The globally Endangered and Nationally Vulnerable Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni is a New Zealand endemic that breeds only in coastal mountains near Kaikoura on South Island.  It is at risk at its only two breeding sites to feral pigs and earthquake-induced avalanches and to light pollution in the town of Kaikoura (click here).  ACAP Latest News is pleased to hear that the Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust (HSCT) “wholeheartedly endorses and supports” the celebration of the inaugural World Albatross Day (WAD 2020) on 19 June.

Lorna Deppe, Chair of the Trust’s Scientific Committee writes to ALN:

It is the Trust’s mission “to encourage and promote the conservation, research, education and sustainable management of the endangered Hutton's Shearwater.”  Raising public awareness for the threats these birds are facing is a big part of our work and naturally we want to be part of WAD’s mission to “increase global awareness of the conservation crisis facing albatrosses and petrels”.

Lorna Deppe with a Hutton’s Shearwater “fluffball”, photograph by Ailsa Howard

While we focus on keeping Hutton’s Shearwaters safe while ‘on the ground’ at their breeding colonies in Kaikoura, New Zealand, we are aware that ensuring their survival at sea is the much bigger challenge and needs global collaboration.  WAD2020 is a wonderful opportunity to connect not only organisations but each and every one of us in order to do our part in this important quest.

Kaikoura is famous for the variety of albatross species feeding close to the coast due to upwelling from the Kaikoura Canyon, and naturally we are very fond of our Hutton’s Shearwaters’ big brothers and the opportunity to get eye-to-eye with these magnificent birds when out on a boat.  Sometimes even our shearwaters catch a ride with Encounter Kaikoura’s albatross tours, when rescued and released after crash-landing in Kaikoura due to light disorientation.

Let’s work together to make our oceans a safe place again for these beautiful spirits of the sea!

Lorna Deppe, Chair of Scientific Committee, Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust, Kaikoura, New Zealand, with John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 June 2020

Hutton’s Shearwaters flocking at sea, photograph by Lorna Deppe

Michelle Risi and Chris Jones with their WAD2020 Banner outside the new field hut in Gonydale on Gough Island

As part of raising awareness of the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June and to draw attention to the conservation crisis facing the world’s 22 albatross species, ACAP has been challenging field teams working with albatrosses at breeding localities or going to sea as observers on fishing vessels to make a suitably-worded banner or poster advertising the international day.

Banner photos have come from 22 islands with breeding albatrosses (some photographed at different times and localities), two fishing vessels and one institute, along with two ‘virtual’ banners when COVID-19 restrictions halted field work.  A selection of banner challenge photos is available on this website in individual posts for each country involved.  Click below the photograph captions to read more about each one in posts to ACAP Latest News.

These 47 photographs, one for each “photo opportunity”, have now been loaded to an album on ACAP’s Facebook Page.  Readers are invited to visit the album and click ‘like’ or ‘love’ on the ones they particularly think help the most to spread the message of albatross conservation.  Click on just one or as many as you like.

At the end of June the likes and loves will be totalled up and the photograph with the greatest number of clicks will be declared the challenge winner. The person who submitted the winning photograph will then receive a book on South Africa’s Sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands co-authored and signed by ACAP’s Information Officer, as well as a printed WAD2020 poster suitable for framing.

With grateful thanks to all who have made, photographed and submitted images of WAD2020 banners to ACAP Latest News.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, updated 06 June 2020

A hooked Wandering Albatross gets a second chance, photograph from the British Antarctic Survey

Richard Phillips and Andy Wood (British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK) have published in the journal Biological Conservation on the substantial proportions of birds bycaught in longline fisheries alive.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Bycatch of seabirds in longline fisheries includes mortalities and live captures (mainly during hauling). Excluding outliers, the latter accounts for 5–70% (mean 40.4%) of all bycaught birds in demersal, and 3–23% (mean 10.7%) in pelagic longline fisheries. The proportion that later die from injuries is unknown, and this cryptic mortality complicates efforts to quantify fisheries impacts. Over a 26-year period at South Georgia, foul-hooking indices - birds with embedded hooks or entangled among tens of thousands checked at the colony - were broadly similar in wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans and giant petrels Macronectes spp., an order of magnitude lower in black-browed albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris and nil in two other albatross species. This likely reflected differing degrees of overlap with fisheries and interaction with gear during hauling. Indices peaked in the early-mid 2000s, then declined, broadly corresponding with changing fishing practices, including the lagged effect of a seasonal fisheries-closure, introduction of a new fishing system, reduced effort in some demersal fisheries and general improvements in bycatch mitigation. Foul-hooking indices at colonies can therefore reflect relative risk for different species over time, and be a useful adjunct to vessel-based monitoring of live-capture rates. Taking into account age and status when reported, and annual survival probabilities, subsequent survival of live-caught and released wandering albatrosses was around 40% of that expected for the wider population. This has major implications for ecological risk assessments that seek to determine the impacts ofisheries on seabirds, as most do not currently consider deleterious impacts of live capture.”

