Post No. 3 for ‘WADWEEK2021’

The Seabird Wanderers of ACAP: Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels.  A music video by Kitty Harvill and John Nicolosi

Kitty Harvill, a wildlife conservation artist based in both Brazil and the USA, has produced a new music video for ACAP pro bono in celebration of this year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June.  The video, entitled ‘The Seabird Wanderers of ACAP’ includes photographs of all the 31 ACAP-listed species of albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, with music by John Nicolosi of Niko Records Studio in the USA.  Kitty is co-founder of Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) whose two projects for ACAP, last year on albatrosses, this year on petrels, have led to several hundred attractive artworks being made available for ACAP to use in support of its efforts to raise awareness of the serious plight that many albatross populations continue to face.

Kitty Harvill, with the book she illustrated about Wisdom, the world’s oldest known albatross

Kitty writes “as a conservation artist, I feel it relates to all areas of my life – being mindful of every choice we make and how it affects our planet and those with whom we share it.  We have it all in our hands to make changes, but the biggest changes seem to be in the minds and hearts of our fellow human beings.”

ACAP intends to show the new video during breaks at its annual meetings, as well as in other situations.  It is available for downloading and use in the cause of albatross and petrel conservation by institutions, environmental NGOs and members of the concerned public.  Please acknowledge both ABUN and ACAP in its use.

Kitty Harvill and John Nicolosi have previously collaborated on two music videos featuring paintings by members of ABUN, produced last year on albatrosses and this year on petrels.

With grateful thanks to Kitty Harvill and John Nicolosi, as well as to all the photographers named in the video for allowing the use of their work.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 June 2021, updated 16 June 2021

Post No. 2 for ‘WADWEEK2021’  

Earlier in the year ACAP Latest News posted two infographics depicting the conservation threats faced by the Critically Endangered Tristan Diomedea dabbenena and Waved Phoebastria irrorata Albatrosses in support of this year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June and its chosen theme “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries”.  The infographics are available as downloadable posters in the three ACAP official languages of English, French and Spanish.  A Portuguese version of the Tristan Albatross infographic is also available because the species regularly visits the waters of Brazil (click here).

A third infographic, that for the globally Vulnerable Wandering Albatross D. exulans, is being launched today to mark the second day of ‘WADWEEK2021’ that ends with the second World Albatross Day on Saturday 19 June.  This time the new infographic has been part sponsored by Environmental NGO, BirdLife South Africa, to help draw attention to the plight of Wanderers on sub-Antarctic Marion Island where introduced House Mice have taken to attacking and killing their chicks.  As a consequence, the NGO is working with the South African Department of Forestry. Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) to eradicate the mice in 2023, in a partnership known as the Mouse-Free Marion Project.  The infographic also draws attention to the Wandering Albatross chicks that are being killed by feral cats on the French island of Kerguelen (click here).

All three infographics have been designed to help inform the general public, including school learners.  They serve to complement the more detailed and referenced ACAP Species Assessments and the more concise and illustrated ACAP Species Summaries. The English and Prtuguese infographics are available to download here, whilst French and Spanish versions can be found in their respective language menus on the website under, Infographies sur les espèces and Infographía sobres las especies. The infographics may be freely downloaded at a high resolution to allow for their printing and display as  posters. 

In what is hoped to be a series that eventually includes all 22 species of albatrosses recognized by ACAP, the next infographic to be produced later this year will be of the New Zealand endemic (and globally Endangered) Antipodean Albatross D. antipodensis.  This infographic will be sponsored by that country’s Department of Conservation.

With thanks to Mark Anderson, Alistair McInnes and Anton Wolfaardt of BirdLife South Africa for part sponsorship and comments, illustrator Namasri  Niumim who has produced all three infographics with patience and good humour and Michelle Risi for the original concept design.  The Wandering Albatross infographic was additionally improved by comments received on drafts from Christophe Barbraud, Richard Phillips and Stephanie Prince.  Thanks to all.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 June 2021

Post No. 1 for ‘WADWEEK2021’

Shy Albatross Thalassarche cauta off Portland, Victoria, Australia, artwork by Brett Jarrett; oil on stretched canvas, 76 x 101 cm

Brett Jarrett is a wildlife artist and illustrator based in Narrawong, a small town close to Portland in Victoria, Australia, where he paints in oils on canvas and exhibits in his own gallery ‘Bay of Whales’.  ACAP Latest News has previously featured Brett and his seabird art, notably of the albatrosses and petrels he has observed on visits to the Antarctic Continent, drawing attention to his many illustrations in A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife by Hadoram Shirihai (click here).

