The American Bird Conservancy, Molokai Land Trust, Maui Nui Seabird Recovery Project , Pacific Rim Conservation and The Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi are working together to set up a social attraction site for globally Near Threatened Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.  Fourteen adult decoys have been placed in pairs to attract passing birds in the dune restoration site on the Anapuka peninsula within the 695-ha Mokio Preserve on the north-west coast of the island, a locality considered to be “well above any sea level rise projections”.  A vocalization unit has also been installed that broadcasts mating calls that will help attract prospecting birds.

“Creating new high-island colonies of [Laysan] Albatrosses is critically important as 99% of their population nest at less than 2 m above sea level.”

A Laysan Albatross decoy before deployment, photograph by Butch Haase

Looking up.  Laysan Albatross decoys stand ready within the Mokio Preserve on Molokai

The US Fish & Wildlife Service has a documented breeding attempt from a location adjacent to the restoration site. The Molokai Land Trust has documented several landings of Laysan Albatrosses within the restoration site over the past several years and has made many observations of overflights and offshore flights within and near the project location.

The initiative follows an on-going attempt to create a high-level colony in the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on the nearby island of Oahu, where translocated Laysan and Black-footed P. nigripes chicks have been hand-reared until fledging (click here).

The site has been fenced to protect it from browsing deer and to deter feral cats and domestic dogs; in addition an active trapping programme targets cats, rats and mongooses. Several other breeding seabird species already benefit from predator control at the Mokio site, including White-tailed Phaethon lepturus and Red-tailed P. rubricauda Tropicbirds and Black Noddies Anous minutus, which nest in caves below the 45-60-m coastal cliffs. Two Black-footed Albatrosses have been seen flying in the vicinity recently so the possibility of attracting them to the restoration exists.

Elsewhere on Molokai, the Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica colony in the 370-ha Moʻomomi Preserve (established in 1988 by the Nature Conservancy of Hawai’i) has increased from two nests in 1999 to nearly 1500 nests and more than 3200 birds (view a video). Control efforts with live traps prevent feral cats, rats and mongooses from preying on shearwater eggs, chicks and adults in the preserve. The preserve is also fenced against Axis Deer Axis axis, dogs and cats. Monitoring of the shearwater population over the last three years includes banding breeding adults and fledglings removed from their burrows (click here).

A Wedge-tailed Shearwater chick removed from its burrow for banding in the Mo`omomi Preserve, photograph courtesy of the Molokai Land Trust

With thanks to William ‘Butch’ Haase, Molokai Land Trust, Hannah Nevins, American Bird Conservancy and Lindsay Young, Pacific Rim Conservation.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 November 2017

Deborah Pardo (British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom) and colleagues have published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the United States of America on reasons for population changes of Wandering Diomedea exulans, Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma and Black-browed T. melanophris Albatrosses breeding on Bird Island in the South Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Environmental and anthropogenic factors often drive population declines in top predators, but how their influences may combine remains unclear. Albatrosses are particularly threatened. They breed in fast-changing environments, and their extensive foraging ranges expose them to incidental mortality (bycatch) in multiple fisheries. The albatross community at South Georgia includes globally important populations of three species that have declined by 40–60% over the last 35 years. We used three steps to deeply understand the drivers of such dramatic changes: (i) describe fundamental demographic rates using multievent models, (ii) determine demographic drivers of population growth using matrix models, and (iii) identify environmental and anthropogenic drivers using ANOVAs. Each species was affected by different processes and threats in their foraging areas during the breeding and nonbreeding seasons. There was evidence for two kinds of combined environmental and anthropogenic effects. The first was sequential; in wandering and black-browed albatrosses, high levels of bycatch have reduced juvenile and adult survival, then increased temperature, reduced sea-ice cover, and stronger winds are affecting the population recovery potential. The second was additive; in gray-headed albatrosses, not only did bycatch impact adult survival but also this impact was exacerbated by lower food availability in years following El Niño events. This emphasizes the need for much improved implementation of mitigation measures in fisheries and better enforcement of compliance. We hope our results not only help focus future management actions for these populations but also demonstrate the power of the modelling approach for assessing impacts of environmental and anthropogenic drivers in wild animal populations.”

Grey-Headed Albatross with its downy chick on Bird Island, photograph by Jen James/Steph Winnard

Read popular articles on the publication here and here.

With thanks to Deborah Pardo and Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Pardo, D., Forcada, J., Wood, A.G., Tuck, G.N., Ireland, L., Pradel, R., Croxall, J.P. & Phillips, R.A. 2017. Additive effects of climate and fisheries drive ongoing declines in multiple albatross species. Proceedings of the National Academy of the United States of America. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1618819114.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 November 2017

The Sixth Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MoP6) to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels will be held in the Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre, Skukuza Rest Camp, Kruger National Park, South Africa from Monday, 7 May to Friday, 11 May 2018.  A Heads of Delegation meeting will be convened on Sunday, 6 May 2018 in the late afternoon.

 Entrance to the Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre in the Skukuza Rest Camp

"Live long and prosper"

African Elephants and albatrosses can both live for half a century or more

Information on key dates for submission of registration forms, documents and credentials and applications for observer status may be found in MoP6 Meeting Circular 1.  Information is also given in the circular on daily domestic flights into Skukuza from Cape Town and Johannesburg and booking accommodation in the rest camp’s bungalows.

The circular also includes a provisional agenda for the MoP.  The circular is also available in Spanish, with the French text coming soon.

Not an albatross, bur similar in several ways.  A Critically Endangered White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus, the most common vulture species in the park

Please note that the taking of malaria prophylactics is considered essential when visiting the Kruger National Park,  More information will be given in the second circular.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 November 2017

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Management Commission (WCPFC) has launched a newly designed web portal for its Bycatch Management Information System (BMIS) that explores past and present efforts to tackle critical bycatch issues in pelagic tuna fisheries.

The Yellowfin Tuna Thunnus albacares is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and sub-tropical oceans worldwide

“Bycatch in tuna fisheries is the collateral damage that is caused by fishing gear to non-target species such as seabirds, sea turtles, marine mammals and sharks. In many cases these species are already severely threatened from a variety of activities, creating an urgent need to manage and mitigate impacts from fishing. Streamer [bird-scaring] lines that deter seabirds, leader materials that allow sharks to bite through, and baits and hooks that are less likely to attract and injure sea turtles are currently deployed in some fisheries. How well do these mitigation measures work in practice? Are the mortality rates now low enough to allow bycatch populations to be sustained? Unfortunately, these questions remain largely unanswered in tuna fisheries and there are no universal quick fixes in sight.”

“The BMIS allows searching of over 1000 curated references by species group, fishing gear or mitigation technique, and provides pointers to species identification and safe release guides. The new BMIS also helps users--ranging from scientists to managers to fishers to the general public--explore management options by linking to information on interaction rates and population status. A built-in blog feature, ‘Bycatch Bytes’, provides an easy way to keep up-to-date on the latest developments in bycatch reduction.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 21 November 2017