--- title: "2007 News Archive" --- # 2007 News Archive ## Sea Change Newsletter **Latest issue of*Sea Change* published on the web**  *Sea Change* is the Newsletter of the Global Seabird Programme of BirdLife International.  The GSP is co-ordinated on behalf of the BirdLife International Partnership by the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.  From its small beginnings in South Africa in 1997 with a staff of one, it has now grown to a unit of 12, based in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, South Africa and the UK, with further expansion to Namibia and Uruguay expected soon.  The GSP runs both the “Save the Albatross Campaign” and the Albatross Task Force which aims to help fishers adopt seabird-friendly measures.   Issue No. 3 for November 2007 contains an article on the Tristan Albatross *Diomedea dabbenena* of Gough Island, threatened at sea from longlining and on land by the introduced House Mice *Mus musculus*.  This Endangered albatross is the subject of ACAP’s first environmental poster (see ACAP news item dated 16 October 2007).   Issues of *Sea Change* are available at [http://seabirds.birdlife.org](http://seabirds.birdlife.org/).  At [www.savethealbatross.net](http://www.savethealbatross.net/) you can also sign up for a monthly e-letter written by the GSP’s co-ordinator.   * **News from John Cooper, ACAP Honorary Information Officer* [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/sea-change-newsletter.md) ## Tristan field guide published #### Field guide for Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island published A field guide to the animals and plants of Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island has recently been published*. Edited by Peter Ryan of the University of Cape Town with the help of a team of experts this copiously illustrated (with good-quality photographs) 168-page book allows identification of most of the macrobiota one is likely to encounter at the island group, including inshore fishes. Among its treatment of birds, the book considers no less than 15 species of albatrosses and petrels listed within ACAP. Of these, six breed at the island group, the balance are non-breeding visitors to Tristan waters. Three ACAP species are endemic: Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena, Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos and Spectacled Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis. Sadly, all three species are considered threatened by the World Conservation Union (see [www.birdlife.org/datazone/species](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species)). Visitors to Tristan may purchase the field guide in the island shop, otherwise it can be ordered from [post@naturebureau.co.uk](mailto:post@naturebureau.co.uk) at a cost of GBP 12.00 plus postage. Proceeds from sales go to supporting conservation work at the Tristan da Cunha islands. *Ryan, P.G. (Ed.) 2007. A Field Guide to the Animals and Plants of Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island. Newbury, UK: Pisces Publications. ([www.naturebureau.co.uk](https://www.acap.aq/(www.naturebureau.co.uk)). News from John Cooper, ACAP Honorary Information Officer [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/tristan-field-guide-published.md) ## Norway joins ACAP On 5 March 2007 the Kingdom of Norway lodged an Instrument of Accession to the Agreement with the depositary. In accordance with Agreement Article XVI paragraph 2, the Agreement will enter into force for Norway on 1 June 2007. This will bring to 11 the number of countries who are Parties to ACAP. [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/news2.md) ## ACAP website being upgraded The ACAP website is undergoing a complete makeover.  Please be patient while we upgrade.  A complete archive of meeting documents will be coming soon, along with a cool image gallery to view some amazing bird photos.  Check back soon to see what is new! [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/news1.md) ## Norway signs with ACAP - 1 June 2007 **ACAP BOOSTED BY NORWAY’S ACCESSION TO THE AGREEMENT ON 1 JUNE 2007** **On 5 March 2007 the Kingdom of Norway lodged an Instrument of Accession to the Agreement with the Depositary Government.  In accordance with Agreement Article XVI Paragraph 2, the Agreement entered into force for Norway on 1 June 2007.  This brings the number of countries who are Parties to ACAP to 11.