The 2024/25 Overwintering Team (G70) on Gough Island with their World Albatross Day banner.  Michelle Risi (front, left) holds a wooden model of an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross made by Kabelo Moabi (G64)

Today, the 19th of June, is World Albatross Day, the sixth to be held.  It is also the seventh and final day of news articles under the heading ‘WADWEEK' that have been posted to ACAP Latest News.

In May 2019 ACAP's Advisory Committee at its Eleventh Meeting (AC11) held in Brazil declared that a conservation crisis continues to be faced by its 31 listed species, with thousands of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters dying every year as a result of fisheries operations. To increase awareness of this crisis ACAP inaugurated a World Albatross Day (WAD), to be held annually from 2020 on 19 June, the date the Agreement was signed in 2001.  Each year ACAP has chosen a theme to mark the day.  The inaugural theme was “Eradicating Island Pests”.  “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries” followed in 2021, then came “Climate Change” in 2022, “Plastic Pollution” in 2023 and "Marine Protected Areas” in 2024.  This year’s theme for ‘WAD2025’ is “Effects of Disease”, which takes especial note of the arrival of the Highly Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus on several sub-Antarctic islands in the Southern Ocean.

The idea of ACAP holding a World Albatross Day was first proposed by Michelle Risi, a long-term supporter of the Agreement with her photographs of ACAP-listed species on Gough and Marion Islands and WAD banners, posters and ‘albicakes’.  Michelle and her husband, Chis Jones are now conducting research on Gough Island in the South Atlantic.  Fittingly, Michelle is the first to report a World Albatross Day event to ACAP this year, posing with a hand-made banner along with her fellow team members on the island.

This year the World Albatross Day logo was produced in Japanese, as well as in the three official ACAP languages of English, French and Spanish

As in recent years two albatross species have been utilized to feature the theme with new infographics, artworks and posters.  They are the Endangered Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis, endemic to France’s Amsterdam Island, and the Endangered Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri, that breeds on islands in the southern Indian Ocean.  In addition, logos and a media release have been produced, each in four languages.

For the sixth year, ACAP has collaborated with Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) on Project #49, resulting in 37 artworks by 24 artists.  Eight works have been chosen to make downloadable art posters

The seventh art poster to be released is illustrated by Flávia Barreto of Nova Friburgo, Brazil.  Flávia is no stranger to ACAP, having produced artworks for all the World Albatross Days since 2022.  This year she has painted five artworks for Project #49, two of which have been made into posters.  Her second poster, shown here, is of a fledgling Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross seen on Marion Island – where the species does not breed.

From next week, ACAP Latest News will report on WAD2025 activities and events held around the world today and over the weekend.  These include an exhibition in Japan, a webinar and a music video in Australia, free entry to an albatross colony in New Zealand, a beach clean-up in Hawaii, a midwinter party in South Africa, another banner on Marion Island, and efforts to raise awareness and funds for the Saving Marion Island’s Seabirds: The Mouse-Free Marion Project in Australia, South Africa and the USA.  Not to mention a couple of ‘albicakes'!  Do let ACAP know of any other events, along with a few words and photographs, so they may also be featured here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 19 June 2025

For the sixth year running, ACAP has collaborated with the international collective Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) to produce artworks depicting ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels. This year the featured species are the Endangered Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis, endemic to France’s Amsterdam Island, and the southern Indian Ocean’s Endangered Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri in support of ACAP’s theme “Effects of Disease” for this year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June (WAD2025).

ABUN Project #49 ran from 01 April until 31 May, and following a grace period to allow for late submissions, resulted in 37 artworks by 25 artists becoming available for ACAP’s use in support of the conservation of albatrosses and petrels.  Seven of the artworks have been chosen to illustrate WAD2025 posters, the first three of which were released yesterday, with three more today.  The remaining art poster will be released tomorrow on World Albatross Day.

Di Roberts

Di Roberts writes to ACAP Latest News: “I live in Bournemouth on the south coast of England in the county of Dorset.  I am a retired art teacher but still teach community groups, mainly senior citizens, but also classes for disabled people.  I specialise in pencil drawing but also love watercolour, pastels, ink drawing, and digital drawing on Procreate on my iPad.  I take commissions, mainly portraiture, mainly in pencil.”

