ACAP’s three official working languages are English, French and Spanish. Following an internship programme implemented in previous years (click here), the ACAP Secretariat hosted postgraduate translation students in Hobart between 13 and 17 February 2017.

From the right: Juliana, Carolina and Delphine, with ACAP's Executive Secretary, Marco Favero

The students had the opportunity to gain practical experience with ACAP to fine-tune their translation skills. At the same time, it was a great opportunity for ACAP to contribute to the education of translators, and in the process help to prepare them for a career as translators.

This year’s interns came from the School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University, Melbourne (Delphine Marie) and the School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales, Sydney (Carolina Genson and Juliana Castaneda).

We hope they had a great experience and enjoyed their stay in Tassie. We certainly enjoyed their visit and appreciated their work!

Marco Favero, ACAP Executive Secretary, 06 March 2017

Graham Parker of Parker Conservation has reported to ACAP Latest News on field work conducted this austral summer on five species of ACAP-listed species on the Auckland Islands south of New Zealand.

Graham, along with fellow researcher and spouse, Kalinka Rexer-Huber, spent the period from 18 December to 18 February in the island group, working primarily on Adams Island with a few days on Disappointment Island at the end of their trip.

Graham points to a GLS mounted on the leg of a White-chinned Petrel killed by a Subantarctic Skua Catharacta antarctica on  Adams Island

Brief descriptions of work conducted on each species follow:

Gibson's Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis gibsoni

Demographic work (capture-mark-recapture study to estimate survival and measure recruitment) and GLS (global location sensor) retrieval, working for veteran albatross researchers Graeme Elliot and Kath Walker on Adams Island.

White-capped Albatross Thalassarche steadi

Third season of work partly to establish a marked population to estimate demographic parameters on Disappointment Island. Recapture rates of previously banded birds were encouraging.  This research is partnered with David Thompson of New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

A White-capped Albatross colony on Disappointment Island, photograph by Graham Parker 

Light-mantled Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata

Ground counts were made in a dense nesting area on Adams Island as part of a Parker Conservation project.  These counts will be compared with counts made by Barry Baker of Latitude 42 Environmental Management Consultants utilizing helicopter-borne aerial photography.

Light-mantled Albatrosses on Adams Island, photograph by Graham Parker

Northern Giant Petrel Macronectes halli

The entire Auckland Islands breeding population was counted during the 2015/16 summer.  This season the three larger sub-populations on Adams, Enderby and Dundas Islands were counted in order to understand annual changes in the breeding population. This is a Parker Conservation project.

White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis

Demographic work and GLS retrieval on Adams Island was undertaken as part of Kalinka's ongoing PhD research being undertaken in the Department of Zoology, University of Otago in Dunedin.

Read more here.

With thanks to Graham Parker.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 March 2017

A number of presentations on albatrosses and issues relating to seabird bycatch by fisheries was made at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group held in Tacoma, Washington, USA, last week.

Titles with senior authors follow.  Click here to read their abstracts (find them via the index).

Arden Blumenthal:  Could lasers damage albatross vision? a review of potential risks

Jane Dolliver:  Multispectral processing of high resolution satellite imagery to determine the abundance of nesting albatross

Jonathan Felis:  Migratory routes and wintering areas of Pink-footed Shearwaters (Ardenna creatopus)

Amanda Gladics:  Community engagement strategies for promoting seabird bycatch reduction in commercial fisheries

Ed Melvin: The devil is in the detail: trends in albatross bycatch rates in Alaskan longline fisheries

Pamela Michael: Spatially-explicit population dynamics: incorporating bycatch and environmental variation

Hannah Nevins:  Status and conservation of Waved Albatross

Rachael Orben:  Comparative flight altitudes of Hawaiian albatrosses

John Peschon:  A summary of albatross band recovery data in the Hawaii deep and shallow set longline fisheries

John Peschon:  Seabird interactions in the Hawaii deep and shallow set longline fisheries in 2015

 Critically Endangered Waved Albatross Phoebatria irrorata on Ecuador's Isla La Plata, photograph by Sebastian Cruz 

Many other presentations were made on procellariform seabirds not listed within the Albatross and Petrel Agreement, notably on the threatened petrels and shearwaters of the Hawaiian islands.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 March 2017

Stephanie Borrelle (Institute for Applied Ecology New Zealand, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand) and colleagues have published “pre-press” in the journal Oryx on how New Zealand seabirds islands are recovering after the removal of alien predators.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Protecting the world’s seabirds is a global conservation priority given that 29% of seabird species are threatened with extinction. One of the most acute threats to seabirds is introduced predators, which depredate seabirds at all life stages from eggs to adults. Consequently, invasive predator eradication has been identified as an effective and commonly used seabird conservation method. Seabird recovery post-eradication is influenced by complex and interacting environmental and demographic factors, though gaps remain in our understanding of species-specific responses. Here, we reflect on the recovery of seabirds to islands cleared of predators by drawing on the equilibrium theory of island biogeography and synthesise key influences on recovery reported in the literature. To illustrate this synthesis, we present a regionally specific case study on the recovery of seabird colonies (n=98) in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand; a seabird diversity hotspot (27 species), which has a long history of invasive predator eradications. We found that islands cleared of predators show recovery of seabirds over time, and surprisingly had more diverse seabird assemblages than islands that never had predators. This recovery appears to be influenced by a suite of site- and species- specific factors. Managers may assume that given enough time following an eradication, seabirds will recolonise. While time is a factor, island spatial distribution has a significant effect on the recolonisation of seabirds, in addition to demographic traits, colonizing ability and habitat suitability.  Therefore, integrating expected site and species-specific recovery responses into planning seabird island eradications could help guide post-eradication management actions.”

Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni, a Hauraki Gulf breeder and an ACAP-listed species, photograph by David Boyle

Reference:

Borrelle, S.B., Boersch-Supan, P.H., Gaskin, C.P & Towns, D.R. 2016.  Influences on recovery of seabirds on islands where invasive predators have been eradicated, with a focus on Procellariiformes.  Oryx doi:10.1017/S0030605316000880.

Supplementary information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 March 2017