Three Antarctic organisations have once again announced opportunities for early-career researchers. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) are working together to attract talented early-career researchers, scientists, engineers and other professionals to strengthen international capacity and cooperation in fields such as climate, biodiversity, conservation, humanities and astrophysics research.

Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus on Signy Island, photograph by Michael Dunn

SCAR will offer three to four fellowships of up to USD 15 000 each and COMNAP will offer up to one fellowship with funding of up to USD 15 000. The fellowships enable early-career researchers to join a project team from another country, opening up new opportunities and often creating partnerships that last for many years and over many Antarctic field seasons. Note that the application process for SCAR and COMNAP Fellowships are now separate and the eligibility criteria differ. The deadline for SCAR and COMNAP Fellowship applications is 11 July 2018.

The SCAR and COMNAP schemes are launched in conjunction with CCAMLR’s Scientific Scholarship Scheme. The CCAMLR Scholarship provides funding of up to AUD 30 000 to assist early-career scientists to participate in the work of the CCAMLR Scientific Committee and its working groups over a period of two years. The objective of the scheme is to build capacity within the CCAMLR scientific community to help generate and sustain the scientific expertise needed to support the work of CCAMLR in the long-term. The deadline for CCAMLR Scholarship applications is 1 October 2018.

All three schemes are being jointly promoted by the three organisations.

View more information at SCAR and COMNAP Fellowships and CCAMLR Scholarships.

John Cooper, ACAP information Officer, 30 March 2018

Applications are invited for the post of Executive Secretary in the Secretariat to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP). ACAP has a small Secretariat consisting of an Executive Secretary, a Science Officer and an Information Officer, based in Hobart. Tasmania.  Since ACAP's inception there have been only two Executive Secretaries, the incumbent, Marco Favero, taking over from the first, Warren Papworth in February 2016, after Warren had been in the role for six years.  ACAP is now searching for its third Executive Secretary to pick up the reins from 1 December 2018.

Nice place to work: entrance to the ACAP Secretariat's office suite in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

The Executive Secretary will be appointed in accordance with the terms and conditions determined by the Agreement’s Staff Regulations. Appointment will be for a term of four years, commencing on 1 December 2018, and subject to a satisfactory performance evaluation at the end of the first year of employment. The successful applicant shall be eligible for reappointment for one additional term, with the total length of employment not exceeding eight years. A remuneration package will include a salary in a range that, at present, commences at AUD 148 869. Allowances including superannuation (pension programme) will be provided to the successful applicant.

Applications are invited from persons meeting the following criteria:

Essential criteria

Must be a national of an ACAP Party

2. Experience or detailed knowledge of the operations of international intergovernmental organisations.

3. Representational and promotional skills.

4. Fluency in one of the ACAP official languages (English, French or Spanish).

5. Demonstration of an appropriate level of managerial experience and proven competence, including: (a) the preparation of financial budgets and the management of expenditures, and (b) the organisation of meetings and provision of Secretariat support for high-level committees.

Desirable criteria

6. Familiarity with the conservation of albatrosses and petrels.

7. Relevant experience and qualifications.

8. Proficiency in the ACAP languages.

Applications should be emailed to the Executive Secretary, Dr Marco Favero (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by close of business 29 April 2018 (UTC+10). Applicants are requested to complete a personal information form and to provide a statement (maximum 1500 words) in support of their application addressing the above selection criteria.

All applications will be screened by the ACAP Recruitment Sub-committee and those successful at the initial screening will be invited to complete a full application (indicative date, 5 June 2018). These will be reviewed and follow-up interviews by telephone may occur. A final shortlist of two candidates will be invited to attend a face-to-face interview with the Recruitment Sub-committee.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 March 2018

Following consideration at the Tenth Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee, held in Wellington, New Zealand in September last year, three updated documents that review best-practice advice for mitigating seabird mortality in demersal longline, pelagic longline and pelagic & demersal trawl fisheries have been posted to this website (click here).

Deploying bird-scaring lines behind both longline and trawl vessels is a best-practice measure, photograph by Amanda Gladics

The documents can also be accessed individually:

ACAP 2017. Review and Best Practice Advice for Reducing the Impact of Demersal Longline Fisheries on Seabirds. 28 pp.

ACAP 2017 Review and Best Practice Advice for Reducing the Impact of Pelagic Longline Fisheries on Seabirds. 26 pp.

ACAP 2017 Review and Best Practice Advice for Reducing the Impact of Pelagic and Demersal Trawl Fisheries on Seabirds. 21 pp.

French and Spanish versions of the three documents will be posted to this website soon.

Earlier versions adopted at the 2014 and 2016 meetings of the ACAP Advisory Committee remain available online (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 March 2018

Following fund raising from the public by the Million Dollar Mouse campaign, along with other support, in July 2016 New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Antipodes Island was aerially treated with poison bait in an endeavour to rid it of introduced House Mice Mus musculus.

A return expedition has been on the island this year searching for signs of mice, using trained dogs and other techniques such as ink-tracking cards, wax tags and chew cards. The expedition has recently returned from the island with the news that it found no mice or signs of them.

As a consequence the island has been formally declared as mouse free by New Zealand’s Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage on the advice of the Department of Conservation’s Island Eradication Advisory Group. “Special plants and wildlife, including 21 species of breeding seabirds [including seven ACAP-listed species of albatrosses and petrels), more than 150 species of insects - 17 per cent of them only found on the Antipodes; 21 uncommon plant species and four unique land birds are found on the Antipodes Island. They can now thrive with mice no longer preying on the insects or competing with the land birds”.

This adds the Antipodes to a steadily growing list of seabird islands in the Southern Ocean where alien mammals have been eradicated: chapeau New Zealanders!

A pair of globally Endangered Antipodean Albatrosses Diomedea antipodensis on Antipodes Island, photograph by Erica Sommer

The next task for New Zealand will be to remove the suite of alien mammals (domestic pigs Sus scrofa, feral cats Felis catus and mice) on its sub-Antarctic Auckland Island. Planning for this has already commenced (click here).

Read more and view photographs of the successful eradication exercise here and access previous postings to ACAP Latest News on the eradication project here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 March 2018