With thanks to Richard Phillips.

Reference:

Phillips, R.A. & Wood, A.G. 2020.  Variation in live-capture rates of albatrosses and petrels in fisheries, post-release survival and implications for management.  Biological Conservation 247.  doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108641.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 June 2020

Australian Antarctic Division’s Station Leader Finn Taylor (left) and Chef Arvid Brinkkemper display their WAD 2020 banner on Macquarie Island

As part of raising awareness of the inaugural World Albatross Day on 19 June ACAP has been challenging field teams working with albatrosses at breeding localities or going to sea as observers on fishing vessels to make a suitably-worded banner advertising ‘WAD2020’.

Australia has now joined seven other ACAP Parties and two non-Party albatross breeding range states in the World Albatross Day banner challenge by displaying two different banners on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island last month.  This brings near-complete coverage of sub-Antarctic island groups in the Southern Ocean; the only exception being Australia’s Heard and McDonald Islands – uninhabited and rarely visited.  Banners or posters have now been displayed on 22 islands with breeding albatrosses, some more than once at different times and localities (click here).

On Macquarie the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) works closely with rangers from Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service to protect the values of the island and its albatross populations.

Jonathon Barrington of the AAD and Australia’s National Representative to ACAP writes to ACAP Latest News: “Australia is home to 19 albatross species and is an original signatory and Party to the Albatross and Petrel Agreement.  It works domestically as well as with other range states and high seas fishing nations to protect albatrosses globally.”  He adds “Macquarie Island, a World Heritage Site, supports a rich diversity of seals, penguins, flying seabirds, invertebrates and plants.  It is home to populations of four out of the five albatross species that breed within Australia’s jurisdiction - Wandering Albatross, Black-browed Albatross, Grey-headed Albatross and Light-mantled Albatross.  Through the joint efforts of the Australian and Tasmanian Governments, rabbits, rats and mice were declared eradicated from Macquarie Island in 2014 [click here], and cats in a separate programme before then in 2000.  It was the world’s largest pest eradication of its kind.  There were considerable logistical challenges in undertaking this eradication 1500 km south-east of Tasmania in the sub-Antarctic and we owe a debt of gratitude to all those involved for their efforts.”

Finn Taylor, Macquarie Island Station Leader writes “The AAD is proud to support ACAP and World Albatross Day, working in partnership to protect habitats for these amazing seabirds.”  He notes that “the island’s recovery is impressive and the flora and fauna have bounced back, with tussock grasses providing cover for albatross chicks and those of other seabirds”.

Sara Larcombe, Wildlife Ranger (left) and Chris Howard, Ranger in Charge with their Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service banner and Wandering Albatross decoys (and Southern Elephant Seals) at the Macquarie Island landing beach, photograph by George Brettingham-Moore

Chris Howard, Ranger in Charge on Macquarie says “Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service is the agency responsible for the overall management of the Macquarie Island Nature Reserve and its natural resources.  Its rangers are actively involved on the island in many aspects of monitoring and management of the avifauna, including albatrosses.  The Australian Antarctic Division operates a base at the northern end of the island (the Isthmus) and provides logistical support that enables the rangers to operate in the challenging wind-swept location.  A very collaborative relationship!”

Jessica Fitzpatrick, Media Production Manager, Corporate Communications, Australian Antarctic Division and Dixie Makro, Graphic Designer & Image Library Manager, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service undertook the artwork for their respective banners.  Thanks also go to Jonathon Barrington, Chris Howard, Sara Larcombe and Finn Taylor.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 June 2020