Brett has now kindly allowed an image of his recent painting of a Shy Albatross Thalassarche cauta, completed on the last day of May, to be used to commence ‘WADWEEK2021’, a series of seven special posts culminating in World Albatross Day, on Saturday 19 June.  Brett writes: “the bird was photographed at sea off Portland during an organized 'birding' pelagic trip.  Shy Albatross breed in Bass Strait and it can be seen year-round off Portland".  He continues "There is something incredibly exciting about creating a piece of fine art that moves people.  As with all my artwork, it is born from the initial love of a subject that ultimately leads to a field trip, whether that be a day excursion or a full-blown month-long expedition.”  The Shy Albatross, an Australian breeding endemic,  is readily seen from the clifftops around his coast, as Brett says on his Facebook page.

Brett Jarrett works on an albatross painting in his gallery

This year’s theme for World Albatross Day is “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries”.  Thousands of albatrosses, including the Australian endemic and globally Near Threatened Shy Albatross, continue to die as a result of fishing operations, getting caught on hooks, becoming entangled in nets and colliding with trawl cables, all leading to their death by drowning or injury.  However, solutions are available to address this conservation crisis.  This year’s World Albatross Day, only the second ever, aims to draw attention to the problem and to highlight best-practice solutions, such as the use of bird-scaring lines in both longline and trawl fisheries, line weighting and night setting or use of hook-shielding devices by longliners and management of offal discharge by trawlers.

Brett Jarrrett’s artwork of these threatened birds can only bring awareness to their plight.

Read ACAP’s two-page illustrated Species Summary for the Shy Albatross from here.  It is also available in French and Spanish.

With thanks to Brett Jarrett.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 June 2021

Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, at the invasive report launch

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, officially released South Africa’s second national report on biological invasions in Cape Town on 28 May.  “The report is the only country-level assessment worldwide that focuses specifically on biological invasions.  It places South Africa in a global leading position on the issue.”

In her speech the Minister stated thatThe Status of Biological Invasions and their Management in South Africa in 2019 provides a comprehensive national-scale assessment of the status of biological invasions in the country [which includes sub-Antarctic Marion Island] and captures the effectiveness of the country’s response to this issue.  It collates information from foundational research and on-going monitoring programmes and interprets it in order to help policy-makers and managers improve how biological invasions are managed. The Minister noted that biological invasions pose a major threat to South Africa’s biodiversity, and to the livelihoods and health of the country’s people.

“Since the adoption of the Working For… programmes in 2005, the government has been relentless in its efforts to effectively manage alien and invasive species in the country.  To address the problem, over a billion Rand has been spent a year on projects to control biological invasions and create jobs by the Department’s Environmental Programmes.”

Although most of the alien taxa that are covered in the biological invasions report are plants, there are also mammals listed that are wreaking havoc on the environment. These include House Mice Mus musculus.  South Africa's Marion Island is overrun by introduced mice, which are having a devastating impact on the ecology of the island, and over the last two decades have taken to attacking and killing the island's globally important albatross and burrowing petrel populations. The importance and urgency of eradicating these introduced predators from the island has been recognised as a priority action, both in terms of the Management Plan for the island’s Special Nature Reserve status and the designation of the House Mouse population at Marion Island as a Category 1A species in the Alien and Invasive Species Regulations.   The South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) is working in partnership with BirdLife South Africa to prepare for an eradication operation, the Mouse-Free Marion Project, that will reclaim the island for its seabirds and other indigenous biodiversity.  Acording to its Project Manager, Anton Wolfaardt, eradicating mice from an island the size of Marion will not be an easy task.  However, with meticulous planning, adherence to the lessons learned from successful eradications on other sub-Antarctic islands and the implementation of best-practice approaches, it can be achieved.  Anton adds “Successful eradication of introduced mice from Marion Island will represent an internationally significant achievement, and a lasting conservation legacy for this globally important sub-Antarctic island.”

Read more on the Minister’s speech here.

Reference:

SANBI & CIB 2020.  The Status of Biological Invasions and their Management in South Africa in 2019.  Kirstenbosch: South African National Biodiversity Institute & Stellenbosch: DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology.  71 pp.

With thanks to Anton Wolfaardt, Project Manager, Mouse-Free Marion Project.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 June 2021