In Chile’s western Patagonia huge numbers of fjords and archipelagos make up one of the least populated and explored areas in the World.  Among this complex system lie islands such as Isla Diego de Almagro that are exposed to the severe weather conditions of the Cape Horn current and western drift winds.  The western coastline of the 525-ha island is composed of high cliffs and offshore islets.  Isla Diego de Almagro has been a Chilean National Reserve ("Reserva Nacional Alacalufes") since 1969 and has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

The western coastline of Isla Diego de Almagro

Diego de Almagro was first reported as supporting breeding Near Threatened Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris in January 1984 with abundance estimates of around 15 000 breeding pairs made by the late Gerry Clark’s Totorore Expedition.  This estimate was later confirmed by a count of 15 594 breeding pairs in six colonies scattered along offshore islets and the exposed western-facing cliffs from photographs taken from the yacht Tooluka in September 2001.

An estimated total of 122 920 pairs of Black-browed Albatrosses breed within Chile at six island localities.  Following Islas Diego Ramírez and Ildefonso, Isla Diego de Almagro supports the third largest population in Chile.

The prevailing weather conditions in the region and rugged terrain on Diego de Almagro make it difficult both to undertake aerial photographic surveys and-based monitoring with walking trips of up to 8-10 hours being necessary to visit even the most accessible breeding colonies.

Breeding Black-browed Albatrosses on Diego de Almagro

Trackers deployed on 13 Black-browed Albatrosses on Diego de Almagro during incubation in 2001 confirmed the species’ occurrence along the Chilean continental shelf, overlapping with commercial fisheries in the region.

Roger Kirkwood (Australian Antarctic Division) stands amongst debris washed ashore on Diego de Almagro

Diego de Almagro's shoreline contains much washed-up debris from fisheries (e.g. nets, buoys), and plastic artefacts such as lighters, lubricant bottles and bags; the last widely distributed across the island by the dominant windy conditions.  In contrast with more southerly colonies (Isla Diego Ramírez >700 km southward), Diego de Almagro shows signs of invasive rodent presence with House Mouse Mus musculus faeces observed around albatross nests.  In addition, the introduction of alien predators such as domestic dogs and cats via landings made by artisanal fishers on Diego de Almagro remains an ongoing risk (click here).

A native rodent found on Diego de Almagro

Photographs by Marcelo A. Flores.

Selected References:

Clark, G.1988.  The Totorore Voyage.  Auckland: Century Hutchinson.  357 pp.

Clark, G.S., Goodwin, A.J. & von Meyer, A.P. 1984.  Extension of the known range of some seabirds on the coast of southern Chile.  Notornis 31: 320-334.

Clark, G.S., Cowan, A., Harrison, P. & Bourne, W.R.P. 1992.  Notes on the seabirds of the Cape Horn islands.  Notornis 39: 133-144.

Lawton, K., Robertson, G., Valencia, J., Wienecke, B. & Kirkwood, R. 2003.  The status of Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophrys at Diego de Almagro Island, Chile.  Ibis 145: 502-505.

Moreno, C.A. & Robertson, G. 2008.  ¿Cuántos albatros de ceja negra, Thalassarche melanophrys (Temminck, 1828) anidan en Chile?  Anales Instituto Patagonia 36: 89-92.

Suazo, C.G., Schlatter, R.P., Arriagada, A.M., Cabezas, L.A. & Ojeda, J. 2013.  Fishermen’s perceptions of interactions between seabirds and artisanal fisheries in the Chonos archipelago, Chilean Patagonia.  Oryx 47: 184-189.  + one page supplementary material on-line.

Tickell, W.L.N. 1976.  The distribution of Black-browed and Grey-headed albatrosses.  Emu 76: 64-68.

Cristián G. Suazo, Department of Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany, Marcelo Flores, Departamento de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Universidad Andres Bello, Chile & Graham Robertson, Australian Antarctic Division, Chamnnel Highway, Kingston, Tasmania, 04 January 2014, updated 05 January 2014

The Alaska Sea Grant College Program will hold the 29th Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium, Fisheries Bycatch: Global Issues and Creative Solutions over 13-16 May 2014 in the Hilton Anchorage Hotel, Anchorage, Alaska, USA.

