The first World Albatross Day is set to be celebrated on 19 June next year, 19 years after the Albatross and Petrel Agreement was signed in Canberra, Australia on the same date.  In the first few years of the Agreement an Advisory Committee was established, followed by four working groups, along with the appointment of the then Interim Secretariat’s first Executive Secretary, Warren Papworth.  In 2006 the seven chief officers of these bodies co-authored a Forum paper in the journal Marine Ornithology that sets out the rationale for the Agreement, its history and progress up to that year and included some discussion on a way forward.  Notably, four of these seven veterans are still involved with ACAP in various capacities, regularly attending annual meetings and contributing to discussions.

Following an outreach exercise the ‘ACAP Vets’ have offered short statements in support of the inauguration of World Albatross Day next year.  Their quotes follow.

Barry Baker

“Many albatrosses and petrels are threatened with extinction and only slight increases in the mortality of adults can rapidly reduce populations within a couple of decades.  In a world where there is a focus on the sustainability of extractive industries it behoves fishers and fishery managers to take all necessary steps to reduce the impacts of their activities on non-target species, including seabirds.” - Dr Barry Baker, Director, Latitude 42 Environmental Management Consultants, Scientific Councillor (By-catch), Convention on Migratory Species; Convenor, Executive Committee, Australasian Seabird Group; past Convenor and current member, ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Double

“To misquote Robert Cushman Murphy, everyone today and in the future deserves the chance to join the higher cult of mortals by seeing an albatross.  I will never forget the day I did and my life was better for it.  I thank all those around world fighting to save albatrosses, you make the world a richer place.” - Dr Michael Double, Leader Antarctic Wildlife and Management Section, Australian Antarctic Division; Alternate Commissioner (Science), Australian Delegation to the International Whaling Commission; past Convenor & current Vice-convenor, ACAP Taxonomy Working Group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rosemary Gales

“Our assessments of the status of albatrosses paint a solemn forecast.  These magnificent birds, however, share their stage with a determined band of people across the world who are committed to their conservation and survival.  Tides can be turned and we must continue to collaborate to improve the status of this flagship group of birds.  ACAP provides a mechanism where we can work together and World Albatross Day provides a wonderful moment to celebrate the successes and re-commit to our ongoing endeavours.” – Dr Rosemary Gales, Co-editor, Albatross Biology and Conservation (1998); past Convenor, ACAP Status and Trends Working Group; past Co-convenor, ACAP Population and Conservation Status Working Group

 

 

 

 

 

Mark Tasker

“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 Advisory Committee; Convenor of the ACAP Taxonomy Working Group

 

 

 

Susan Waugh

A haiku from the heart on the theme of Toroa/Albatrosses:

"Splendid, great white bird

Vulnerable, clinging on

At the world’s edges”

– Dr Susan Waugh, Head of Science, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; past Convenor, ACAP Breeding Sites Working Group

 

 

 

 

Reference:

Cooper, J., Baker, G.B., Double, M.C., Gales, R., Papworth, W., Tasker, M.L. & Waugh, S.M. 2006. Forum - The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels: rationale, history, progress and the way forward. Marine Ornithology 34: 1-5.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 September 2019

Abstract submissions are now being accepted for the Third World Seabird Conference (WSC3), to be held in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia over 19-23 October 2020.  Submissions are now being accepted for symposia, contributed oral presentations and posters.  More information can be found on the conference website regarding submissions guidelines, process and accepted symposia.

 

 “In seeking to make the 3rd World Seabird Conference truly a global meeting, the Travel Awards Committee will search for representation from as many countries as possible.  Students, Early Career Scientists (ECS), established seabird scientists, and conservation practitioners from developing countries as well as officially retired but still active seabird scientists are encouraged to apply. Travel Awards are intended to help defray the cost of attending the meeting, not to cover all expenses.  More information regarding the application process, explanations and deadlines can be found on the website.”

The deadline for abstract and travel award submissions is 30 November 2019

John Cooper, ACAP information Officer, 26 September 2019

Flesh-footed Shearwaters Ardenna carnepeis (Toanui) on New Zealand’s Motumahanga or Saddle Back Island currently number between 500 and 600 pairs, a large increase on the 100 to 200 pairs that were present in 1990, according to a recent survey by Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and Wildlife Management International.  The island is one of the Sugar Loaf Islands falling within a Marine Protected Area off the west coast of North Island.

