Erika Zollett (MRAG Americas, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA) and Yonsat Swimmer have published open access in the journal Endangered Species Research on practices to increase post-capture survival of seabirds and other marine life.

“Many of these fact sheets and practical information on seabird mitigation measures are contained in the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) bycatch mitigation fact sheets”.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Incidental capture of marine animals in fishing gear may cause immediate or delayed mortality due to injury. Increasing post-capture survival of these species is very important to reducing the widespread impacts of bycatch, particularly on protected and threatened populations. In this paper, we review recent literature on safe handling of sea turtles, cetaceans, seabirds, sharks, and billfish and summarize the most effective measures for improving survivability of these species after interactions with gillnet, pelagic longline, and purse seine gear. We also review the current tuna Regional Fishery Management Organization (tRFMO) measures on safe handling and release to identify gaps in implementation of safe handling practices. Strategies that increase post-capture survival of marine species can be grouped into 3 primary categories: reducing immediate mortality, minimizing injury that results in delayed mortality, and reducing stress that can lead to death. Routine training of fishermen on safe handling practices greatly improves the effectiveness of these measures. When bycatch does occur, the strategies to increase post-release survival become key for protecting vulnerable marine populations. This inventory highlights the great conservation value that can be provided by the tRFMOs by providing guidance and training on safe handling practices to increase post-release survival across taxa.”

Click here to access  ACAP's hook removal guides

Reference:

Zollett, E.A. & Swimmer, Y. 2019.  Safe handling practices to increase post-capture survival of cetaceans, sea turtles, seabirds, sharks, and billfish in tuna fisheries.  Endangered Species Research 38: 115-125.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 April 2019

The Pacific Seabird Group held its 46th Annual Meeting on the Hawaiian island of Kauai from 27 February to 3 March 2019.  A list by senior author and title follows of presentations made at the meeting that considered ACAP-listed species and also seabird bycatch.  Abstracts for each of these (and other) titles are given in the on-line abstract booklet.

A Laysan Albatross feeds its chick on Midway Atoll, photograph by Pete Leary

Colleen Bryan.  Potential to trace chemicals in Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) sibling eggs.

Marcus Collado.  Predator control on a navy installation: keeping the enemy at bay [Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis].

Melinda Conners.  Using life history to inform marine spatial planning for the protection of wide-ranging pelagic seabirds [Laysan Phoebastria immutabilis and Black-footed P. nigripes Albatrosses].

Tomohiro Deguchi.  Determinants of post-fledging survival in translocated albatross chicks [Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus].

Caroline Fox.  A spatial assessment of albatrosses, fisheries, and bycatch events in coastal British Columbia [Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes, Laysan Albatross P. immutabilis, Short-tailed Albatross P. albatrus].

Autumn-Lynn Harrison.  Bycatch of banded seabirds in the Pacific Ocean, 1945-2018  [Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes, Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis].

Peter Hodum.  Living with seabirds in a complex landscape: Juan Fernández Islands, Chile [Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus].

Jason Jannot.  Cryptic seabird mortality on U.S. West Coast Pacific hake fishing vessels [Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes].

Joseph Krieger.  Seabird bycatch and mitigation efforts in Alaska fisheries summary report: 2007 through 2017.

Caitlin Kroeger.  At-sea energetics of Campbell and Grey-headed Albatrosses in relation to southern ocean wind variability.

Verónica López.  Challenges and lessons learned in addressing human harvest of Pink-footed Shearwaters on Isla Mocha, Chile.

Edward Melvin.  Lessons from seabird conservation in Alaska longline fisheries.

Kaycee Morra.  Decadal and millennial-scale foraging habits of three Hawaiian seabirds: amino acid δ15N, δ13C, and δD analyses [Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis].

Jaime Ojeda.  Ancestral and contemporary biocultural interactions between albatrosses and human being in the sub-Antarctic region.

Jonathan Plissner.  Update on albatross population monitoring at Midway Atoll NWR.

Katherine Rubiano.  Protecting birds and pilots: Laysan Albatross management on a navy installation.