‘The goal of this symposium is to bring together fishery and social scientists, managers, fishermen, and other stakeholders from around the world to report on creative approaches to solving fishery bycatch issues.  For purposes of this symposium, we define bycatch in broad terms to include retained incidental catch, fishery discards, and unobserved mortalities as a result of direct encounters with fishing gear.  We seek contributions on new methods and technologies, advancements toward full accounting of fishing mortality into harvest control rules, approaches toward industry-derived solutions, incentive programs, new regulatory solutions, as well as studies on social and economic implications related to bycatch issues.  We seek broad input on addressing bycatch issues concerning a range of fish, invertebrate, mammal, seabird, and other species.  We especially encourage contributions on how to deal with data-poor species, protected and endangered species, and species with vulnerable life histories (e.g., long-lived species with low rates of reproduction and natural mortality).”

Symposium sessions will include:

Fisheries bycatch—what are the biological and ecological issues?

Economic and social considerations of bycatch

Accounting for bycatch of non-target fish species

Solutions for monitoring protected and endangered species

Gear developments and other technological solutions

Fishery regulatory approaches and solutions

Industry initiatives, solutions, and cooperative research.

Albatrosses clump behind a trawler during hauling, photograph by Neil Anders

To contribute an oral or poster presentation, submit an abstract on one of the session topics no later than 27 January 2014 using the online submission form.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 January 2014

The Pink-footed Shearwater Puffinus creatopus is a Chilean endemic with only three known breeding sites, Isla Mocha and two islands, Robinson Crusoe and Santa Clara, in the Juan Fernández Archipelago.  Chile has proposed its listing within the Albatross and Petrel Agreement (click here)

The species is listed in Appendix 1 of the Bonn Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), as Threatened by Canada and as a Species of Common Conservation Concern by the tri-national Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

A Pink-footed Shearwater in a breeding colony on Isla Mocha

Isla Mocha, with an estimated 19 000 breeding pairs, possesses the largest known breeding population.  The 4800-ha island is comprised of a low-lying coastal plain that encircles the rugged, forested hills of the interior.  The central highlands of the island are protected as a Chilean National Reserve.  The Pink-footed Shearwater is the only seabird species that currently breeds on Isla Mocha.

The forested ridges in the centre of Isla Mocha comprise the reserve in which the Pink-footed Shearwater colonies are located

On Isla Mocha, the breeding colonies are located in native forest.  To arrive at their burrows, birds crash through the canopy and plummet to the forest floor.  In order to depart, shearwaters climb trees to reach take-off platforms on branches in the upper canopy.  The principal threats to birds in the colonies are predation by feral cats Felis catus and the occasional domestic dog and the human exploitation of chicks that has been greatly reduced with recent enforcement of a ban on such activity.  At sea, there is evidence of bycatch in both artisanal and commercial fisheries.

Typical Pink-footed Shearwater breeding habitat on Isla Mocha, with burrow entrances amongst tree roots

Pink-footed Shearwaters also breed on two islands in the Juan Fernández Archipelago, Isla Santa Clara (c. 3800 pairs) and Isla Robinson Crusoe (c. 5100 pairs).  The islands are also the only breeding location for Juan Fernández Pterodroma externa, Stejneger’s P. longirostris and De Filippi’s P. defilippiana Petrels.

Isla Santa Clara, approximately 220 ha in area, lies two kilometres off the western tip of Isla Robinson Crusoe.  After the successful eradication of European Rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus in 2003 the island is now free of introduced mammals.  The principal colony-based concern is the high rate of erosion in some of the colonies due to loss of native vegetation cover.

Isla Santa Clara from its summit.  Small shearwater breeding colonies are scattered on various slopes throughout the island

The Vaquería breeding colony, with approximately 2100 breeding pairs, is the largest on Isla Robinson Crusoe.  The colony extends along a ridge, with shearwaters nesting in both remnant patches of native forest as well as on open slopes.  Historically, the area was impacted severely by clearing of forests and cattle grazing, although neither of these activities is permitted today.  The major colony-based threat in Vaquería is predation by feral cats and, to a lesser extent, by the introduced Coatimundi Nasua nasua.

The Vaquería breeding colony on Isla Robinson Crusoe extends along the ridge that descends in the central foreground.  Burrows are located primarily on the slopes that drop off the rounded ridge crest

The second-largest breeding colony on Isla Robinson Crusoe is Piedra Agujereada.  Approximately 1100 breeding pairs use the colony, which suffers the highest predation rates by feral cats of all of the Robinson Crusoe colonies.  In addition to predation, cattle grazing in the colony destabilized slopes and directly damaged burrows.  In 2012, a fence was installed in the central part of the colony to exclude cattle.

