Dr Anton Wolfaardt, Project Manager, Mouse-Free Marion Project, with a Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena chick on Gough Island

Dr Anton Wolfaardt manages the Mouse-Free Marion Project that aims to eradicate the albatross-killing House Mice Mus musculus on South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island.  He was recently interviewed by Ben Goldsmith in his Rewilding the World series, starting by saying “All of us involved in the project are driven by the opportunity to make a real difference for this special part of the planet.”

 A Vulnerable Wandering Albatross D. exulans killed by mice on Marion Island, April 2023, photograph by Michelle Risi

A summary of Anton’s 33-minute interview follows:

“Eradicating giant mice from South Africa's Marion Island, a vital haven for seabirds.  The vast, wild Southern Ocean is home to albatrosses, petrels and other remarkable seabirds which wander for years on end in search of food.

Only to breed do the seabirds of the Southern Ocean need land, of which there are just a handful of tiny specs [sic].  One of these is South Africa's distant Marion Island, which has become overrun by invasive mice, introduced inadvertently by sailors at least two centuries ago.  The mice eat the eggs, young and even the adult seabirds.

Now Anton Wolfaardt of BirdLife South Africa and his team have a wild plan to eradicate the mice, with the hope that it will allow seabirds to surge back to their historic abundance.”

The culprit.  A House Mouse on Marion Island, photograph by Ben Dilley

Anton will be well known to the ACAP community, having been a Convenor of its Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG) from 2013 to 2020 (click here).

Anton Wolfaardt holds his Mouse-Free Marion Sponsor a Hectare certificate received in appreciation of his leadership of the ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group

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

Making a connection.  ABUN Co-founder Kitty Harvill, who illustrated Wisdom the Midway Albatross

Back in 2012, I had reviewed for ACAP Latest News (by a then nine-year-old) a new book for children about Wisdom, the now 70-something Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis of the USA’s Midway Atoll.  Wisdom is reckoned to be the world’s oldest known wild bird, first banded as an adult in 1956 by Chandler Robbins, and still going strong, seen displaying for a new mate this year.  Previously, I had got in touch with the book’s illustrator, Kitty Harvill, to request use of her paintings in the review.  This was to lead, although I did know this at the time, to a rather remarkable collaboration, and a valued online friendship, that has greatly added to fostering awareness of World Albatross Day, held each year since its inauguration by ACAP in 2020.

ACAP’s first collaboration with ABUN was in 2020 for the inaugural World Albatross Day, banner by Kitty Harvill

In 2020, Kitty was living primarily in Brazil and had entered in discussions with the Brazilian environmental NGO, Projeto Albatroz, about collaborating with the organization, Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) which she had co-founded with her husband, Christoph Hrdina, in 2016, to produce artworks to aid in the conservation of albatrosses.  Through its connections with the NGO (and because of my previous correspondence with Kitty), the Albatross and Petrel Agreement became involved in the discussion, and I saw an opportunity to help increase awareness of the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June 2020.  This led to ABUN artists producing artworks for ACAP’s use to mark World Albatross Day that year and its theme of “Eradicating Island Pests”.  With Kitty’s abiding encouragement and enthusiasm, Project #30 resulted in no less than 324 artworks from 77 artists, depicting all 22 species of the world’s albatrosses,  Several artists produced multiple works and more than one painted every species, including Lea Finke, whose Campbell Albatross Thalassarche impavida is shown here.  The project ended with Kitty producing with musician John Nicolosi, a music video, entitled “Flight of the Albatross”.  ABUN artist Marion Schön produced a collage poster that featured works by all  the 77 contributing artists and illustrated all 22 species of albatrosses.  ACAP’s first collaboration with ABUN was an undoubted success and I was delighted.  The artworks produced are still being drawn upon to illustrate articles for ACAP Latest News.

Campbell Albatross by ABUN artist, Lea Finke for World Albatross Day, 19 June 2020, after a photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Since 2020, ACAP has gone on to collaborate each year with ABUN in support of World Albatross Day.  Projects #35, #39 and #43 over 2021-2023 continued to produce many often intriguing artworks depicting albatrosses and (in 2021) the nine ACAP listed petrels and shearwaters.  This year’s ABUN Project #47, that came to an end in April, set the rather tricky challenge of illustrating the ‘WAD2024” theme of “Marine Protected Areas – Safeguarding our Oceans”.  Although the numbers of contributing artists, and their artworks have shrunk over the five years following the novelty of painting albatrosses back in 2020, it is fair to say the quality has been maintained, if not even increased, as regular contributors have honed their skills in painting and drawing one of the most iconic groups of seabirds.  For each of the first four years, Kitty continued to produce collages and put together music videos.

“The Guardians” by Kitty Harvill for World Albatross Day, 19 June 2024, after a photograph of the Western Chain, Snares Islands by Paul Sagar.  The artist writes “five albatrosses are hidden in the sky and rocks.  Can you find them all?”. 11 x 14 inches, acrylic on canvas

A few years ago, Kitty wrote to me saying “I fell in love with Wisdom, the [then] 68-year-old Midway Laysan Albatross, while creating illustrations for the book by the same name.  She’s well named and has much to teach us as conservationists and activists battling for the survival of our planet - patience, perseverance and setting an example by making waves that will carry forward, further than we might ever have dreamed.”  And this is exactly what Kitty has achieved with 46 collaborative ABUN projects over nine years, five of them with ACAP.  As my cycling friends might say “Chapeau”!

