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The first World Albatross Day was celebrated on 19 June 2020. Following discussion, and consideration of the main threats facing albatrosses identified in a recent review in the scientific journal Biological Conservation, the theme of eradicating introduced pests at breeding sites of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters was chosen to highlight a continuing, but addressable, problem facing ACAP-listed species, many of which are threatened with extinction unless actions are taken. Although not all 13 Parties to the Agreement support breeding populations of albatrosses, they are all range states with albatrosses visiting their waters. Those Parties without breeding populations (including some cooperating non-Party range states) will therefore have an interest in conservation efforts conducted at the breeding sites of species that regularly visit their territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zones - where they will be susceptible to interactions with domestic fishing vessels.
Scalped! Globally Endangered Grey-headed Albatrosses Thalassarche chrysostoma attacked at night by House Mice on Marion Island, photograph by Ben Dilley
"Eradicating Island Pests"
In 2020 attempts were to be made to eradicate introduced House Mice Mus musculus on the UK’s Gough Island in the South Atlantic and on the USA’s Midway Atoll in the North Pacific*. At both localities mice have been attacking and killing albatrosses, as has been regularly reported in ACAP Latest News. Planning and field work is continuing in 2020 towards eradicating mice on South Africa’s Marion Island and on New Zealand’s Auckland Island (along with its feral cats and pigs). These, and other pest eradication projects at breeding sites of ACAP-listed species, have been highlighted in the build up to World Albatross Day on 19 June 2020.
*Both now postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reference:
Dias, M.P., Martin, R., Pearmain, E.J., Burfield, A.J., Small, C., Phillips, R.A., Yates, O., Lascelles, B., Garcia Borboroglu, P. & Croxall, J.P. 2019. Threats to seabirds: a global assessment. Biological Conservation doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.033.
ACAP Latest News posts on World Albatross Day 2020
23-10-20 Michelle Risi, who first proposed a World Albatross Day, is thanked by ACAP
11-09-20 An ‘Evohe Albicake’ baked at sea misses the World Albatross Day Bake Off
05-08-20 World Albatross Day’s Colouring-in Competition results. Part Two: the Runners Up03-08-20 “Petey the Albatross” - Runner up in the Great Albicake Bake Off reveals a budding baker
24-07-20 People’s choice: the five most-liked albicakes in the inaugural World Albatross Day Bake Off
23-07-20 World Albatross Day 2020 Photography Competition: Winner and Runners-up chosen
15-07-20 World Albatross Day’s Colouring-in Competition results. Part One: the Winners
08-07-20 Turning the Tide for the Albatross: an RSPB story map in support of World Albatross Day
07-07-20 And the winner of the World Albatross Day Banner Challenge is … Alex Dodds on Bird Island!
01-07-20 Australia raises the threatened status of its endemic Shy Albatross on World Albatross Day
23-06-20 The last World Albatross Day banner for 2020 comes from the Albatross Task Force in Namibia
21-06-20 Antarctica joins the banner challenge on World Albatross Day
19-06-20 BirdLife affiliate Aves Uruguay joins over 50 environmental NGOs in supporting World Albatross Day
19-06-20 Day Five of ‘World Albatross Week 2020’. Featuring Artists & Biologists for Nature
19-06-20 Raising the banner for World Albatross Day in Australia as global celebrations get going today
18-06-20 Mexico’s Guadalupe Island gets a World Albatross Day banner
17-06-20 Nature United in Canada marks the inaugural World Albatross Day this week
16-06-20 The Oceanic Society supports albatross conservation – and World Albatross Day
15-06-20 Wild Bird Society of Japan, BirdLife national partner, offers support for World Albatross Day
15-06-20 Day One of ‘World Albatross Week 2020’. Leigh Wolfaardt creates a special artwork in celebration
14-06-20 The National Audubon Society looks forward to celebrating World Albatross Day
14-06-20 The Hawai‘i Wildlife Center rehabilitates albatrosses - and supports World Albatross Day
13-06-20 The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition urges conservation actions on World Albatross Day
13-06-20 Pronatura, Mexico's BirdLife affiliate, offers its support for World Albatross Day
11-06-20 Last call for entries to World Albatross Day’s Great Albicake Bake Off!
