ACAP Latest News

Read about recent developments and findings in procellariiform science and conservation relevant to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels in ACAP Latest News.

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Two Black-browed Albatrosses and a Southern Giant Petrel seen in the South Atlantic daubed with red paint

Amanda Kuepfer, a scientific seabird observer based in the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas*, has reported to ACAP Latest News of her observations of three ACAP-listed seabirds at sea in the South Atlantic that had red paint on their plumage.

On 12 April 2017, while conducting seabird observations aboard a trawler targeting finfish in the South Atlantic at 60.52S, 50.69E, Amanda saw two Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris and one Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus that had been daubed with red paint. The three painted birds appeared to be in good condition and were actively feeding on discards consisting primarily of processing waste behind the trawler.

 

Two views of one of the two red-painted Black-browed Albatrosses

The red-painted Southern Giant Petrel

Photographs by Amanda Kuepfer

The paint, that looked to be of an identical type and shade, seemed to have been rather randomly applied, covering parts of the head, throat, breast, nape, back and upper wings of the birds. However, the similar head markings of the two birds photographed does suggest a deliberate act. The birds may have been splattered from a brush, or daubed by a long-handled paint roller while in the water close to a vessel at sea. Alternatively, the birds could have come aboard a ship somehow and the paint then applied before their release.

At the request of ACAP Latest News Yan Ropert-Coudert, Secretary of the SCAR Expert Group on Birds and Marine Mammals (EGBAMM), has commented on Amanda’s observations and photographs. He writes “probably not part of a study. Most of the painting marks on [study] birds are generally temporary (with marks being washed by seawater quickly) and would thus not be extremely useful if the purpose was to examine distribution”.

Incubating Shy Albatrosses T. cauta have been marked with a small daub of paint in one study in recent times (click here) but it seems permanent paint (and usually not red that resembles blood and so could attract predators) is little used nowadays as a marking tool when studying seabirds.

Future observations of painted seabirds, including albatrosses and petrels, in the Southern Ocean may be reported to EGBAMM. It would be intriguing, if any painted birds get caught in the future, to ascertain whether the applied paint is of a type used to paint vessels. The ultimate aim would be to discover who has applied the paint.

With thanks to Amanda Kuepfer and Yan Ropert-Coudert.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 January 2018

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

Offsetting wind farm deaths: Newell’s Shearwaters have commenced breeding in a protected site on the Hawaiian island of Maui

Globally Endangered Newell’s Shearwaters Puffinus newelli commenced breeding for the first time last year  within the Makamakaole Stream fenced sanctuary on Hawaii’s Maui Island. The predator-free enclosures were established in 2013 to keep out feral cats, rats and mongooses.

“For the first time in four years, Newell’s shearwaters have started laying eggs in an artificially created seabird colony in West Maui.  Biologists confirmed that four human-made burrow boxes - three with eggs - are being occupied by the threatened species this season”.

The two Makamakaole Stream fenced enclosures

Newell's Shearwaters at the entrance to an artificial burrow inside a Makamakaole Stream enclosure

Two predator-free enclosures were constructed near the Makamakaole Stream basin in 2012 and 2013 to offset accidental deaths of native seabirds by wind turbines at TerraForm Power’s Kaheawa wind energy facilities on Maui.

A Kaheawa wind farm on Maui

Photographs by TerraForm Power

Acoustic attraction has been used to attract prospecting shearwaters:

“Every night, seabird social calls similar to those at existing colonies were broadcast through weatherproof, solar-powered sound systems. Within the enclosures, biologists have installed 100 “burrow boxes.” The corrugated plastic burrows connect to underground plywood boxes that serve as nesting chambers, mimicking the birds’ own natural habitats. A 6-foot-high [1.8 m] mesh fence protects the enclosures, and “year-round intensive predator control” keeps the area clear of predators. The goal was to attract the shearwater and the endangered [in the USA] Hawaiian petrel to an area where both species had been assumed absent for more than a decade.”

Globally Vulnerable Hawaiian Petrels Pterodroma sandwichensis have "shown interest” but as yet have not bred within the enclosures.

“An estimated 16 [Hawaiian] petrels have been killed at the Kaheawa I site since it was permitted in 2006, and none at Kaheawa II since it was permitted in 2012, said Mitchell Craig, TerraForm’s compliance manager for its Habitat Conservation Plan. Biologists have not recorded any Newell’s shearwaters killed at either site. The total estimated take over the 20-year period is 31 petrels and zero shearwaters at Kaheawa I, and neither petrels nor shearwaters at Kaheawa II.”

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 January 2018

Detecting population declines from nest counts of Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses that skip breeding years could take decades

Victoria Bakker (Department of Ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman, USA) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Biological Conservation on the problem of using nests counts for population estimates when not all Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses breed annually.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Pelagic predators such as albatross have long been of conservation concern, but assessing their status poses numerous challenges. A standard monitoring method for albatross is colony-based nest counts to track numbers of breeders. However, a variable proportion of the population skips breeding in any given year and cannot be quantified by nest counts, creating several complications to efforts in understanding population dynamics. We used stochastic demographic matrix models for black-footed (Phoebastria nigripes) and Laysan (P. immutabilis) albatross to investigate: i) the potential for the skipping behavior of breeders to create apparent density dependence in nest counts, ii) the limitations to assessing population trends from nest counts and implications for evaluating impacts from fisheries bycatch, including calculating Potential Biological Removal values, and iii) the relative importance of at-sea versus on-island threats to population viability. We found the increased likelihood of these albatrosses skipping breeding following a successful season – a feature common to many seabirds and other taxa – results in substantial negative temporal auto-correlation in the observable population that can be misinterpreted as negative density dependence, with important implications for inferences about population viability. Black-footed albatross appear limited by fisheries bycatch, while Laysan albatross, which have low estimated bycatch mortality, are currently at greater risk from island-based threats. Our results suggest a cautionary approach to managing black-footed and Laysan albatross should be adopted because detecting population declines from nest counts could take decades. Ultimately, we highlight the inherent difficulties in assessing population status and trends in long-lived species such as albatross.”

