Guy Preston (Department of Environmental Affairs, Cape Town, South Africa) and (many!) colleagues have published in the proceedings of an international  island invasives conference held in 2017 in Dundee, Scotland on South Africa’s intention to rid its sub-Antarctic Marion Island of House Mice Mus musculus.  The mice have turned to attacking seabirds, including ACAP-listed albatrosses (click here).  Fund raising has commenced towards an eradication attempt planned for 2021.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“House mice (Mus musculus) were introduced to South Africa’s sub-Antarctic Marion Island, the larger of the two Prince Edward Islands, by sealers in the early 19th century.  Over the last two centuries they have greatly reduced the abundance of native invertebrates.  Domestic cats (Felis catus) taken to the island in 1948 to control mice at the South African weather station soon turned feral, killing large numbers of breeding seabirds. An eradication programme finally removed cats from the island by 1991, in what is still the largest island area cleared of cats at 290 km².  Removal of the cats, coupled with the warmer and drier climate on the island over the last half century, has seen increasing densities of mice accumulating each summer. As resources run out in late summer, the mice seek alternative food sources. Marion is home to globally important seabird populations and since the early 2000s mice have resorted to attacking seabird chicks.  Since 2015 c. 5% of summer-breeding albatross fledglings have been killed each year, as well as some winter-breeding petrel and albatross chicks.  As a Special Nature Reserve, the Prince Edward Islands are afforded the highest degree of protection under South African environmental legislation. A recent feasibility plan suggests that mice can be eradicated using aerial baiting. The South African Department of Environmental Affairs is planning to mount an eradication attempt in the winter of 2021, following a partnership with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to eradicate mice on Gough Island in the winter of 2020. The eradication programme on Marion Island will be spearheaded by the South African Working for Water programme – Africa’s biggest conservation programme focusing on the control of invasive species –which is already driving eradication projects against nine other invasive species on Marion Island.”

Scalped!  A House Mouse feeds on the head of a downy Wandering Abatross Diomedea exulans chick at night on Marion Island

Photograph by Stefan Schoombie

Reference:

Preston, G.R., B.J. Dilley, J. Cooper, J. Beaumont, L.F. Chauke, S. L. Chown, N. Devanunthan, M. Dopolo, L. Fikizolo, J. Heine, S. Henderson, C.A. Jacobs, F. Johnson, J. Kelly, A.B. Makhado, C. Marais, J. Maroga, M. Mayekiso, G. McClelland, J. Mphepya, D. Muir, N. Ngcaba, N. Ngcobo, J.P. Parkes, F. Paulsen, S. Schoombie, K. Springer, C. Stringer, H. Valentine, R.M. Wanless & P.G. Ryan 2019. South Africa works towards eradicating introduced house mice from sub-Antarctic Marion Island: the largest island yet attempted for mice.  pp. 40-46.  In: Veitch, C.R., Clout, M.N., Martin, A.R., Russell, J.C. & West, C.J. (Eds). Island Invasives: Scaling up to meet the Challenge.  Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. xiv + 734 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 March 2019

Jose Peiro Crespo and Rory Crawford have produced a report for BirdLife International that reviews the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of 23 fisheries and concludes that the process “does not guarantee that a fishery is addressing the incidental capture, or ‘bycatch’, of marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, sharks and rays”.

“Our report highlights that MSC need[s] to take the opportunity of their forthcoming review of their standards to implement serious improvements to their bycatch requirements,” says Rory Crawford, Bycatch Programme Manager for the BirdLife Marine Programme. “As it stands, consumers cannot be fully confident that certified fish comes without impacts on non-target species – from sharks to seabirds to whales” (click here).

The report’s Executive Summary follows in part:

“The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is a seafood certification scheme and ecolabel that sets and maintains a standard for sustainable fishing based on three principles: 1) sustainable target fish stocks; 2) the environmental impact of fishing; and 3) effective management. Twelve percent of global marine wild catch is currently certified under the MSC Fisheries Standard.

Following the codes of best practice established under the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation and International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling, MSC’s Fisheries Standard has been reviewed and revised several times since it was first developed.  However, the standard does not yet fully ensure that certified fisheries are operating to one of the general principles set out in the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries: the minimisation of non-target catch or ‘bycatch’.

