The 2018 intersessional meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) Sub-committee on Ecosystems (SC-ECO) was held in Madrid, Spain, over 04-08 June 2018. The Albatross and Petrel Agreement was represented by Anton Wolfaardt, Co-convenor of its Seabird Bycatch Working Group.

The meeting considered a number of seabird-related papers, one of which was submitted and presented by ACAP, outlining its latest best-practice advice for mitigating seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries.  Representatives from Brazil and the NGO Projeto Albatroz presented two papers, both of which reported the results of research investigating the efficacy of hook pods at reducing seabird bycatch. The SC-ECO acknowledged the scientific evidence in support of hook pods as an effective seabird bycatch mitigation measure, and recognised that the re-usability of the pods is a positive attribute. The SC-ECO encouraged further research be undertaken on hook pods. It was noted that information on practical aspects of usage among different fleets would be helpful, and that it would be important to collect information on the longer term use and durability of the hook pods in commercial fleets.

Representatives from Uruguay presented results from experimental work they have undertaken to investigate the effects of seabird bycatch mitigation measures on bycatch rates of other non-target taxa. The focus of the study was on bird-scaring lines and branchline weighting. In both cases, they were unable to detect any impacts on other non-target species, highlighting that these mitigation measures recommended to reduce seabird bycatch do not inadvertently increase bycatch rates of other non-target species.

Another issue discussed and progressed at the meeting was the development of an ICCAT Ecosystem Report Card. A key objective of the report card is to serve a mechanism to help facilitate communication between scientists and managers on a range of ecosystem and fisheries-related matters of relevance to ICCAT (including seabirds).

Yellow-fin Tuna

Click here to access the meeting’s report.

Anton Wolfaardt, Co-convenor, ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, 31 July 2018

Jennifer Provencher (Department of Biology, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada) and colleagues have published in the journal Science of the Total Environment on levels of microplastics excreted by Northern or Arctic Fulmars Fulmarus glacialis.

The paper’s abstract follows:

Plastic pollution is [a] global environmental contaminant. Plastic particulates break down into smaller fragments in the environment, and these small pieces are now commonly found to be ingested by animals. To date, most plastic ingestion studies have focused on assessing retained plastics or regurgitated plastics, but it is likely that animals also excrete plastic and other debris items. We examined the terminal portion of the gastrointestinal tract of a seabird known to commonly ingest plastics, the Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis), to determine if seabirds excrete microplastics and other debris via their guano. We also examine how guano collections may be used as an indicator of retained plastics. The frequency of occurrence of microplastics did not correlate between the gut and faecal precursor samples, but there was a positive relationship between the number of pieces of plastics in the gut and the number of microplastics in the guano. Our findings suggest that seabirds are acting as vectors of microplastics and debris in the marine environment where their guano accumulates around their colonies. This transport of microplastics and debris by colonial seabirds needs to be further examined, and considered when designing environmental monitoring for microplastics in regions where seabird colonies are found.”

Northern Fulmar in flight

Provencher, J.F., Vermaire, J.C., Avery-Gomm, S., Braune, B.M. & Mallory, M.L.2018.  Garbage in guano?  Microplastic debris found in faecal precursors of seabirds known to ingest plastics.  Science of the Total Environment 644: 1477-1484.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 July 2018

A while back ACAP Latest News reported on innovative action taken to allow a pair of Laysan Albatrosses Phoebastria immutabilis to hatch their adopted fertile egg by slipping a plate under the nest bowl so the egg would not get buried: “Fergie and Malia are members of a female-female Laysan pair that have been together on Kauai since at least 2010. Every year since then both their eggs get buried in the nest bowl and neither is properly incubated as a consequence. Fergie has a serious limp of unknown derivation, so it appears her attempts to kick out excess nesting materials may inadvertently cause her to dig a hole into which the eggs fall” (click here).

Hob Osterlund of the Kauai Albatross Network and an ardent supporter of all things albatross now reports via Facebook:

“Remember Amos, the mōlī chick whose devoted moms had failed for years in their nesting attempts? One of them, Fergie, has a significant limp and has inadvertently buried their egg each season. This year we slid a blue plate under their nest and Amos is the result. Days before he fledged, he returned to hang out near his hatch site. Then he flew. How cool is that? Congratulations to the first-time mamas, Fergie and Malia.”

In similar vein ACAP Latest News expresses its congratulations to Hob Osterlund for her work with Kauai’s Laysan Albatrosses.

Amos on his blue plate nest shortly before fledging, photograph from Hob Osterlund

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 July 2018

Desecheo Island is a National Wildlife Refuge managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) off the coast of Puerto Rico.  Its past seabird populations of frigate birds, tropic birds, boobies and terns were greatly reduced by introduced predators that included feral goats (removed in 2009), Black Rats Rattus rattus and Rhesus Macaques Macaca mulatta.  After a decade long campaign all these aliens have been removed from the 146-ha island, with the rats and monkeys (save a single female) going in 2017, and the seabirds have started to return (click here).

Attempts are now being made by partners Island Conservation, FWS, and Effective Environmental Restoration (EER) to attract Audubon’s Shearwaters Puffinus lherminieri to the island using a solar-powered sound system to broadcast the species’ calls: “although there were no records of this species inhabiting Desecheo Island, the nesting habitat on the island is ideal for this species, with many crevices and burrows along the rocky coast. The species visits nearby islands so we know it is around, it is just a matter of setting up the right scenario on Desecheo for it to visit it as well”.

The Audubon's Shearwater is partially obscured by the speaker

In March this year footage from a trail camera revealed an Audubon’s Shearwater sitting on top of one of the speakers at night.  Future visits to the island will look for signs of breeding by the shearwater.

John Cooper, AAP Information Officer, 6 July 2018