Ten papers about albatrosses were presented to the Pacific Seabird Group’s 51st Annual Meeting, with the theme “Faces of Seabird Conservation”, held last month in Seattle, Washington, United States of America,.  Their titles and authors follow.  Go to the Book of Abstracts to learn more.

Predicting albatross bycatch hotspots across the north Pacific Ocean
Thomas Clay, Scott Shaffer, Josh Adams, David Anderson, Steven Bograd, Jonathan Felis, Yuliana Bedolla Guzmán, Elliott Hazen, Michelle Hester, David Hyrenbach, Julio César Hernández Montoya, Frederick Dallas Jordan, Federico Méndez Sánchez, Bungo Nishizawa, Rachael Orben, Kiyoaki Ozaki, Evaristo Rojas-Mayoral, Fumio Sato, Robert Suryan, Jean-Baptiste Thiebot, Lesley Thorne, Heather Welch, Lindsay Young & Gemma Carroll

Multiple observer comparison of satellite-based counts of the endangered Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus)
Risa Dickson, Jane Dolliver, Jennifer Spegon, Kristopher Pacheco & Rachael Orben

Analysis of Laysan Albatross diets from two colonies on Oahu, Hawaii
Philip Duchild, Nina Karnovsky & Lindsay Young

Sex-related variation in the distribution and relation with longline fisheries of Black-footed Albatrosses
Haruka Hayashi, Bungo Nishizawa, Naoki Tomita & Daisuke Ochi

Global prevalence of setting longlines at dawn highlights bycatch risk for threatened albatross
David Kroodsma, Joanna Turner, Cian Luck, Tim Hochberg, Nathan Mille, Philip Augustyn & Stephanie Prince

A potential tracking research of senkaku-type Short-tailed Albatross in Taiwan
Yun-Xuan Lin, Scott Shaffer, Rachael Orben, Hsiao-Wei Yuan, Chung-Hang Hung, Han-Po Chang & An Chou

History and significance of albatross banding efforts at Midway Atoll, 1936-2023
Jonathan Plissner, Beth Flint & Jennifer McKay

Identifying “in situ” Northern Buller’s Albatross (Thalassarche bulleri platei) during the artisanal longline fishery in offshore waters of southern Perú
Javier Quiñones, Christopher Robertson & Carlos Zavalaga

Detailed species composition, occurrence and behaviour of seabirds species during the fishing operation of artisanal longline fisheries in southern Peru, and strategies to prevent seabird bycatch in offshore waters of southern Peru
Javier Quiñones, Cynthia Romero, Johannes Fischer & Igor Debski

Status of social attraction and translocation of 4 seabird species on O‘ahu, Hawai‘i
Eric VanderWerf, Robby Kohley Erika Dittmar, Leilani Fowlke & Kelly Goodale

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 14 March 2024

The latest ACAP Species Infographic, released today and the fifteenth to be produced in the 31-part series, is for the Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus.  It is being produced in the three official ACAP languages of English, French and Spanish, 33with a Japanese version to follow, marking the fact that the majority of the species breeds on Japan’s Torishima*.

The Short-tailed Albatross infographic, along with the next in the series, for the Near Threatened Buller’s Albatross Thalassarche bulleri, currently in production, are being produced in support of this year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June (WAD2024) and its theme of “Marine Protected Areas – Safeguarding our Oceans”.

Decoy models used to attract Short-tailed Albatrosses to a new breeding site on Torishima, photograph by Robert Suryan

The ACAP Species Infographic series has been designed to help inform the public, including school learners, of the threats faced by albatrosses and petrels and what is being and can be done to combat them.  They serve to complement the more detailed and referenced ACAP Species Assessments, the concise and illustrated ACAP Species Summaries and the ACAP Photo Essay series.  English and Portuguese** language versions of the infographics produced to date are available to download here. French and Spanish versions can be found in their respective language menus for the website under Infographies sur les espèces and Infographía sobres las especies.