** [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/norway-signs-with-acap-1-june-2007.md) ## IAPC4 registration now available ### PRE-REGISTRATION FORM NOW AVAILABLE Please go to www.iapc4.org to find the pre-registration form  for the Fourth International Conference on the Biology and Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, 11-15 August 2008. [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/iapc4-registration-now-available.md) ## Launch of new poster The Albatross and Petrel Agreement has produced its first wall poster. It illustrates no less than 54 individual incubating Tristan Albatrosses *Diomedea dabbenena*, photographed as part of a newly-established demographic study in Gonydale on Gough Island, part of the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic. [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/acap-poster.md) ## Tristan Albatross Critically Endangered? **{mosimage} ** BirdLife International is the official “Red-Listing Authority” for the world’s birds, working on behalf of the World Conservation Union (IUCN).  Each year, BirdLife makes a call for experts to comment on the threatened status of birds with which they are involved or are familiar.  These comments are then posted on BirdLife’s Globally Threatened Bird Forum for a form of peer review and to where further comments can be added.  From this “electronic conversation”, BirdLife decides on any needed changes to threatened status following the IUCN Red List criteria. Because of its declining numbers and both sea- and land-based threats (see earlier ACAP news items), it has been proposed by Ross Wanless of South Africa (who has recently submitted his PhD on the bird) and Richard Cuthbert and Geoff Hilton of the United Kingdom that the Tristan Albatross *Diomedea dabbenena* may merit being recategorized from Endangered to Critically Endangered.   Breeding by the Tristan Albatross on Gough Island in 2007 continues to be very poor, with only 427 chicks being counted in September 2007, giving an estimated breeding success over the whole island of 33%, far lower than the 75% or so known for great albatrosses at other localities.  Adding to the alarm is that the 2007 breeding cohort is the lowest yet recorded at 1279 incubating pairs (down from 2400 pairs in 2001).   To read the proposal, and to add your own comment, go to [http://www.birdlifeforums.org](http://www.birdlifeforums.org/).  Once a decision is made by BirdLife a new species account will be posted to [www.birdlife.org/datazone/species](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species).   Albatross surveys on Gough in recent years have been undertaken with the support of the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories Environment Programme and Birds Australia’s Albatross Project ([http://www.birdsaustralia.org/](http://www.birdsaustralia.org/)[www.birdsaustralia.com.au](http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/albatross)/albatross which utilizes funds donated by passengers on IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators) cruises in the Southern Ocean.    *News from John Cooper, ACAP Honorary Information Officer* [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/tristan-albatross-critically-endangered.md) ## Wanderers still doing badly **{mosimage}** **Wandering Albatrosses of****South Georgia/Isla Georgia del Sur****: continued cause for concern** Writing in the October 2007 issue of *Forum News* (Newsletter of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Conservation Forum), Sally Poncet reports* that only an estimated 802 Wandering Albatross pairs laid eggs on Bird Island, South Georgia/Isla Georgia del Sur in January this year.  This is a decline of 49 pairs since 2006, and 125 less than in 2005.  A similar trend has been recorded in the Bay of Isles region on the main island.  The Bird Island population of Wandering Albatross has almost halved since the early 1970s when longline fishing commenced on a large scale in the Southern Ocean.   Over half the chicks on Bird Island have been shown by British Antarctic Survey personnel to have ingested longline fishing hooks fed to them by their parents, confirming that interactions with this type of fishery is the most likely cause for the continuing population decline.   Although CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) requires hooks to be removed from fish heads before discarding, this is apparently not the case farther north but still within the foraging range of the Wandering Albatross.  