**UPDATE** Pacific Seabird Group Conference in Hawaii in February 2012 calls for abstracts

"We invite you to submit an abstract for an oral or poster presentation on seabird biology, foraging ecology, energetics, physiology, population biology, systematics, genetics, conservation biology, fishery interactions, restoration ecology, or any other topic relevant to seabirds."

The deadline for abstract submissions is 4 November 2011.

Click here for more information.

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The Pacific Seabird Group will hold its 38th Annual Meeting at the Makaha Resort and Golf Course on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, USA from 7-10 February 2012.  A web site has now been set up for the conference which gives details of planned field trips associated with the meeting.

Two post-conference field trips will visit albatross breeding colonies.  On Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis breed in large numbers, along with (this year) a single pair of Short-tailed Albatrosses P. albatrus, shortly to fledge their chick (click here).

Another famous albatross on Midway is the Laysan ‘Wisdom', now over 60 years old and whose latest chick was banded recently.   "Refuge volunteers banded one chick- that of Wisdom, Midway's "celebrity" albatross. Wisdom wears a red color band Z333: her chick was banded with red N333".  (click here for photo).  The Midway trip will last nine days.

A second conference field trip will be a day excursion to the Ka'ena Point Natural Area Reserve on Oahu, where a newly erected predator-proof fence (click here) is now protecting the Laysan Albatross colony (and other seabirds) from introduced predators.  There will also be a trip to sea when albatrosses and other seabirds are expected to be seen.

A call for submission of abstracts for both oral and poster sessions is to be made soon.  The Local Program Chair is Lindsay Young, who is also ACAP's North Pacific News Correspondent.  The Albatross and Petrel Agreement will also be represented at the PSG Conference by its Information Officer.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, updated 23 June 2011

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

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Hobart TAS 7000
Australia

Tel: +61 3 6165 6674