Assisting in the species recovery of Antipodean Albatrosses is a key focus of the role. An Antipodean Albatross off North Cape, New Zealand; photo by Kirk Zufelt

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (NZDOC) are seeking a full-time Data Analyst Seabirds to join their passionate team in Wellington, New Zealand.
 
The advertisement for the position can be found at the NZDOC website, here, and an extract can be found below:
 
Data Analyst Seabirds

• Take your reporting and analytical skills to the next level to help safeguard New Zealand's Seabirds
• Four weeks + three days annual leave per year, flexible working supported
• Permanent, full-time role based in Wellington

You will be responsible for supporting the build of robust, fit for purpose data and analytical tools and applying these to data collated to improve data management of seabirds, with a particular focus on Antipodean albatross. You will work closely with the Science Advisors, the Bycatch and Threats Manager, and the international team in growing international awareness, engagement, and action among fishing nations to reduce seabird bycatch in international waters, through a range of collaborative, partnership, and technical initiatives.
 
The position will be focussed on: 

• providing analysis on seabird bycatch in priority ocean areas/fisheries for focal seabird species
• ensuring collation, archiving and publication of Antipodean Albatross tracking data to assist the species recovery effort
• supporting spatial analysis of data and fishing efforts to support recovery efforts
• implementation of a pilot study utilising cloud-based data archiving, databases and to test defined decision support tools
• developing options to improve data archiving, publication, and the utility of defined spatial decision-support tools
• building and maintaining effective relationships with key stakeholders and coordinate cross-agency initiatives

 
The deadline for applications is 5pm on Sunday 13 August 2023.

For further information, contact Kris Ramm, Marine Bycatch and Threats Manager, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

2 August 2023

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Airborne! A translocated Black-footed chick close to fledging takes a leap on Guadalupe Island, photograph by J.A. Soriano, Conservación de Islas (GECI)

The third year of a binational project to establish a breeding colony of  Black-footed Albatrosses Phoebastria nigripes (BFAL) by the translocation of eggs and chicks from the USA’s Hawaii islands to Mexico’s Guadalupe Island has been successfully completed with 32 chicks fledging (click here). This brings the number of Black-footed Albatrosses fledging from Guadalupe over the three years of the project to 93.

“In a pioneer conservation project, Pacific Rim Conservation, Conservación de Islas and governmental institutions from USA and Mexico, have worked together to restore a nesting population of BFAL in Guadalupe Island, providing an alternative refuge and giving hope to the species to survive climate change effects.”

Eggs arrive! Celebrating the international translocation project with a banner on Guadalupe, photograph from Pacific Rim Conservation

According to Pacific Rim Conservation, translocated Black-footed Albatrosses should start returning as young adults to Guadalupe Island by 2026. Based on the environmental NGO’s translocation efforts with Black-footed and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, pair formation and then egg laying should follow in the next couple of years.

The Mexican project partner, Conservación de Islas (GECI), describes the the translocation project in Spanish

Read more about the Guadalupe translocation project from here.

Mexico is not a Party to the Agreement but has attended some ACAP meetings as a breeding range state.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 03 August 2023

 A Yelkouan Shearwater; photo by Milko Marchetti (canva.com)

A study on colony attendance in Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwaters Puffinus yelkouan exposed to light pollution from ships by Martin Austad (Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology Group, Department of Animal Ecology & Systematics, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany) and colleagues has been published open access in the Journal of Ornithology.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The ecological effects from artificial light are complex and can affect species and life-stages differently. Ships are a dynamic source of light pollution, often brightly lit and temporarily increasing light levels in otherwise relatively dark areas. Because several nocturnal seabird species display reduced activity and avoidance of natural or artificial light, we expect that bright vessel lights may affect colony attendance patterns. Here, we test whether the presence of ships in front of coastal cliffs affects colony attendance in the Yelkouan Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan). Ship presence at the site was obtained from an automatic identification system database, and a data logger measured light levels at the colony autonomously for four breeding seasons (2017–2020). Moreover, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system was deployed at a cavernous colony entrance to register arrivals and departures of shearwaters. Direct illumination from ships increased cliff face brightness, and colony attendance was significantly reduced in brighter conditions. Ship presence reduced the number of shearwaters entering the colony per hour by a mean of 18% (SD ± 24). Disruption of natural attendance patterns is likely to have short- and long-term effects on breeding success, physiological condition, and colony viability. Therefore, we propose mitigation measures to reduce the impact from commercial shipping on burrow-nesting seabirds. Local regulations are necessary for colony-specific impact reduction, while incorporation of measures such as black-out blinds, fixture shielding and maximum brightness limits into international conventions can have additional far-reaching benefits.”

Reference:

Austad, M., Oppel, S., Crymble, J. et al. 2023. The effects of temporally distinct light pollution from ships on nocturnal colony attendance in a threatened seabird. Journal of Ornithology. 164, 527–536. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-023-02045-z

31 July 2023

The stomach contents of Grey-headed Albatrosses Thalassarche chrysostoma (pictured) were analysed as part of the study. Monitoring of the diets of Grey-headed and Black-browed albatrosses has been continuous since the 1970s; photograph by Richard Phillips

Richard Phillips (British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, UK) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries on the health and distribution of Patagonian lamprey populations inferred through an analysis of the diet of South Atlantic albatrosses.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Knowledge of lampreys during their marine phase is limited, and for the southern hemisphere species was gleaned from their predators (albatrosses) in the 1970s. Taking advantage of new methodologies and long-term data on predator diet and distributions, we infer diverse aspects of lamprey distribution and ecology. DNA analyses indicated that albatrosses at South Georgia prey on Patagonian lamprey Geotria macrostoma, originating from Argentina. Their core pelagic distribution when free swimming appears to be the Antarctic Polar Frontal zone (APFZ), and not South Georgia waters as assumed previously. If so, the APFZ would be the first known hotspot in abundance of an anadromous lamprey in oceanic waters. We could not identify a teleost fish that would be a likely host. Instead, we infer that the lamprey may prey on baleen whales, based on comparison of stable isotope ratios in lamprey with candidate host species, timing of appearance in albatross diets coincident with whale migrations, and circumstantial evidence (unexplained scarring recorded during the whaling era). We suggest that the lamprey do not tolerate cold Antarctic waters, and detach from southerly-migrating whales at the thermal boundary of the APFZ, where they become accessible to albatrosses in surface waters. Given strong evidence that relative importance of prey in seabird diets reflects availability in foraging areas, the steep decrease in the annual consumption of lamprey by albatrosses at South Georgia from > 550 tonnes in 1975–1976 and 1986, to very low levels in most years since 2012, is likely to indicate a major population decrease. Despite our unconventional means of assessing the population trend, there is a compelling case for listing of Patagonian lamprey at least as Near threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, and an urgent need to better understand anthropogenic threats in Argentina.”

Reference:

Phillips, R.A., Waluda, C.M. & Miller, A.K. Distribution, hosts and long-term decline in abundance of the Patagonian lamprey inferred from diet assessment of albatrosses. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-023-09786-3

28 July 2023