Archives

An ACAP- BirdLife International workshop jointly organised by Aves y Conservación (BirdLife in Ecuador) and Aves Argentinas (BirdLife in Argentina) was held in Manta, Ecuador from 26-28 May 2009 to provide instruction and develop onboard protocols for the Ecuadorian fisheries observer programmes. This capacity-building exercise was aimed at introducing concepts and methods for seabird conservation associated with fisheries in Ecuador.

Presentations were given by delegates from the Argentinean National Institute of Fisheries Research (INIDEP) observer programme, Aves Argentinas, the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (by Dr Marco Favero, ACAP Advisory Committee Chair) and representatives from BirdLife International's Global Seabird Programme.

Ecuadorian representatives from the Ministry of the Environment, the Fisheries Under-Secretary and the National Fisheries Institute, as well as 37 scientific fishery observers from four programmes, totalling approximately 47 attendees participated in the workshop.

Outcomes included:

• Seabird identification guides were produced;

• At-sea protocols for recording abundance estimates and seabird mortality were developed;

• Observers provided current knowledge and insights into seabird interactions related to specific fishing gears and operations;

• Fishing operations and practices, including gear configurations were elaborated; and

• Jimmy Martinez, Fisheries Under-Secretary representative responsible for fisheries bycatch initiatives in Ecuador officially committed at-sea protocols into the government's national observer programmes.

Next steps were identified as

• Formalise collaboration between stakeholders to ensure active collection of standardised at-sea protocols and the provision of data analysis support;

• Continued reinforcement and strengthening of activities between BirdLife International, Aves y Conservación and national observer programmes in Ecuador; and

• Selection and preparation of observers for the second stage of capacity building to take place in Argentina with INIDEP and Aves Argentinas.

News from Marco Favero, Chair, ACAP Advisory Committee, 17 June 2009