A Wandering Albatross off Chile by Milena Maira Marchese, Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) for ACAP

The Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement or High Seas Treaty) was adopted by UN Member States on 19 June 2023 and entered into force 120 days later on 17 January 2025, following 60 ratifications.  The treaty covers roughly two-thirds of the ocean that lies outside national waters and Exclusive Economic Zones.

“The Treaty opens the door to protecting nearly half our planet with new tools to establish marine protected areas and ensure that the benefits of the high seas are shared equitably, especially with developing countries and small island states.”

The BBNJ Treaty allows for creating marine protected areas (MPAs), conducting environmental impact assessments (EIAs), sharing marine genetic resources and building capacity for developing nations.

Although the signature period closed on 20 September 2025, countries are still able to become parties to the BBNJ Agreement by acceding.  All 13 Parties to the Albatross and Petrel Agreement have signed the High Seas Treaty.  To date, seven of them have become Parties to the treaty by ratification or other means.  For the latest status of signatures and ratifications, visit the UN Treaty Collection website.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 23 January 2026

Density plot of maximum dive depths for (A) Westland Petrels, (B) White-chinned Petrels, and (C) Black Petrels. Values on right-hand side of each graph indicate the following: In red sections, the proportion of dives between 0 and 5 m is shown, in orange, the proportion of dives between 0 and 10 m, and yellow, the proportion of dives between 0 and 20 m.  From the publication

Maria Rosa Düssler (School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) and colleagues have published in the journal Animal Conservation on diving depth and speed in three species of Procellaria petrels.

Many seabirds are at risk of bycatch including in pelagic and demersal longline fisheries.  Bycatch mitigation methods must be informed by seabird foraging behaviour to be effective. Deep-diving seabirds are especially vulnerable to bycatch and also increase risks for less adept divers by bringing baited hooks back to the surface.  We deployed time-depth recorders paired with geolocation sensors or GPS loggers in Aotearoa New Zealand to quantify the diving ecology of three Procellaria petrel species (combined total number of dives = 12,767), all of which are vulnerable to bycatch in longline fisheries.  We present the deepest dives recorded for each species, with Westland Petrels (Procellaria westlandica; n = 32) reaching 17.3 m, White-chinned Petrels (P. aequinoctialis; n = 14) reaching 21.7 m, and Black Petrels (P. parkinsoni; n = 10) reaching 38.5 m, the deepest dive recorded by a Procellaria petrel.  All species dived faster than the best practice longline sink rate of 0.5 m/s.  All dived throughout both day and night, but Black Petrels dived more frequently during the day, while Westland Petrels dived more frequently at night.  These results suggest that simultaneous implementation of weighted branch lines, bird-scaring lines, and night setting is necessary to reduce bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries.  This integrated approach effectively protects hooks from deep-diving Procellaria petrels and prevents them from retrieving hooks and increasing risk to other seabirds.  These results also bear direct relevance for custom, target-specific mitigation methods in demersal longline fisheries.  Overall, we provide the most in-depth investigation into Procellaria petrel diving ecology to date with wide-ranging implications for seabird conservation globally.”

Reference:

Düssler, M.R., Fischer, J.H., Rowley, O., Bell, E., Charteris, M., Elliott, G., Parker, G.C., Rexer-Huber, K., Simister, K., Taylor, G., Walker, K., Debski, I. & Wittmer, H.U. 2026.  Diving ecology of Procellaria petrels highlights the necessity of combining bird-scaring lines, weighted branch lines, and night setting in pelagic longline fisheries.  Animal Conservation doi.org/10.1111/acv.70057.

With thanks to Igor Debski, Department of Conservation, New Zealand

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 21 January 2026

Example of a Seabird Risk Zone map from the Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit

The Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit is an interactive website for longline tuna fisheries wanting to make their fishing safer for seabirds.  The toolkit provides the best available guidance on how to avoid catching seabirds and ensure good practice.  The guidance is based on ACAP’s Best Practice Advice.

The toolkit can be used to identify where threatened seabirds range, assess the current state of seabird-safe fishing and explore options to improve seabird safety over time.  This will support fisheries to meet the demands of consumers for environmentally sustainable tuna and secure access to high-value markets.

The Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit was launched online in November last year with eight leaders across the tuna supply chain and the world's sustainable seafood initiatives explaining in one hour and 27 minute video how they will use the toolkit to protect seabirds.  The event was presented in English with simultaneous interpretation into Chinese and Japanese.

The toolkit is a New Zealand-led project, developed through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Oceans and Fisheries Working Group and supported by five co-sponsor economies: Chile, People’s Republic of China, Peru, Chinese Taipei and the United States.

Read an earlier article in ACAP Latest News on the development of the Seabird-Safe Fishing Toolkit.

With thanks to Igor Debski, Department of Conservation, New Zealand

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 21 January 2026

Graphical abstract from the publication

Patricia Serafini (Laboratory of Biomarkers of Aquatic Contamination and Immunochemistry, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil) and colleagues have reviewed contamination biomarkers in seabirds in the Marine Pollution Bulletin. The paper notes that seabirds are key sentinels for monitoring global marine pollution.  A key gap identified was the limited application of biomarkers in Southern Hemisphere seabird species.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Seabirds are long-lived apex predators that serve as key sentinels of ocean health, integrating contaminant exposure across trophic levels. This systematic review synthesises 275 peer-reviewed studies on biomarkers of aquatic contamination in seabirds, with 124 (45.1%) published in the last decade and the earliest dating back to 1976. Most studies focused on biomarkers associated with organic contaminants (64.0%), metal(loid)s (19.6%), or both (8.0%). Blood was the predominant biological matrix (55.6%), reflecting its suitability for non-lethal monitoring, followed by liver tissue (40.7%), primarily used to assess detoxification pathways. Unlike previous reviews that focused exclusively on molecular biomarkers or synthesised the use of biomarkers across broad aquatic taxa, this study provides the first global, cross-disciplinary synthesis integrating biochemical, cellular, molecular and physiological biomarkers specifically in seabirds. Across the dataset, biomarkers of xenobiotic biotransformation were the most frequently investigated (32.0% of studies), followed by endocrine disruption (20.3%) and oxidative stress (14.9%). A key gap identified was the limited application of biomarkers in the Southern Hemisphere species. Results highlighted the need to incorporate omics approaches, such as transcriptomics and proteomics to improve understanding of sublethal toxicity of aquatic contaminants. Coupling these approaches with non-lethal sampling in ecologically diverse sentinel species and mapping of global contamination hotspots offers a path toward developing sensitive, reproducible indicators of marine environmental health. Collectively, these findings provide an evidence-based framework to guide monitoring programmes and targeted capacity building in underrepresented regions, strengthening transboundary assessment of contaminants impacts and regulatory actions in marine ecosystems.:

With thanks to Patricia Serafini.

Reference:

Serafini, P., Dias, V.H.V., D., da Costa, D.M., da Silveira, G. de E., Geraldo, M.E., Deconto, V.S., Bugoni, L., Bainy, A.C.D., Lüchmann, K.H. 2026.  A systematic review of aquatic contamination biomarkers in seabirds and their potential for ocean health monitoring.  Marine Pollution Bulletin doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2026.119234.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 20 January 2026