All the 15 infographics produced to date may be freely downloaded at a high resolution to allow for printing professionally in two poster sizes (approximately A2 and A3).  Please note they are only being made available for personal use or when engaging in activities that will aid in drawing attention to the conservation crisis faced by the world’s albatrosses and petrels – when ACAP will be pleased to receive a mention.  They should not be used for personal gain.

The ACAP Species Infographics have all been created by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim from Bangkok.  Namo is a graduate of the School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design.

With thanks to ‘Pep’ Arcos, Maëlle Connan, Yasuko Suzuki and Naoki Tomita for their help.

*Japanese versions of the infographics for Black-footed P. nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis Albatrosses, both of which breed on Japanese islands, are still in production.

**Being produced for the six ACAP-listed species that regularly visit waters off Brazil.  To date, those produced are for the Tristan Albatross D. dabbenena and the Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 19 March 2024, updated 03 July 2024

A Grey Petrel chick in its burrow on Macquarie Island; photograph courtesy of Penny Pascoe

Jeremy Bird (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Australia) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Conservation Biology on the recovery dynamics of burrowing seabirds, including the ACAP-listed Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea, on Australia's Macquarie Island since the island’s invasive predator eradication.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Eradicating invasive predators from islands can result in substantial recovery of seabirds, but the mechanisms that drive population changes remain poorly understood. Meta-analyses have recently revealed that immigration is surprisingly important to the recovery of philopatric seabirds, but it is not known whether dispersal and philopatry interact predictably to determine rates of population growth and changes of distribution. We used whole-island surveys and long-term monitoring plots to study the abundance, distribution, and trends of 4 burrowing seabird species on Macquarie Island, Australia, to examine the legacy impacts of invasive species and ongoing responses to the world's largest eradication of multiple species of vertebrates. Wekas (Gallirallus australis) were eradicated in 1988; cats (Felis catus) in 2001; and rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), black rats (Rattus rattus), and mice (Mus mus) in 2011–2014. We compared surveys from 1976–1979 and 2017–2018 and monitoring from the 1990s and 2000s onward. Antarctic prions (Pachyptila desolata) and white-headed petrels (Pterodroma lessonii) increased ∼1% per year. Blue petrels (Halobaena caerulea) and gray petrels (Procellaria cinerea) recolonized following extirpation from the main island in the 1900s but remained spatially and numerically rare in 2018. However, they increased rapidly at 14% and 10% per year, respectively, since cat eradication in 2001. Blue and gray petrel recolonization occurred on steep, dry, west-facing slopes close to ridgelines at low elevation (i.e., high-quality petrel habitat). They overlapped <5% with the distribution of Antarctic prion and white-headed petrels which occurred in suboptimal shallow, wet, east-facing slopes at high elevation. We inferred that the speed of population growth of recolonizing species was related to their numerically smaller starting size compared with the established species and was driven by immigration and selection of ideal habitat.”

An article by the authors about the study can be found in the research-based news and analysis publication, The Conversation, here.

, here.

Reference:

Bird, J. P., Fuller, R. A., &  Shaw, J. D. (2024).  Patterns of recovery in extant and extirpated seabirds after the world's largest multipredator eradication. Conservation Biology, e14239. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14239

18 March 2024

The Environment, Natural Resources, and Blue Economy Global Practice (ENB) within the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Practice Group, is advertising a vacancy for a Senior Fisheries Specialist with expertise and practical experience in Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Blue Economy within the SENGL.

"The Senior Fisheries Specialist will report to the SENGL Practice Manager and will be based in Washington, DC. The Senior Fisheries Specialist will effectively provide a full range of support to the PROBLUE Secretariat. In addition, the Senior Fisheries Specialist will be an integral part of the wider SENGL team and expected to take a proactive role in providing effective, high-quality technical and strategic support to other WB Teams.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Sr. Fisheries Specialist will have the following key responsibilities as agreed with his/her Practice Manager based on an annual Results Agreement.