DOC’s Graeme Taylor reports “I was on the 1990 trip and the shearwater burrows were mostly at the southern end, and in patches on the western side.  The rest of the island was dominated by a dense diving petrel colony.  Now the shearwater colony has spread across the plateau and is the dominant species on the island.”  The diving petrel population on the island had declined substantially since the 1990s when several thousand pairs were thought to be present, possibly to be due to competition for breeding space with the shearwaters.

Landing on uninhabited Motumahanga Island is by permit and the island subject to strict biosecurity controls against both plant and animal pests.

Flesh-footed Shearwaters, photograph by Ian Hutton

The globally Near Threatened and Nationally Vulnerable Flesh-footed Shearwater is a potential candidate for nomination to the Albatross and Petrel Agreement (click here).

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 September 2019

The first World Albatross Day is set to be celebrated on 19 June next year.  Following discussion, and consideration of the main threats facing albatrosses identified in a recent review in the journal Biological Conservation, the theme of eradicating introduced pests at breeding sites of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters has been 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, so those without (including some cooperating non-Party range states) will 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.

Next year attempts will be made to eradicate introduced House Mice Mus musculus on the UK’s Gough Island and the USA’s Midway Atoll.  At both localities mice have been attacking and killing albatrosses, as has been regularly reported in ACAP Latest News.  Planning and field work is expected to continue towards eradicating mice on South Africa’s Marion Island and on New Zealand’s Auckland Island (along with its feral cats and pigs) in 2020.  These, and other pest eradication projects at breeding sites of ACAP-listed species, will be highlighted in the build up to World Albatross Day on 19 June next year.

Quotes in support of World Albatross Day and its inaugural theme follow from five well-known island restoration experts, all of whom have been involved, mostly as leaders, of successful island eradications of rodents and other introduced mammals from albatross and petrel breeding islands over the past few decades.

Peter Garden

“Albatrosses frequent the uninhabited places of the globe but even here, their very survival is affected by human activity.” - Peter J. Garden ONZM*, Remote Habitat Restoration Specialist and Helicopter Pilot, Wanaka, New Zealand

*Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to aviation and conservation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Tony Martin

“The cherished memory of your first albatross, often a steadfast, alabaster-white arc wheeling above a dark, malevolent ocean, is one that remains forever.  We can, and must, do whatever is necessary to safeguard these magical creatures; the world, and our human successors, would be immeasurably impoverished without them.” - Tony Martin, Emeritus Professor of Animal Conservation, University of Dundee; 2016 Conservationist of the Year, Zoological Society of London; Past Leader, South Georgia Heritage Trust Habitat Restoration Project; author, Albatrosses (2011).

 

 

 

 

Pete McClelland

“Albatrosses represent everything that is special about the Southern Ocean.  From the impressive size of the great albatrosses as they glide effortlessly across thousands of kilometres of ocean to the haunting cry of a Light-mantled Albatross as it undertakes its courtship flight, it is impossible not to be moved by these birds.  To lose them is to lose part of our soul. World Albatross Day reminds us of just how important they are and why we must work to protect them.” – Pete McClelland, Operations Manager, Gough Island Restoration Programme, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, past Project Manager, Campbell Island Rat Eradication Project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sally Poncet

“Living in the South Atlantic, sailing the Southern Ocean and visiting its islands, studying Wanderers every year, albatrosses have been an ever-present part of my life for decades.  Viewed by some as canaries in the coalmine of an ailing planet, symbols of hope for future generations by others, for me albatrosses are workers of miracles for the passion they give us.  World Albatross Day: what a great way for us all to share our thoughts on albatrosses and bring immediacy to their plight.” – Sally Poncet PM*, Rodent Eradication Leader, Falklands Islands (Islas Malvinas)*, Island LandCare; author, Southern Ocean Cruising (2007); co-author, A Visitor's Guide to South Georgia (2012).

*Polar Medal

 

 

 

 

 

 Keith Springer

“Albatrosses already face so many threats at sea.  On some of the islands they breed on, they face existential threats from introduced predators as well, so the populations are getting squeezed from both land and sea.  World Albatross Day is a great opportunity to highlight not only the threats faced by these normally long-lived birds, but also some of the measures that can be taken to reduce the risks to them.  Without actions to reduce fishing mortality and introduced predators on their breeding islands, we face the sad but very real possibility of a world without albatrosses.” - Keith Springer, past Manager, Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project, Parks & Wildlife Service, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Tasmania, Technical Advisor, Lord Howe Island Rodent Eradication Project

 

 

 

 

 

With thanks to Peter Garden, Tony Martin, Pete McClelland, Keith Springer and Sally Poncet.

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.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 September 2019

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.