The Piedra Agujereada breeding colony on Isla Robinson Crusoe is located on the upper half of this east-facing slope

Results from satellite-tracking studies indicate that during the breeding season shearwaters use a foraging hotspot in the Talcahuano region of Chile which is also the region with the greatest fisheries activity in the country.  Tracking of their migratory routes has revealed that a significant proportion of post-breeding birds winter in Peruvian waters while others migrate up to California Current waters off the Pacific coast of North America.

The Pink-footed Shearwater is heavily dependent on continental shelf and shelf-break waters throughout its annual cycle

All photographs by Peter Hodum.

Selected References:

Commission for Environmental Cooperation 2005.  North American Conservation Action Plan: Pink-footed Shearwater.  Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation.  vii + 49 pp.

Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada 2004.  COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Pink-footed Shearwater .  Ottawa: Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.  vii + 22 pp.

Cooper, J. & Baker, G.B. 2008.  Identifying candidate species for inclusion within the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. Marine Ornithology 36: 1-8.

Environment Canada 2008.  Recovery strategy for the Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) and the Pink-footed shearwater (Puffinus creatopus) in Canada.  Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series.  Ottawa: Environment Canada.  vii + 46 pp.

Gladics, A. & Hodum, P.J. 2010.  Impactos a madrigueras de la fardela blanca (Puffinus creatopus) en colonias con y sin ganado, Isla Robinson Crusoe, Archipiélago Juan Fernández. Informe técnico para la Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF).

Hinojosa S.A. & Hodum, P.J. 2008.  Plan nacional para la conservación de la fardela de vientre blanco Puffinus creatopus Coues, 1864 en Chile.  Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF) and Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente (CONAMA), Chile.  34 pp.

Hodum, P.J. 2011.  Monitoreo de la población reproductora de la Fardela Blanca (Puffinus creatopus) en Isla Santa Clara.  Informe técnico para la Corporación Nacional Forestal  (CONAF).

Hodum, P.J. 2007.  Respuesta poblacional de la fardela blanca (Puffinus creatopus) de próximo de la erradicación de conejos europeos (Oryctolagus cuniculus) en Isla Santa Clara.  Informe técnico para la Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF).

Peter Hodum, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, USA, 2 January 2014

Graham Robertson (Australian Antarctic Division, Channel Highway, Tasmania, Australia) and colleagues, writing in the journal Biological Conservation report on the recovery of Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris breeding in Chile, considered due to improvements in fishing practices.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Black-browed albatrosses (Thalassarche melanophrys) are a common victim of incidental mortality in commercial fishing operations. Chile holds globally important populations of black-browed albatrosses and grey-headed (Thalassarche chrysostoma) albatrosses with about 85% of the former species breeding at the Diego Ramirez and Ildefonso Archipelagos.  In the nine years between 2002 and 2011 the number of black-browed albatrosses at these sites increased by 52% and 18%, respectively, or 23% for both sites combined.  In the same period the population size of grey-headed albatrosses showed no signs of change.  To explain the reason for the increases we examined trends in fishing effort for the five main longline and trawl fisheries with a history of interactions with seabirds; the extent of overlap between the fisheries and albatross foraging ranges; and albatross bycatch rates for each fishery.  The circumstantial evidence and evidence from the SEABIRD population model suggest the most likely reason for the population increase was reduced mortality in the industrial longline fishery for Patagonian toothfish.  In 2002 Spanish system vessels in this fishery took an estimated 1555 black-browed albatrosses.  In 2006 and 2007 the fleet converted to a new method of fishing, called the Chilean system (or trotline-with-nets), which reduced seabird mortality to zero.  Developed to minimise depredation of toothfish by sperm whales and killer whales, the re-designed gear configuration resulted in a fivefold increase in mean sink rates of baited hooks (from 0.15 m/s to 0.80 m/s), making them inaccessible to seabirds.  The Chilean system is an example of innovation yielding both economic benefits to the fishing industry and conservation benefits to seabirds.  The ability of black-browed albatrosses to respond to reduced mortality levels encourages continued efforts to implement seabird-friendly gears and practices in other fisheries with detrimental impacts on seabirds.”

Black-browed Albatross test the wind on Diego Ramirez

Photograph by Graham Robertson

Reference:

Robertson, G., Moreno, C., Arata, J.A., Candy, S.G., Lawton, K., Valencia, J., Wienecke, B., Kirkwood, R., Taylor, P. & Suazo, C.G. 2014.  Black-browed albatross numbers in Chile increase in response to reduced mortality in fisheries.  Biological Conservation 169: 319-333.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 1 January 2013