Archived News

The Second World Seabird Conference  with the overall theme “Seabirds: Global Ocean Sentinels” will be held in Cape Town, South Africa at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTCC) over Monday 26 to Friday 30 October 2015.

WSC 2 will be hosted by the African Seabird Group and the World Seabird Union.  The Local Organizing Committee is being chaired by Ross Wanless (BirdLife South Africa's Seabird Division Manager and African Seabird Group Chair).  The Scientific Programme Committee Chair is Peter Ryan (FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town). Click here to see who will be chairing travel, fund-raising, student and other committees.  ACAP's Information Officer serves on the local committee.

Information on registration and on the submission of abstracts will be posted to the conference web site during the course of next year.  In the meantime you can view the First Circular for the conference that lists tentative session topics and legacy projects.

The First World Seabird Conference was held in in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in September 2010 with over 800 registered attendees from over 50 countries.

A 28-year old male Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans guards its chick near Prinsloomeer on South Africa's Marion Island on 17 April 2005; the bird was banded as a chick on 2 November 1976

Photograph by John Cooper

WSC 2 is supported by the African Seabird Group, American Bird Conservancy, Argentine Seabird Group, Australasian Seabird Group, BirdLife International, Birds Caribbean, Global Seabird Programme, Circumpolar Seabird Group (CBird), Dutch Seabird Group, European Seabirds at Sea Group, Indian Ocean Seabird Group, Japan Seabird Group, Medmaravis, NW Atlantic Marine Bird Cooperative, Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Pacific Seabird Group, Peruvian Association for the Conservation of Nature, Royal Naval Birdwatching Society, The Seabird Group, The Waterbird Society and Waterbird Conservation of the Americas.

The CTCC is a multi-purpose venue offering an array of services, playing host to global conferences, trade shows, concerts and stage productions.  It is situated close to the harbour within the city and below the Table Mountain National Park, part of a World Heritage Natural Site.  A number of hotels are within walking distance.  A block of rooms at the Westin Cape Town has been reserved for conference delegates.

Cape Town’s Victoria & Albert Waterfront with its many restaurants and tourist shops is close by the CTCC.  In Table Bay lies Robben Island, home of the infamous Apartheid prison (and an African Penguin Spheniscus demersus colony) but now a museum and also a World Heritage Site.  Within half an hour lies the world-famous Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, included within the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas World Heritage Site.  I could go on about the Mother City: wine farms, pelagic tours for albatrosses, sandy beaches, mountain walks, and much more!

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 December 2013