After four years of leading with World Albatross Day, I have taken a step back and this year’s World Albatross Day is being capably led by my colleague, ACAP’s Communications Advisor, Bree Forrer.  Another milestone is that Kitty has also taken a back seat, relinquishing leading ABUN collaborative projects to fellow ABUN artist, Marion Schön.  I am sure Bree and Marion, who are already working together, will be able to encourage the production of great artworks for ACAP, including from Kitty, if collaborations continue into future years, as I would hope they do.

“Lost in a Rising Sea” watercolour by Kitty Harvill in support of WAD2022 and its theme of Climate Change; after a photograph of a Black-footed Albatross P. nigripes by Koa Matsuoka, poster design by Michelle Risi

I have been involved with the Albatross and Petrel Agreement for 25 years, first participating in some of the early negotiation meetings and discussions that led to the Agreement, then successively as a delegate, Vice Chair of its Advisory Committee, segueing into the position of voluntary Information Officer within the Secretariat, and now “semi-retired’ as Emeritus Information Officer.  I can say that my involvement with ABUN and its many artists has been one of the highlights of my time with ACAP.  Kitty Harvill has been central to this.  I hope we will continue to stay in touch!

Reference:

Pattison, D. & Harvill, K. 2012.  Wisdom: the Midway Albatross: Surviving the Japanese Tsunami and other Disasters for over 60 Years.  Little Rock: Mims House.  32 pp,

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 07 May 2024

One of the pages from the set of seabird bycatch mitigation infographics released by the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT)

A set of educational seabird bycatch mitigation infographics aiming to reduce the incidence of seabird bycatch in Southern Bluefin Tuna fisheries has been released by the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT).

The infographics were produced as part of a project on enhancing education on, and implementation of, Ecologically Related Species seabird measures within CCSBT Fisheries (Seabird Project). The project is funded by the FAO-GEF Project “Sustainable Management of Tuna Fisheries and Biodiversity Conservation in the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ)”.

Ross Wanless is the Seabird Project Manager for CCSBT and was heavily involved in the creation of the infographics. Ross explained the Seabird Project wanted the infographics to use maximum imagery with minimal text to convey the chosen mitigation measures. 

“The CCSBT Seabird Project has a significant focus on supporting fishers to use mitigation correctly. The challenge is to communicate key concepts to the people who are responsible for using or not using them, i.e. the crew while they're onboard. So CCSBT decided to create near-text-free infographics that can convey keep concepts at-a-glance. They're designed to be placed on a wall somewhere visible that crew can review with ease,” said Ross.

Left to right: the night setting and tori pole pages of the infographics

Choosing which measures to highlight in the infographics was also difficult Ross said, and involved the consideration of several criteria, including: 

1. most challenging to understand why/how
2. most critical to good performance of the measure
3. can be explained with static, visual, text-free communication

Sets of the infographics have been printed and laminated by the CCSBT for distribution at skipper training workshops run by the project for Members. The infographics are also available to download at the CCSBT website, as well as partner organisations, the FAO and ACAP. 

The infographics can be found at the ACAP website under “Resources > Bycatch Mitigation” at the following link, https://www.acap.aq/resources/bycatch-mitigation/mitigation-infographics.

6 May 2024

The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) is recruiting for the role of Executive Secretary.

An extract from the advertisement is as follows:

"SPRFMO is an international organisation responsible for the conservation and management of non‐highly migratory fishery resources in the Convention Area. The Secretariat of the Commission for the SPRFMO is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand. The Executive Secretary is responsible for the management and supervision of the Secretariat and the provision of advice to the Commission.

The Executive Secretary is required to carry out, inter alia, the duties provided in Article 14 of the Convention, the Commission’s foundation instruments1, and any other such duties as may be directed by the Commission. In making an appointment to the position of the Executive Secretary, the SPRFMO Commission will be guided by the following selection criteria:

1. Demonstrated management knowledge and skills through relevant experience in national, regional or international organisations;
2. Knowledge or experience of fisheries management;
3. Knowledge or experience of the functions and operations of intergovernmental organisations at the regional or international level;
4. Knowledge or experience of such areas as: preparation of reports, financial budgets and management of expenditures; provision of secretariat support for international meetings; oversight and management of information technology; human resource management.
5. Demonstrated ability to communicate and work constructively and effectively in a multicultural environment with delegates from a wide range of countries, including managers, scientists and technical experts;
6. Fluent in English (the knowledge of other languages of SPRFMO Members would be an asset);
7. University degree or the equivalent, with a preference given to an advanced degree (Master or PhD) or equivalent.

The appointment of the Executive Secretary is for a term of four years. At the discretion of the Contracting Parties of SPRFMO, the Executive Secretary may be re-appointed for a further four years."

The deadline for applications is 1 September 2024 at 17:00 New Zealand Standard Time. Further information on the position can be found at the SPRFMO website, here.

3 May 2024