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.

Albatross researcher and conservationist Graeme Elliott is made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Graeme Elliott Antipodes hut DOC
Graeme Elliott ONZM prepares albatross colour bands in the field hut on Antipodes Island

Graeme Peter Elliott ONZM has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours List for 2024 for services to wildlife conservation.

His citation follows:

“Dr Graeme Elliott has been employed with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and predecessor organisations since the 1980s and has volunteered his own time to furthering ecological research and conservation initiatives.

Dr Elliott’s research has significantly expanded New Zealand’s knowledge of its endangered birds and the threats to them.   He has been a member of the National Kakapo Management Group and Recovery Group since 1995. Since 2003 he has been on the Whio (blue duck), Orange-fronted kākāriki and Mohua (Yellowhead) Recovery Groups, principally as a Science Advisor.  His PhD research identified seeding patterns that increased predator numbers and threatened hole-nesting Mohua and parakeet species, which led to improved predator control to protect threatened birds. He is regarded as a cornerstone of DOC’s large-scale predator control programmes, with his research informing the approach applied in South Island forests and adapted for North Island forests, leading to an increase in the numbers of forest birds and bats.  He and his partner have monitored the health of albatross populations in the subantarctic annually since 1991, much of it in their own time.  Through this, Dr Elliott and his partner discovered both Gibson’s and Antipodean albatross populations were in a critical condition and have worked to alert others and to find solutions.”

WAD banner Antipodes Kath Walker Graeme Elliott shrunk
Kath Walker (left) and Graeme Elliott display their banner supporting the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June 2020 on Antipodes Island, fittingly photobombed by an Antipodean Albatross

Graeme, along with his partner Kath Walker ONZM, is a long-time supporter of the Albatross and Petrel Agreement with regular news and photographs coming from Antipodes and Auckland Islands on their globally Endangered and nationally Naturally Uncommon Antipodean Albatrosses Diomedea antipodensis.  Kath became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2023 Honours List (click here).

Graeme Elliott Kath Walker Antipodes IslandA matched pair: Kath Walker ONZM and Graeme Elliott ONZM on Antipodes Island flank an Antipodean Albatross

The New Zealand Order of Merit was instituted by Royal Warrant in May 1996.  The Order is awarded to those “who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and the nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions, or other merits”.

Read more here.

A previous post to ACAP Latest News lists marine ornithologists who have received awards from the Australian, New Zealand and United Kingdom honours lists.

 John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 09 January 2024

New Zealand’s Conservation Services Programme calls for research proposals to be considered for its 2024/25 Annual Plan

NZDOC logo square

The Conservation Services Programme (CSP) of New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (NZDOC) is undertaking its annual research planning process to identify research projects to be incorporated into the CSP Annual Plan for 2024/25.

CSP’s vision is that, “Commercial fishing is undertaken in a manner that does not compromise the protection and recovery of protected species in New Zealand fisheries waters.”

Within the planning process, the CSP is inviting submissions for research proposals that correspond with its objectives, which can be found in the  CSP Strategic Statement and relevant Medium-Term Research Plans.

Proposals can be submitted using the Research Submission Form, available to download here, and should be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 5 pm on January 26, 2024.

Detailed timelines for the process can be found at the CSP Strategic Statement.

8 January 2024

Season’s Greetings and best wishes for 2024 from the ACAP Secretariat

ACAP Seasons Greetings web 2023 3A Buller's Albatross in a rather fetching festive hat. Photograph by Javier Quiñones

Season's greetings and best wishes for 2024 from the ACAP Secretariat to everyone! 

In the coming year, ACAP remains dedicated to the conservation of the majestic albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters listed under the Agreement. 

Preparations are already in full swing for World Albatross Day on 19 June, and we eagerly anticipate celebrating once again with the incredible and devoted global community of albatross enthusiasts.

The Fourteenth Meeting of ACAP's Advisory Committee (AC14) is scheduled to take place in Lima, Peru, in August. Prior to AC14, meetings of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG) and the Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG) will be held.

We will be taking a short break over the festive period, returning to regular posting on ACAP Latest News and our social media channels from Monday 8 January 2024.

Stay up to date on all things ACAP through ACAP Latest News and by following us on Facebook and Instagram.

