The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) through its 13 Parties strives to conserve albatrosses and petrels by coordinating international activities to mitigate threats to their populations. In 2019 ACAP's Advisory Committee declared that a conservation crisis continues to be faced by its 31 listed species, with thousands of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters dying every year as a result of fisheries operations. To increase awareness of this crisis ACAP will inaugurate a World Albatross Day to be held annually on 19 June from 2020, the date the Agreement was signed in 2004.
The Eleventh Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (AC11) was held from 13 to 17 May 2019 in Florianópolis, Brazil. Meetings of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG9), and the Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG5) preceded AC11 at the same venue.
WORLD ALBATROSS DAY, 19 JUNE 2020: "ERADICATING ISLAND PESTS"
“Albatrosses are one of the pinnacles of evolution in harnessing the winds to search much of the world’s oceans for food. Sadly, human activities are putting them at risk of extinction. I hope that World Albatross Day will highlight their plight and encourage a greater focus globally on their conservation.” - Mark Tasker, retired Head of Marine Advice, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, United Kingdom; past Chair and Vice-chair of ACAP’s Advisory Committee; Convenor of the ACAP Taxonomy Working Group.