11-06-20 World Albatross Day Photography Competition “Albatrosses, their World and Threats”
10-06-20 The Nederlandse Zeevogelgroep (Dutch Seabird Group) endorses World Albatross Day on 19 June
09-06-20 Kauai Humane Society’s Save Our Shearwaters will celebrate World Albatross Day this month
07-06-20 The Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust wholeheartedly endorses World Albatross Day
06-06-20 The World Albatross Day 2020 Banner Challenge: ACAP announces its third competition
04-06-20 Australia displays World Albatross Day banners on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island
03-06-20 Aves y Conservación-Birdlife in Ecuador, supports the celebration of World Albatross Day
02-06-20 One for the young: the Albatross Colouring-in Competition will celebrate World Albatross Day
01-06-20 Hawaii’s Kure Atoll advertises World Albatross Day with a ‘virtual banner’
31-05-20 Pacific Rim Conservation interns practice social distancing to display their World Albatross Day art
29-05-20 A new World Albatross Day banner from Bird Island in the South Atlantic
27-05-20 Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project to celebrate World Albatross Day next month
24-05-20 The Pacific Seabird Group joins two other seabird groups in supporting World Albatross Day 2020
22-05-20 World Albatross Day gets a music video of Gough Island's albatrosses
20-05-20 Announcing a World Albatross Day competition: The Great Albicake Bake Off
18-05-20 Hawaii’s Kaua’i Albatross Network will celebrate World Albatross Day next month
16-05-20 Hawai’i Pacific University’s Pelagicos Lab supports World Albatross Day 2020
14-05-20 Peru’s Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) offers its support for World Albatross Day
12-05-20 Brazil’s Albatross Task Force takes its World Albatross Day banner to the seashore
08-05-20 Australia’s Adrift Lab studies seabird pollution – and supports World Albatross Day
02-05-20 The Hawaii Audubon Society joins other Hawaiian NGOs in supporting World Albatross Day
30-04-20 Birds Canada/Oiseaux Canada, BirdLife national partner, welcomes World Albatross Day 2020
28-04-20 The Kure Atoll Conservancy supports the inauguration of World Albatross Day on 19 June
27-04-20 The USA’s Cornell Lab of Ornithology endorses World Albatross Day 2020
23-04-20 Torishima, volcanic home of the Short-tailed Albatross, marks World Albatross Day with a banner
21-04-20 The Friends of Kauaʻi Wildlife Refuges gets behind World Albatross Day 2020
19-04-20 SAVE Brasil, BirdLife partner, lends its support to this year’s World Albatross Day
13-04-20 Japan’s Yamashina Institute for Ornithology lends it support to World Albatross Day 2020
04-04-20 The Chinese Wild Bird Federation supports World Albatross Day 2020
30-03-20 Another BirdLife partner, this time Spain, lends its support to World Albatross Day
24-03-20 The World Albatross Day Banner at Sea Challenge reaches South Africa
19-03-20 The conservation team on Midway Atoll helps advertise World Albatross Day
18-03-20 “Silent Slaughter”. The Chatham Albatross series for World Albatross Day by Eva-Cherie Artz
12-03-20 Mary Ingrum, mixed-media artist, creates "PLIGHT of the Albatross" for World Albatross Day
10-03-20 New Zealand’s well-travelled World Albatross Day banner gets to the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands
01-03-20 Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile, desert storm petrels and World Albatross Day
28-02-20 The Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds, the Balearic Shearwater and World Albatross Day
21-02-20 The United Kingdom’s Seabird Group will celebrate World Albatross Day with ACAP
17-02-20 The Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge gives its views on World Albatross Day 2020
03-02-20 Bird Island in the South Atlantic gets its WAD2020 Banner out again for the summer
29-01-20 ACAP works towards increasing awareness of the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June
27-01-20 Crossing the Equator: the WAD2020 Banner Challenge reaches Midway Atoll
17-01-20 Three photographers donate use of their albatross images to support ACAP and World Albatross Day
15-01-20 New Zealand’s Forest & Bird will be celebrating this year’s inauguration of World Albatross Day
08-01-20 A WAD2020 banner gets to Grey-headed Albatross Ridge on Marion Island
06-01-20 Rising to the challenge: Steeple Jason in the South Atlantic gets a World Albatross Day banner
03-01-20 Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature and ACAP collaborate over this year’s World Albatross Day
01-01-20 Gough Island’s embattled birdlife and World Albatross Day, an albatross researcher speaks
30-12-19 Racing to save the Antipodean Albatross with Live Ocean
25-12-19 New Zealand’s WAD2020 Banner gets to Campbell Island – but does not come back
23-12-19 Humane Society International Australia is a World Albatross Day supporter
20-12-19 New Zealand’s Southern Seabird Solutions Trust writes about World Albatross Day, 2020
18-12-19 World Albatross Day and the Gough Island Restoration Programme
13-12-19 Brazil’s Projeto Albatroz is helping promote World Albatross Day
11-12-19 France’s BirdLife partner, LPO, with 55 000 members, writes about World Albatross Day
09-12-19 Award-winning illustrator, Owen Davey, creates a poster for World Albatross Day 2020
06-12-19 Australia joins other national BirdLife partners in supporting World Albatross Day
30-11-19 World Albatross Day gains recognition from Peruvian NGO, ProDelphinus
22-11-19 A South Atlantic NGO lends its support to next year's World Albatross Day
20-11-19 The World Seabird Union joins other NGOs in lending its support to next year’s World Albatross Day
18-11-19 World Albatross Day on the Bounty Islands: New Zealand joins the banner challenge
29-10-19 The Australasian Seabird Group lends its support to World Albatross Day's inauguration in 2020
19-10-19 Qual Albatroz! World Albatross Day cartoons are now available in all three ACAP languages
11-10-19 World Albatross Day adopts an official logo
08-10-19 The American Bird Conservancy will support World Albatross Day activities next year
01-10-19 In the service of conservation: support for World Albatross Day comes from five wildlife artists
17-09-19 France's Amsterdam Island joins the Word Albatross Day ‘Banner Challenge’
12-09-19 Four children’s book authors support next year's World Albatross Day
09-09-19 Bird Island responds to the World Albatross Day banner challenge
19-08-19 Honouring past marine ornithologists on World Albatross Day on 19 June: a call for names
16-08-19 Marc Parchow's Qual Albatroz cartoons are helping raise awareness of next year's World Albatross Day
12-07-19 World Albatross Day issues a banner challenge
Last updated 23 October 2020