Yesterday, attendees at ACAP's Fifth Session of its Meeting of Parties (MoP5) being held this week in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands took the day off from their deliberations for a field trip out to sea. The ACAP Information Officer participated and took some photographs of the day's events.

Was that a gull or a dove?  Mark Tasker, Øystein Størkersen, Ken Morgan and Rob Crawford consult their bird books before embarking

We saw Short-finned Pilot Whales Globicephala macrorhynchus and Common Bottle-nosed Dolphins Tursiops truncatus close up from the Nashira Uno out of the marina of Los Gigantes 

Blue sky, blue water and the 500-m black cliffs Acantilados de Los Gigantes near the western-most point of Tenerife

Fish Whisperer!  Marcelo Garcia of Chile catches a Flathead Grey Mullet Mugil cephalus in the marina with his bare hands (and a tomato roll)

After the boat cruise Marcelo Garcia and Mark Tasker forego an ice cream for the ATM queue

Up, up and up in our shiny red bus...

 ...to be rewarded with a stunning view of Mount Teide, at 3718 m Tenerife's (and Spain's) highest point and a volcano that last erupted in 1909.  It forms the centre of the Parque Nacional del Teide, a World Heritage Site inscribed in 2007. 

With grateful thanks to the session's Spanish hosts for arranging the day's events that were enjoyed by all.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 May 2015 

The Fifth Session of ACAP’s Meeting of Parties (MoP5) meeting in Tenerife, Spain, yesterday adopted an amendment to Annex 1 of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels that includes the Pink-footed Shearwater Puffinus creatopus in the list of species covered.

The proposal was made by Chile, the sole breeding range state for the species, with support from Australia.  Several Parties then spoke in support of the species’ nomination, including range state Ecuador, as well as two other range states, Canada and the USA, who are attending MoP5 as observers.  The successful nomination follows a process initiated by ACAP’s Advisory Committee.

The Pink-footed Shearwater is included in Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and has a global category of threat of Vulnerable.

Pink-footed Shearwater, photograph by Peter Hodum

Range states express their delight at the inclusion of the Pink-footed Shearwater on ACAP's Annex 1.

From left: Marcelo Garcia (Chile), Roxana Galindo (Peru), Caroline Icaza Galarza (Ecuador), Mi Ae Kim & Stephen Wilger (USA) and Ken Morgan (Canada)

Photograph by John Cooper 

Both national and international efforts have been made to address conservation concerns regarding the new ACAP species, as set out in the North American Action Plan for the Conservation of the Pink-footed Shearwater (Puffinus creatopus), the National Plan for the Conservation of the Pink-footed Shearwater in Chile and the Recovery Strategy for the Short-tailed Albatross and the Pink-footed Shearwater in Canada.

Click here to access these documents and other news on how the Pink-footed Shearwater progressed to ACAP listing.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 May 2015

ACAP’s Fifth Session of its Meeting of Parties in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain continued into its second day yesterday with the agenda filled with house-keeping matters: discussing finances, hearing and considering reports from the Secretariat and Advisory Committee and more.  For today's posting ACAP Latest News brings you a photo gallery of some of the attendees at MoP5.

  Sorted!  Florian Expert of France proudly displays his country's credentials letter

ACAP's next Party?  The USA's observer delegation gets serious: Mi Ae Kim and Stephen Wilger

Juan Pablo Seco Pon of the Secretariat's staff signals a welcome break

Warren Papworth (Executive Secretary) and Ian Angus (New Zealand) enjoy freshly-squeezed orange juice...

 ... with cookies

Attendees from southern Africa grin for the camera

  From left: Gcobane Popose (South Africa), Hannes Holtzhausen (Namibia), Johan de Goede, John Cooper, Azwianewi Makhado & Robert Crawford (all South Africa) 

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 May 2015

ACAP’s Fifth Session of its Meeting of Parties in the Canaries on the island of Tenerife commenced yesterday with speeches of welcome on behalf of Spain as the host country by Mr Pablo Saavedra (Director General, Coastal and Marine Sustainability (Sostenibilidad de la Costa y del Mar,  Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente) and Dr Eduardo Balguerías (Director, Spanish Institute of Oceanography - Instituto Español de Oceanografía).  Director Pablo Saavedra noted that the protection of marine areas and adequate management is essential for reducing anthropogenic threats jeopardizing the conservation status of seabirds.  Dr Eduardo Balguerías recalled the early research on incidental seabird by-catch by fishing fleets operating in ​​CCAMLR jurisdiction, and the way it triggered an alarm on the real magnitude of this conservation problem. He noted that since then there has been great progress in conservation, especially in relation to the development of by-catch mitigation measures and the subsequent adoption of conservation and management measures by Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs).  

In their speeches they made mention of the Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, endemic as a breeding bird to Spain’s Balaearic Islands and the most-recently listed ACAP species.  It was also noted that the Canary Islands support a number of breeding procellariiform species.

From left:  Marco Favero (Chair ACAP Advisory Committee), Pablo Saavedra (Director General, Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente), Eduardo Balguerías (Instituto Español de Oceanografía) and Warren Papworth (Executive Secretary) during the opening of MoP5

MoP5’s Spanish hosts smile for the camera

From left:  Pablo Saavedra, Juan José Areces and Maria Isabel López (Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente), Eduardo Balguerías (Instituto Español de Oceanografía), José Manuel (Pep) Arcos (BirdLife International/SEO) and Roberto Sarralde (Instituto Español de Oceanografía)

 Following a break, the meeting elected Mr Ricardo Losa Giménez (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y de Cooperación, Spain) as its Chair.  Dr Marco Favero, Chair of ACAP’s Advisory Committee acted as the meeting’s Vice Chair.  Following several house-keeping matters the morning’s deliberations concentrated on a system for allowing observers from member economies to attend meetings, the budget for the next triennium and the scale of contributions that are made by Parties to the Agreement.

In the afternoon, the Session welcomed news from Namibia and the USA, present at MoP5 as observers, that progress was being achieved in both their respective countries to becoming Parties to the Agreement, with the possibility this might happen in the near future.

The day closed with Spain hosting the welcoming dinner in El Bulán, a local restaurant.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 May 2015, updated 06 May 2015