Di continues to say that she has been highly influenced by Kitty Harvill, Co-founder of ABUN, producing artwork for it since its inception. “I enjoy the idea that my art might effect change and greater respect for all creatures.  I tend to put the focused animals into groups so that they never feel alone!”  Her painting in pastels and pencil for WAD2025 depicts a clustered group of Amsterdam and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses, both of which breed on France’s Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

Georgia Feild writes that she is a retired mechanical/electrical systems design engineer who worked on control systems of power plants and aircraft for 40 years while pursuing a career in fine art.  She has had artwork displayed in the USA and internationally, sold under commission and through her studio while teaching art courses to professional artists and college students in the evening and on weekends while carrying full-time employment.

After fulfilling her life goals in science and art she is now semi-retired, teaching STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) classes part time at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and sharing creative expression through visual art with disadvantaged children participating in the "Hearts on Fire" programme in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.  “I still exhibit artwork and participates in collaborative projects with ABUN, donating artwork in support of conservation efforts for many imperilled species.”

Georgia’s artwork, in watercolour, ink and coloured pencil, cleverly combines an Amsterdam Albatross with a background of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae bacteria which has been recorded on Amsterdam Island, placing its albatrosses at risk being infected with the disease erysipelas.

Georgia Feild

Birgit Meyer lives in Schwarzenbach am Wald in Bavaria, Germany.  Her striking painting is of an Amsterdam Albatross "head on", inspired by a photograph taken by Anthony Buttet.  Her artwork is in acrylics on Torchon, a type of watercolour paper known for its distinctive, rough and textured surface.

 Birgit Meyer

  All seven art posters marking WAD2025 will be available for downloading and display later this month.

With thanks to all the artists who contributed to ABUN Project #49, "Effects of Disease".  Thanks also to Marion Schön of ABUN who motivated the project and also designed its banner artwork.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 18 June 2025

For the sixth year running, ACAP has collaborated with the international collective Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) to produce artworks depicting ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels. This year the featured species are the Endangered Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis, endemic to France’s Amsterdam Island, and the southern Indian Ocean’s Endangered Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri in support of ACAP’s theme “Effects of Disease” for this year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June (WAD2025).

ABUN Project #49 ran from 01 April until 31 May, and following a grace period to allow for late submissions, resulted in 37 artworks by 25 artists becoming available for ACAP’s use in support of the conservation of albatrosses and petrels.

Seven of the artworks have been chosen to illustrate WAD2025 posters, the first three of which are depicted here. The remaining four posters will be released over the next two days. The first, shown above, is by Anju Panwar Rajesh, a freelance wildlife and bird artist who resides in Mumbai, India. Her artwork depicts repeated Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses surrounded by a swirling wave.  It is fittingly entitled "Effects of Disease".

Anju Panwar Rajesh

The ABUN website says of Anju: “Her talent for art and love for nature beautifully transforms into story telling paintings in their natural habitats.  Birds fascinate her.  The dedication and passion for wildlife conservation literally runs in her blood”.  Anju paints in a varied array of media, producing landscape, abstract, realistic and low-relief textured artworks.

The second poster is by Flávia Barreto, who  is no stranger to ACAP, having produced artworks for all the World Albatross Days since 2022., her paintings have been the subject of ACAP Latest News articles for both WAD2022 and WAD2023.  Flávia lives in Nova Friburgo, Brazil and describes herself as an amateur artist and a retired civil servant.  After retirement she decided to dedicate her life to art.  Being a lover of nature and animals, her art and interests have gradually evolved to drawing and painting threatened species (click here). She paints in watercolour, gouache and acrylics. Her painting is of an Amsterdam Albatross tending its chick, after a photograph by Anthony Buttet.

Flávia Barreto in a garden setting in Brazil

The third poster is by Andrea Siemt from Germany.  Her colourful Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross preeening its downy chick is after a photograph taken on Amsterdam Island by Dominique Filippi.

 Andrea Siemt writes to ACAP Latest News about herself: "I  live near Heidelberg in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Drawing and painting, along with photography, are my main hobbies.  About nine years ago, I discovered ABUN and have since regularly contributed my work, in charcoal, watercolour, or pastel,  to animal welfare projects".  Andrea has previously painted albatrosses for earlier World Albatross Days.

Andrea Siemt

 All seven art posters marking WAD2025 will be available for downloading and display later this month.

With thanks to all the artists who contributed to ABUN Project #49, "Effects of Disease". Thanks also to Marion Schön of ABUN who motivated the project and also designed its banner artwork depicted above.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 17 June 2025

Highly threatened by bird flu and industrial fisheries, albatrosses need protection worldwide

On 19 June 2025, conservationists and wildlife advocates worldwide will celebrate World Albatross Day (WAD2025) with its theme “Effects of Disease”, as an opportunity to highlight the conservation crisis faced by these iconic ocean dwellers.  This year’s theme aims to shed light on the alarming impact of diseases, particularly High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza (HPAI; bird flu), on already vulnerable albatross and petrel populations.  The current outbreak has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of wild birds worldwide, pushing several species closer to extinction.  It is estimated that several species of albatrosses and petrels have been impacted by bird flu worldwide.