Perhaps a study of the swallowed hooks on Bird Island may allow them to be identified to specific fisheries, so that the miscreants can be challenged to match the successes achieved in reducing albatross mortality to almost zero in the more southerly fisheries within the CCAMLR region.   *Poncet, S. 2007. The South Georgia Wandering Albatross. *Forum News* 31: 5; [www.ukotcf.org](http://www.ukotcf.org/)     *News from John Cooper, ACAP Honorary Information Officer* [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/wanderers-still-doing-badly.md) ## Tristan rodents **Planning to get rid of the rodents of Tristan and Gough*** * The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the United Kingdom Partner of BirdLife International, has recently made available a review* of the impacts of rodents on islands in the Tristan da Cunha group, in the South Atlantic.  This island group includes Gough Island, where the endemic Tristan Albatross *Diomedea dabbenena* is threatened by the introduced House Mice *Mus musculus* that literally eat the chicks alive, causing breeding success to shrink to unsustainably low levels.   The illustrated 58-page report has been written as part of a project funded by the UK’s Overseas Territories Environment Programme.  The project, a collaborative effort between the RSPB and the University of Cape Town, is also undertaking feasibility studies for the eradication of rodents on the Tristan islands, including of the mice on Gough.  Research is also being conducted on the Gough mice’s susceptibility to poison bait, on their avian prey, and on non-target species at risk from a poisoning campaign.   The review if available free from the RSPB in hard copy (contact [geoff.hilton@rspb.org.za](mailto:geoff.hilton@rspb.org.za)) and is soon to be placed as a downloadable PDF on the RSPB web site ([www.rspb.org.uk](http://www.rspb.og.uk/)).   *Angel, A. & Cooper, J. 2006.  A Review of the Impacts of Introduced Rodents on the Islands of Tristan da Cunha and Gough.  *RSPB Research Report* No. 17.  Sandy: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.  *News from John Cooper, ACAP Honorary Information Officer* [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/tristan-rodents.md) ## New web site covers ACAP species **{mosimage} ** **New web site covers****South Atlantic****ACAP species**  South Georgia Surveys is an independent environmental research organization working to protect native wildlife and habitats in the South Atlantic.  Environmental studies, including monitoring of seabird populations, are carried out at South Georgia/Isla Georgia del Sur and on the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas. To date surveys and monitoring have been undertaken on Wandering Albatrosses *Diomedea exulans*, Black-browed *Thalassarche melanophrys* and Grey-headed *T. chrysostoma*Albatrosses, Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses *Phoebetria palpebrata*, Northern *Macronectes halli* and Southern *M. giganteus* Giant Petrels and White-chinned Petrels *Procellaria aequinoctialis* – all species listed within ACAP.  Long-term studies have been concentrated on Albatross and Prion Islands, Bay of Isles, South Georgia/Isla Georgia del Sur, and have shown that Wandering Albatrosses have been declining in numbers since monitoring commenced at these localities in 1999, broadly matching declines being recorded by British Antarctic Survey personnel on Bird Island in the same island group (see earlier news item “Wanderers still doing badly”).  Prion Island is open to visits by tourists (see “A Visitor’s Guide to South Georgia” by Sally Poncet and Kim Crosbie, published in 2005 by Wildlife Guides, ([http://www.wildguides.co.uk/titleslist_worldwildlife](http://www.wildguides.co.uk/titleslist_worldwildlife)).  Prion Island now supports only about 30 pairs of Wanderers annually (60 in 1984, 43 in 2004*).  The new web site may be found at [www.southgeorgiasurveys.org](http://www.southgeorgiasurveys.org/).  *Poncet, S., Robertson, G., Phillips, R.A., Lawton, K., Phalan, B, Trathan, P.N. & Croxall, J.P. 2006.  Status and distribution of Wandering, Black-browed and Grey-headed Albatrosses breeding at South Georgia.  *Polar Biology* 29: 772-781. A PDF is available at [http://www.southgeorgiasurveys.org/?Publications](http://www.southgeorgiasurveys.org/?Publications).   Go to [www.sgisland.org/pages/main/links.htm](http://www.sgisland.org/pages/main/links.htm) for a list of links that includes several web sites that cover South Georgia/Isla Georgia del Sur.  *News from John Cooper, ACAP Honorary Information Officer* [Lees meer...](https://www.acap.aq/2007-news-archive/new-web-site-covers-acap-species.md)