Matthew Saunter.  Adapting management priorities to buffer effects of climate change at Kure Atoll, Hawai‘i [Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes].

Rodrigo Silva.  Solutions to protect storm-petrels between mining development, military exercises and an artificially illuminated landscape.  [Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus].

Cristián Suazo.  Seabird bycatch in purse seine fisheries: the case of the modified purse seine as a novel mitigation measure.

Roberta Swift.  The albatross demography program: an update.   [Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes, Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis].

Leigh Torres.  Novel methods describe fine-scale albatross-fisheries interactions in the north Pacific.  [Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes, Laysan Albatross P. immutabilis, Short-tailed Albatross P. albatrus].

Eric A. VanderWerf.  Translocation of Hawaiian seabirds to high islands to mitigate the effects of climate change.  [Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes, Laysan Albatross P. immutabilis]

William Walker.  Preliminary findings on the diet of Laysan Albatrosses, Phoebastria immutabilis, in the eastern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands region.

 A large number of presentations was made on procellariiform species not listed by ACAP.  Consult the abstract booklet for these.

Reference:

[Karnovsky, N. & Bachman, D. (Eds)] 2019.  Pacific Seabird Group 46th Annual Meeting Kaua’i Beach Resort Lihue, Kaua’i, Hawai’i 27 February – 3 March 2019 Scientific Program Full Abstracts.  96 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 April 2019

Verónica López of Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge has written to ACAP Latest News about an informal meeting to discuss aspects of the conservation of the globally Vulnerable and ACAP-listed Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus (PFSH) at the recent Pacific Seabird Group 46th Annual Meeting, held on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Pink-footed Shearwater, photograph by Peter Hodum

An edited summary received from Verónica of the topics discussed at the Kauai get-together follows:

The Recovery, Conservation and Management Plan (RECOGE) that the Government of Chile has approved for the PFSH. The Spanish version of the document is available here.  See also ALN’s posting on the plan.

Colleagues from Environment and Climate Change Canada introduced changes to the status of the species in Canada, and shared their potential projects for migratory seabirds.

Discussion was held on collaboration and sharing strategies as a group to help generate understanding and decision making in the conservation of the PFSH and other species

It was noted that the PFSH is a good example of a species that unites us and can help us understand threats to other species across both hemispheres in the eastern Pacific, such as threats to the Sooty Shearwater Ardenna grisea (globally Near Threatened).

“For [the] next steps, we hope to continue strengthening cooperation and incorporate people from other countries and institutions to build a bi-hemispheric working group for the species. We also want to explore the value of a technical working group within the Pacific Seabird Group”.

Attendees at the Pink-footed Shearwater get-together at the Pacific Seabird Group's 2019 Annual Meeting

Click here for plans to protect a Pink-footed Shearwater breeding colony with a new fence.

Recently a popular Chilean newspaper published a two-page infographic highlighting the Pink-footed Shearwater’s long migration and the efforts made for its conservation.

The 47th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group will be held in Portland, Oregon, USA in February 2020.

Wih thanks to Verónica López, Pink-footed Shearwater Team.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 April 2019

The replacement of approximately 4800 street lights on the Hawaiian island of Maui with LED (light-emitting diode) fixtures will threaten to kill or injure Endangered Hawaiian Petrels Pterodroma sandwichensis and Critically Endangered Newell’s Shearwaters Puffinus newelli according to environmental NGOs.

Newell's Shearwater, photograph by Lindsay Young

“Seabirds like the endangered Hawaiian petrel and the threatened Newell’s shearwater can be attracted to and disoriented by bright lights, circling them until they fall to the ground from exhaustion or crash into nearby buildings. Once on the ground, the seabirds are vulnerable to getting run over by cars and predation by pets and feral animals.”

Hawaiian NGOs brought a legal case in February to halt the street light refitting, warning that LEDs with a high blue light content can harm seabirds, proposing the use of LED bulbs that filter out blue light.

Read more here and here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 April 2019