 

Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses, photograph from the Kure Atoll Conservancy

Reference:

Bakker, V., Finkelstein, M.E., Doak, D.F., VanderWerf, E.A., Young, L.C., Arata, J.A., Sievert, P.R. & Vanderlip, C. 2018. The albatross of assessing and managing risk for long-lived pelagic seabirds. Biological Conservation 217: 83-95.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 January 2018

Canada releases a management plan for the Black-footed Albatross

The globally Near Threatened Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes is a non-breeding visitor to Canada’s Pacific waters, where it is at risk to mortalities caused by longline fishing. The albatross was listed as a species of Special Concern ("species at risk of becoming threatened or endangered"; roughly equivalent to a status of Near Threatened) by Canada in 2007 (click here). 

A final management plan has now been produced for the Black-footed Albatross in Canadian waters.

The plan’s executive summary follows:

“The Black-footed Albatross is a long-lived seabird that breeds mainly in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and occurs at sea off the Pacific Coast of Canada during the breeding and non-breeding seasons. Significant numbers feed off the coast of British Columbia each year, including adults making long foraging trips to feed their young.

The population seems generally stable, but relatively high numbers are caught as bycatch in longline fisheries in the North Pacific. Additionally, adults and immature birds are affected by the accumulation of toxic chemicals and heavy metals and by the ingestion of waste plastics from the surface of the sea when they are feeding. Because of the unknown effect of these particular threats over the long term, the Black-footed Albatross has been listed as a species of Special Concern in Canada. Emerging threats such as the potential loss of nesting and foraging habitat due to climate change also threaten this species.

The management objective for the Black-footed Albatross is to “...help to increase global population numbers and maintain the population throughout its documented distribution in Canadian waters, by reducing at-sea mortality and otherwise augmenting international conservation efforts.” The conservation of the Black-footed Albatross cannot succeed by Canadian efforts alone due to the wide-ranging marine nature and distant nesting habitats of this species.

Actions already underway include long-term at-sea surveys that record Black-footed Albatross distribution and abundance in Canada, and assessments of longline bycatch mortality in Canadian Pacific waters, including monitoring of current bycatch levels. Bycatch mitigation measures have been implemented in the target fishing fleet, but monitoring for compliance and effectiveness is limited and should be increased. Strategies and measures to achieve the management objectives are presented in the section entitled Broad Strategies and Conservation Measures.”

Click here for an earlier report on the management plan in ACAP Latest News.

 

A colour-banded Black-footed Albatross at sea, photograph by Vicki Miller

With thanks to Ken Morgan.

Reference:

Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2017. Management Plan for the Black-footed Albatross (Phoebastria nigripes) in Canada. Species at Risk Act Management Plan Series. Ottawa: Environment and Climate Change Canada. iv + 30 pp.

Click here for the French text.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 January 2018

Hutton’s Shearwaters are doing better than expected after the Kaikoura earthquake

The globally Endangered Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni breeds at altitude in the Seaward Kaikoura Range on New Zealand’s South Island. In November 2016 the area was severely impacted by an earthquake which caused landslides within the two known colonies during the breeding season, leading to fears that many of the breeding birds would have been killed in their burrows (see earlier articles in ACAP Latest News).

Hutton's Shearwater outside its burrow

Last month the Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust used earthquake assessment funding to send Richard Cuthbert, who had previously studied the bird for his PhD, and three Department of Conservation rangers to see what damage the earthquake had caused to the shearwater’s breeding sites (click here).

The Kowhai Valley colony at the site of a large landslide/rockfall that destroyed c. 12% of the breeding area

 

 View from a helicopter of the Shearwater Stream colony showing landslides caused by the November 2016 earthquake

Photographs by Richard Cuthbert

 “About 20-30% of the breeding burrows [in the Kowhai Stream colony] have been destroyed, which is better than biologists feared, and there is lots of bird activity in the colony which bodes well for its recovery.”

Despite the changes from the earthquake the larger Kowhai Stream colony was still deemed inaccessible to feral pigs, which are believed to have caused the extinction of other colonies in the mountain range.

The smaller Shearwater Stream colony was only viewed from the air because it was not considered safe to land; although burrow numbers were estimated to have dropped by a similar 20-30%.  Listen to a radio interview with Richard after his survey here.

Click here to read ACAP’s review of Richard Cuthbert’s book Seabirds beyond the Mountain Crest, written about his research conducted on Hutton’s Shearwater.

With thanks to Richard Cuthbert for information and photographs.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 January 2018

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

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Hobart TAS 7000
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Tel: +61 3 6165 6674