• Technical Advisory Work. As a member of the Global Platform Unit, the incumbent will provide technical advice on a broad range of solutions to fisheries and aquaculture in World Bank operations, including to the analysis of data related to the Bank’s fisheries and aquaculture/ blue economy pipeline and portfolio. This also includes providing leadership in the implementation overall PROBLUE work program, with a focus on fisheries and aquaculture governance, management and development i.e., PROBLUE´s Pillar 1 – Fisheries and Aquaculture.
•  Analytical Work Program. The incumbent is expected to bring and provide in-depth technical expertise on environmental and natural resource management issues with a focus on oceans, coastal and aquatic management, climate resilience, and coastal landscapes. In addition, the Sr. Fisheries Specialist will (i) lead in the development of platforms for fisheries and aquaculture management and development, for knowledge exchange and partnerships; (ii) undertake research for the development of new World Bank operations; and (iii) analyze data to enhance the understanding of linkages between fisheries and aquaculture governance and management, marine and coastal ecosystems management and protection, and economic development, poverty reduction, gender balance and broader social-inclusion issues, climate change and private sector finance mobilization.
• Global Outreach. The incumbent will be expected to (i) provide input into the World Bank’s global outreach on fisheries and aquaculture; (ii) input into briefs and presentations for the Bank senior management for engagement in international conferences, negotiations and bilateral cooperation; (iii) represent the Bank at technical conferences and workshops and (iv) support documentation and management of knowledge including support for publications, e-books, webinars and organizing events.
• Program Administration and Fundraising. The Sr. Fisheries Specialist will be expected to provide leadership in the day-to-day management of PROBLUE, including the preparation of supporting documents and the organization of and participation in meetings. In addition, as a member of the PROBLUE Secretariat, duties of the position include the review of funding proposals, monitoring of grants, inputs to annual reports and annual workplans and budget for Pillar 1. contribute to the technical aspects of trust funded programs, supporting and help maintaining development partner relations and day to day management .
• Knowledge Management. The incumbent is expected to (i) maintain effective communication with relevant communities of practice, including NGOs, academia, civil society, the private sector as well as specialized international organizations; (ii) actively participate in communities of practice and global level technical innovation and knowledge sharing in the area of fisheries and aquaculture will be an important component of this position; as well as (iii) support the coordination and carrying out other tasks as requested by the Manager such as for example, contribute to the organization of training or knowledge sharing events.

Selection Criteria:

• Master’s or PhD degree in fisheries management or economics, or other relevant area, with a strong socio-economic and/or fisheries-technical perspective.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional and practical experience in the fisheries and aquaculture sector, in the domain of management and development. Familiarity with fisheries and aquaculture policies and international conventions and agreements, strategies, institutions, and regulations.
• Practical experience, ideally in World Bank client countries, either from a public or private perspective, of planning, negotiating, implementing, administrating or managing national or regional projects in developing countries and/or the conception and execution of global studies, projects or initiatives in capture fisheries, aquaculture or seafood value chains. Experience of coordinating multi-country activities would be a plus.
• A demonstrated knowledge of international fisheries and aquaculture issues and trends including a balanced perspective with regard to production and conservation goals for fisheries and oceans and aquatic ecosystems and an ability to innovate and build synergies across sectors.
• Experience with fund raising from a wide range of donors would be an advantage.
• Committed team player with demonstrated inter-personal skills and ability to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment. Collaborates across sectoral boundaries, gives own perspective and willingly receives diverse perspectives.
• Ability to function at the highest levels in a multi-cultural environment, building and sustaining partnerships with developing country officials and colleagues, private sector representatives and partners from international financial, economic or development-assistance organizations.
• Proven skills and ability to transfer knowledge, as well as diplomatic skills to present views at the highest levels internally and externally. Ability to contribute to knowledge sharing activities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English is essential. Working knowledge of French or Spanish would be required. Command of additional language(s) would be an advantage.
• Willingness to travel internationally as necessary."

For more information on the World Bank and the position, please see the vacancy advertisement at the World Bank website, here.

The deadline for applications is 26 March 2024.

15 March 2024