries as recently reported by BirdLife International’s Albatross Task Force: “[i]n Namibian waters alone, more than 30,000 seabirds are drowned every year due to long-line and trawl fishing, making these fisheries some of the most destructive in the world (click here).

BirdLife also reports that the problem is now being addressed by the voluntary use of bird-scaring (tori) lines.  These lines are being constructed by a group of five women in Walvis Bay, known as Meme Itumbapo, bringing needed employment.

Twin bird-scaring lines deployed behind a southern African trawler

Photograph by Barry Watkins

“A total of 13 trawlers (about 15% of the trawl fleet in Namibia) have [sic] now purchased tori lines for voluntary use on their vessels, as well as 3 demersal long-line vessels (about 25% of the fleet).  Steel weights that keep hooks out of the reach of albatrosses - funded by a Lucile and Packard Foundation project - are now in production for the longline fleet.”

Namibia drafted a National Plan of Action for Reducing the Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries (NPOA-Seabirds) following Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) guidelines (IPOA-Seabirds) over the period 2003-2007 but it has, as yet, not been formally adopted.

Namibia is not a Party to the Albatross and Petrel Agreement but has sent observers to its meetings in the past.

Click here for a related story in ACAP Latest News on Namibian use of bird-scaring lines.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 July 2014

The 10th Regular Session of the Scientific Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC-SC10) will meet in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands from 6 to 14 August.  ACAP’s Executive Secretary, Warren Papworth will attend the meeting where a discussion is expected on the report (EB-GN-03) of a working group on electronic reporting and monitoring.

Under its Ecosystems and Bycatch Mitigation Theme the WCPFC Scientific Committee will also consider paper EB-IP-01 (previously published in the on-line journal PLoS One) by Eric Gilman and colleagues on the subject of mitigating seabird bycatch during hauling by pelagic longline vessels.

Another paper, authored by the National Research Institute of Far Sea Fisheries, addresses the utilization of mitigation techniques to reduce seabird bycatch in Japanese small-sized longline vessels (EB-WP-07).  The paper’s abstract follows:

“To discuss effective and suitable seabird bycatch mitigation measures for small sized longline vessels (< 20 tonnage), information of utilization of seabird mitigation techniques voluntarily used in seventeen vessels were collected from a hearing [sic] survey.  In all vessels fishermen used tori-line (bird-scaring line) and they deployed three types of tori-lines (with streamers, without streamers and direct connection of long streamers on poles).  Many fishermen concerned entanglement tori-line materials with main line of longline in the rough sea hence attachment of streamers on tori-lines for small vessels should be carefully considered.  In order to attain effective sink rate for branch line, seven vessels (41%) used weighed branch line and five vessels (29%) used fluorocarbon for branch line.  In addition, this some vessels tried strategic offal discharge to put seabird assemblage away from line setting area.  These information are useful to develop suitable mitigation techniques in small sized longline vessels.  Some of measures introduced in that fishery are worth to examine for effectiveness.”

A third paper (EB-WP-06) from the National Taiwan Ocean University reports on seabird (including albatross) and sea turtle bycatch by Taiwanese tuna longline fleets in the Pacific Ocean.

A fourth paper (EB-IP-10) from the USA considers seabird interaction rates in the Hawaii‐based shallow and deep‐set longline fisheries by vessel size as estimated from observer data over the period 2004 to 2013.

Click here to access an earlier report in ACAP Latest News on e-monitoring by the WCPFC.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 July 2014

Back in April, ACAP Latest News reported on a contravention of the Conservation Measures of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) that reportedly led to the deaths of 74 ACAP-listed listed White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis in the South Atlantic by a fishing vessel targeting Patagonian Toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides (click here).

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A hooked White-chinned Petrel, photograph by Nicolas Gasco

News is now in that the incident has led to the issuing of a substantial fine as quoted below:

“An administrative penalty has been issued to the charters of a licensed longline vessel as a result an infringement of one of the CCAMLR Conservation Measures.  The penalty notice was issued on April 30th and related to an event in [a] toothfish fishery on April 13th, 2014.

The penalty was a result of the vessel completing the setting of a line after nautical twilight (dawn), which is a contravention of the night setting requirement designed to reduce seabird mortality in longline fisheries. The late setting of the line is likely to have contributed to the incidental mortality of 74 white-chinned petrels which were caught during setting of the line. This incidental mortality event is the largest in the fishery for over 10 years.  The vessel operators subsequently admitted the offence and were issued with a penalty of  30,000.” (click here).

Mitigation measures in the fishery have now been adjusted so that vessels complete the setting of lines at least three hours before sunrise until 15 May to reduce the risk of incidental capture of any more White-chinned Petrels.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 July 2014