25 December 2023

 
 

Calling all photographers with a penchant for procellariiform birds – ACAP needs you!

WCP at sea Peter RyanA Vulnerable ACAP-listed White-chinned Petrel at sea; photograph by Peter Ryan

ACAP is passionate about conserving the albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters listed under our Agreement but as we, here at the Secretariat, spend the majority of our time behind a computer rather than a camera in our efforts to conserve these majestic birds, we are asking for your help.

If you would be happy to contribute photos or video of any ACAP-listed species and their breeding localities for use across our platforms to help highlight the conservation crisis facing these birds, the ACAP Secretariat would be delighted to hear from you. All media will be credited when used by the Agreement.

A list of the Agreement's 31 listed species and their breeding localities can be found at the ACAP website under the menu bar item, Resources.

If you are interested and would like to find out more information, please contact ACAP, here.

22 December 2023

Obituary: Mike Harris (1939-2023) conducted a pioneering study on the Waved Albatross in the 1960s

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Mike Harris with an Atlantic Puffin on the Isle of May, photograph by Keith Brockie

Well-known and highly regarded marine ornithologist Mike Harris passed away on 17 December after a short illness, at the age of 84.  Originally from Wales, where he earned his PhD on gulls, Emeritus Professor Michael Philip Harris was a long-time (since 1972) researcher based at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in Scotland.  He is known for his many studies on a wide range of seabirds, notably the Vulnerable Atlantic Puffin Fratercula arctica, the subject of two books he wrote, the first in 1984, the second in 2011 co-authored with his wife and fellow seabird researcher, Sarah Wanless.  Research Gate lists him as having an impressive 328 publications with 15 216 citations.  His latest publication, co-authored in the prestigious journal Evolution, was published as recently as October.

During his early career Mike travelled to The Galapagos in the 1960s to undertake ecological research on a wide range of seabirds, notably on two species of storm petrels, but also including on the Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata, with several pioneering publications ensuing on this now Critically Endangered species, as listed below.

We went on a field trip together in (I think) December 1976, visiting Langebaan Lagoon and overnighting on Marcus Island in Saldanha Bay on South Africa’s west coast.  I was then trying to set up a long-term study colony of African Penguins Spheniscus demersus, and it was good to get Mike’s advice.  Sadly, the now Endangered penguin has all but deserted the island, due to a continuing decline in its overall population size, caused primarily by overfishing.  His 1974 A Field Guide to the Birds of the Galapagos has long been in my study library.  Getting it out now I see he signed it for me “with many thanks for a great time”.  Other meetings followed at international seabird conferences over the years.

A previous Scottish colleague of mine at the University of Cape Town’s FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Mike Fraser, writes of Mike Harris’ passing: “A huge loss to the seabird research fraternity and, in particular, the Isle of May community where he knew every Puffin by its first name!  He was certainly well travelled (including, of course, South Africa) and was an outstanding field man.  He was a good pal and it’s hard to think he’s gone.”

Mike Harris justly received many accolades during his long career.  His citation for the British Ornithologists’ Union Godman-Salvin Medal, awarded to him in 2006 and published in the journal Ibis, is an impressive account of a productive career.

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels extends its sympathies to Sarah, and his family, friends and colleagues.  He will be missed.

With thanks to Mike Fraser.

Selected bibliography

Harris, M.P. 1969.  Breeding seasons of sea-birds in the Galapagos Islands.  Journal of Zoology, London 159: 145–165.

Harris, M.P. 1973.  The biology of the Waved albatross Diomedea irrorata of Hood Island, Galapagos.  Ibis 115: 483-510.

Harris, M.P. 1979.  Survival and ages of first breeding of Galapagos seabirds.  Bird-Banding 50: 56-61.

Harris, M.P. & Batchelor, A.L. 1980.  Seabird records from the Lindblad Explorer in the South Atlantic, 1976-1978.  Marine Ornithology 8: 59-64.

Jiménez-Uzcátegui, G., Harris, M.P., Sevilla, C.R., & Huyvaert, K.P. 2016.  Longevity records for the Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata.  Marine Ornithology 44: 133-134.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 21 December 2023

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
Australia

Email: secretariat@acap.aq
Tel: +61 3 6165 6674