Celebrated for their remarkable long-distance flights, albatrosses and petrels play a crucial role in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems.  As apex predators, these birds feed on fish, squid, and other marine organisms.  By consuming these prey and subsequently excreting waste they contribute to nutrient cycling, returning vital nutrients to the ocean. Additionally, they serve as indicators of ocean health.  A decrease in albatross or petrel populations often signals changes in fish stocks or broader environmental issues, such as climate change or pollution.  Albatrosses are the sentinels of our oceans; if they’re struggling, it’s a sign the whole marine environment is under stress.

Albatrosses are among the most threatened group of birds globally, with 15 of the 22 species currently listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.  “Albatrosses are already facing major threats such as industrial fisheries bycatch, invasive predators on breeding islands, chemical and plastic pollution, and climate change,” says Dr. Laura Roberts, State Veterinarian for South Africa’s Western Cape Department of Agriculture.

Now, with the current global bird flu outbreak, these magnificent birds are confronting an even worse and unprecedented convergence of threats that is pushing many species closer to extinction.  “We’re witnessing a perfect storm of threats,” says Dr. Marcela Uhart, wildlife health expert with the University of California, Davis, USA.  “The need for coordinated science-driven conservation action has never been more urgent.”

Bird flu victim?  A dead Black-browed Albatross on its nest, Steeple Jason, Falkland Islands, (Islas Malvinas)*, photograph by Alastair Baylis

A Black-browed Albatross chick succumbs to avian flu on Steeple Jason, Falkland Islands, (Islas Malvinas)*, March 2024, photograph from Penguin News

Recent outbreaks of bird flu have been confirmed in several seabird species, including albatrosses, across both hemispheres.  Estimates suggest that over 10 000 chicks and thousands of adult Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris died in 2023/2024 due to a bird flu outbreak in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)* alone.  The disease has spread to the sub-Antarctic region, affecting Vulnerable Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans colonies on Bird Island, South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)*, Marion, Crozet and Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Ocean.  Isolated cases of bird flu infection have also been recorded in Procellariiformes (the order that includes albatrosses and petrels) across Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Tests confirmed HPAI.  Corpse of a Wandering Albatross chick in the Goney Plain long-term monitoring colony, Marion Island, November 2024, photograph by Rhiannon Gill

Even before the emergence of bird flu, other infectious diseases have been affecting seabirds around the world. For instance, “Endangered Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses T. carteri on Amsterdam Island have been facing recurrent outbreaks of avian cholera, a bacterial disease, since the mid-1980s,” says Dr. Amandine Gamble, infectious disease ecologist at Cornell University, New York, USA. “Bird flu represents an additional threat to these already weakened populations,” Gamble adds.   Other infectious diseases known to affect albatrosses and petrels are caused by, for instance, poxviruses.

Albatrosses and petrels, many of which breed in large, dense colonies, are particularly vulnerable to pathogens. “Once bird flu reaches seabird colonies, our ability to reduce mortality is extremely limited,” says Patricia Serafini, an environmental analyst at the National Center for Research and Conservation of Wild Birds (CEMAVE) in Brazil and ACAP Population and Conservation Status Working Group Co-convenor.  “We must do everything we can to prevent further spread while simultaneously addressing other conservation threats for which mitigation tools are already available.”

“Consumers can play an important role in albatross conservation”, says Serafini. By choosing seafood not linked to albatross bycatch, individuals can help reduce a major threat to these birds. Supporting brands and fisheries that prioritise seabird-safe practices is a vital step toward protecting these oceanic travellers. People can also help prevent the spread of bird flu and other diseases by respecting travel advisories regarding affected areas and reporting dead birds to local wildlife authorities or health departments.

World Albatross Day serves as a powerful reminder of the interconnected threats facing marine life. “Protecting albatrosses and petrels is not just about saving beautiful birds; it means protecting the balance of life in the oceans they call home,” says Patricia Serafini.

Join us on 19 June in celebrating World Albatross Day and advocating for the protection of these remarkable ocean sentinels.

With thanks to Patricia Serafini, Convenor, ACAP Intersessional Group on Avian Influenza and Diseases.

NOTE: Access this media release in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese here.

ACAP Intersessional Group on Avian Influenza and Diseases on behalf of the ACAP Secretariat, 16 June 2025

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.