This study undertook a review of non-target bycatch (including elasmobranchs, marine mammals, seabirds and sea turtles) in 23 fisheries (or groups of fisheries) which have been certified by the MSC to assess the effectiveness of the MSC criteria and standard in ensuring that the impacts of certified fisheries on non-target species are minimised, or at least reduced.  To facilitate comparisons, the 23 fisheries were grouped into six case studies: North Atlantic gillnets, North Atlantic longline, tuna purse seine, Southern Hemisphere trawl, North Sea mixed fisheries and Northwest Atlantic trap fisheries.

This review found that the existing standard is not yet delivering consistent reductions in endangered, threatened and protected species bycatch, with only three of the fisheries reviewed achieving an overall green score.  This study concludes that MSC must strengthen the bycatch elements of the MSC standard at the next full Fisheries Standard Review, to prevent fisheries with unacceptably high impacts from being certified and to ensure that mortality of non-target species in certified fisheries is minimised. To that end, this review makes a series of recommendations for improvements.”

The face of 'bycatch': a Black-browed Albatross killed by a longliner, photograph by Graham Robertson

Read a popular article on the report here.

Reference:

Crespo, J.P. & Crawford, R. [2019].  Bycatch and the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC): a Review of the Efficacy of the MSC Certification Scheme in Tackling the Bycatch of Non-Target Species.  BirdLife International.  39 pp.

The full case studies underpinning the report are available here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 26 March 2019

The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) have been working together for many years to support talented early-career researchers, scientists, engineers, environmental managers, and other professionals to strengthen international capacity and cooperation in fields such as climate, biodiversity, conservation, humanities and astrophysics research by way of an annual funding opportunity.

For 2019, these Antarctic organisations are joined by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) who will each support additional Antarctic-related fellowships.  The fellowships enable early-career persons to join a project team from another country, opening up new opportunities and often creating partnerships that last for many years and over many Antarctic field seasons.  The deadline for the COMNAP and IAATO fellowship applications is 10 June 2019.

A Southern Giant  Petrel breeding on Candlemas Island in the maritime Antarctic, photograph by Andy Black

SCAR will offer three to four fellowships for 2019 and WMO will also support a number of fellowships through the SCAR operated scheme. The details for the SCAR scheme will be similar to previous years but with additional opportunities for candidates from WMO countries. Full details will be available at launch, later in 2019.

The fellowships are announced in conjunction with the Scientific Scholarship Scheme of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). The CCAMLR Scholarship provides funding to assist early-career scientists to participate in the work of the CCAMLR Scientific Committee and its working groups over a period of two years. The objective of the scheme is to build capacity within the CCAMLR scientific community to help generate and sustain the scientific expertise needed to support the work of CCAMLR in the long-term.  This year there are two calls for CCAMLR scholarship applications, the first with a deadline of 29 March 2019, and the second with a deadline of 1 October 2019.

Click on the organizations above for more information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 March 2019

Since opening its doors to patients in December 2014 the South Island Wildlife Hospital based in Christchurch, New Zealand has treated, rehabilitated and released many wild and native birds.

On 2 March this year the New Zealand's Department of Conservation delivered a globally Endangered and Nationally Critical Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis to the hospital.  Based on photographs it was considered to be a juvenile, possibly of the subspecies gibsoni according to a comment on the hospital’s Facebook page.  The bird was found on the beach at the Rakai River mouth south of Christchurch and was “very dehydrated, very hungry and near death”. Lots of fluids and lots of “sardine smoothies” later it was said to be looking better the next day.  The bird was X-rayed but no fish hooks had been swallowed.  Unfortunately, it died during the night of 4 March while still under care.  The bird had been present on the beach for at least four days before being collected, which would have exacerbated its dehydrated state.  Its corpse is to be sent for autopsy.

The Antipodean Albatross under care, photographs by the South Island Wildlife Hospital

Great albatrosses of the genus Diomedea are relatively rarely treated by wildlife hospitals or their equivalents, especially when compared to more inshore-foraging seabirds, such as cormorants or some penguin species.  A banded juvenile Wandering Albatross D. exulans (globally Vulnerable) from South Africa’s Marion Island turned up soon after it had fledged near Perth, Western Australia in 2006.  It was successfully rehabilitated and released at sea (click here).

With thanks to Karen Talbot, South Island Wildlife Hospital for providing updates on the albatross.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 March 2019