In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week, New Zealand’s Prime Minster John Key announced the intention to create a new large Marine Protected Area (MPA) covering 620 000 km² that will be centred on the chain of Kermadec Islands, 800 to 1100 kilometres north-east of New Zealand (click here).

The Prime Minister stated “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will be one of the world’s largest and most significant fully-protected areas, preserving important habitats for seabirds, whales and dolphins, endangered marine turtles and thousands of species of fish and other marine life.  It will cover 15 per cent of New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone, an area twice the size of our landmass, and 50 times the size of our largest national park in Fiordland.”

The new MPA will be 35 times larger than the combined area of New Zealand’s existing 44 marine reserves.  It will extend out to the 200 nautical mile limit of New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), from Raoul Island in the north to L’Esperance Rock in the south. It will be the first time an area of New Zealand’s EEZ is fully protected.

The new MPA is reported to support six million seabirds of 39 different species.  Seven species of procellariiform seabirds breed on the Kermadecs, including Wedge-tailed Puffinus pacificus and Little P. assimilis Shearwaters, along with three gadfly petrels Pterodroma spp. and two storm petrels, Hydrobatidae.  According to a 2011 report, nine species of ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels have been recorded within the Kermadec region as non-breeding visitors, several of which, such as the Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis, appear to occur year-round.

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Wedge-tailed Shearwaters

Rats Rattus spp. and feral Domestic Cats Felis catus were eradicated on Raoul, the largest of the Kermadec Islands at 29 km², between 2002 and 2006 by New Zealand’s Department of Conservation.  The islands are surrounded by the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve created in 1990 within 12-nautical mile territorial waters with an area of 7450 km².  The Kermadecs, which themselves form a Department of Conservation Nature Reserve, are uninhabited except for a DOC field and weather station on Raoul Island.

The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will be a no-take, fully-protected zone with no commercial or recreational fishing or mining permitted.  The New Zealand Government aims to pass legislation enabling the creation of the sanctuary by October 2016.  Along with the USA’s Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the Australian Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve and the United Kingdom’s to-be-established Pitcairn Islands Marine Reserve a total of three and half million square kilometres in the southern Pacific Ocean will then be protected.

See also:

http://mfe.govt.nz/marine/kermadec-ocean-sanctuary

http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/kermadec-sanctuary-global-contribution-ocean-protection

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/72497269/john-key-announces-one-of-the-worlds-largest-ocean-sanctuaries

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/28/new-zealand-creates-vast-ocean-sanctuary

Reference:

Gaskin, C.J. 2011.  Seabirds of the Kermadec region.  Their natural history and conservation.  Science for Conservation No. 316.  71 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 October 2015

The 22nd Annual Meeting incorporating the Extended Commission of the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT) will be held in Yeosu, South Korea over 12-15 October 2015.

The provisional agenda for the Extended Commission [EC] meeting states that “at the ERSWG’s [CCSBT Working Group on Ecologically Related Species] March 2015 meeting, the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) presented a paper which proposed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the CCSBT and ACAP Secretariats.  The ERSWG commented on the considerable benefits already obtained through close collaboration with ACAP and the high importance of ACAP’s contributions to the ERSWG.  The ERSWG therefore endorsed and strongly supported the proposed MoU.  The EC will consider whether to sign an MoU to facilitate cooperation between the CCSBT and ACAP.”

Click here for an earlier ACAP Latest News report on developing an MoU between ACAP and CCSBT.

ACAP will be represented at the meeting by its Executive Secretary Warren Papworth.

Chatham Albatross, photograph by Matt Charteris

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 September 2015

Lehua, one of the USA’s Hawaiian Islands, supports small populations of Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses (click here).  Wedge-tailed Shearwaters Puffinus pacificus breed in large numbers (an estimated 23 000 pairs) on Lehua and the island also holds an important population of Bulwer’s Petrels  Bulweria bulwerii.  Newell’s Shearwater P. newelli and Madeiran or Band-rumped Storm Petrel Oceanodroma castro have both been confirmed breeding on the island in the past, although if any remain to the present day they are present in extremely small numbers.  In addition the Christmas Shearwater P. nativitatus is suspected of breeding.

The uninhabited 126-ha island was the target of an eradication attempt in 2009 which failed to remove its introduced rodents.  Field research with an aerial drop of non-toxic bait has now taken place towards making a second attempt to rid the island of rats (click here).

Lehua Island  from the air

The uninhabited 126-ha island was the target of an eradication attempt in 2009 which failed to remove its introduced rodents.  Field research with an aerial drop of non-toxic bait has now taken place towards making a second attempt to rid the island of rats (click here)

A Black-footed Albatross pair on Lehua, photograph by Eric Vanderwerf

"The results of the aerial drop project will provide guidance for the potential development of a new project to use a rodenticide to control Lehua’s invasive rat population.  The project would be at least one year out."

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 September 2015

Location and Dates of Meetings

The Ninth Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (AC9) will be held from Monday, 9 May to Friday, 13 May 2016, in Chile.  Chile became a Party to the Agreement in December 2005.

Pink-footed Shearwater, a Chilean breeding endemic and ACAP's most recently listed species, photograph courtesy of Fardela Blanca

The location of the meeting venue will be advised in AC9 Meeting Circular 2.  Meetings of the Population and Conservation Status Working Group and Seabird Bycatch Working Group will precede AC9, at the same venue.  These meetings will be held from Monday, 2 May to Friday, 6 May 2016.  A Heads of Delegation meeting will be convened on Sunday, 8 May 2016 in the evening.  

Meeting Documents

The deadlines for submission and distribution of meeting documents for AC9 and the Working Groups meetings follow:

2 January 2016.  Draft agenda for AC9 distributed

1 February 2016.  New items for inclusion in the agenda submitted to Secretariat 

9 March 2016.  AC9 Working Papers and abstracts for Working Group documents requiring translation submitted to Secretariat

9 March 2016.  Revised draft agenda for AC9 distributed

28 March 2016.  Information papers and documents for Working Group meetings submitted to Secretariat

8 April 2016.  Meeting documents distributed in the working languages by the Secretariat
Meeting documents will not be accepted after these dates.  It would be appreciated if participants could advise the Secretariat of any papers that they intend submitting to the meeting as soon as possible.

Applications for Observer Status

The deadlines for submission of requests for Observer status to attend AC9 are:

8 February 2016:  Submission of written requests for observer status by international bodies

9 March 2016:  Submission of written requests for observer status from non-international bodies

9 March 2016.  International bodies advised if their request for observer status has been approved

8 April 2016.  Non-international bodies advised if their request for observer status has been approved

Information on registration and other meeting arrangements will be provided in Meeting Circular No 2.

The First Session of the Meeting of the Parties to ACAP, held in Hobart, Australia in 2004 established an Advisory Committee to provide expert advice and information to ACAP Parties, the Secretariat and others. Click here to access reports and documents of previous meetings of ACAP’s Advisory Committee.  The previous meeting (the 8th) was held in Punta del Este, Uruguay in September 2014.

ACAP Secretariat, 28 September 2015