The 14th Regular Session of the Scientific Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Ocean Fisheries Commission (WCPFC-SC14) was held in Busan, South Korea, from 08-16 August 2018.

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement was represented by Anton Wolfaardt, Co-convenor of its Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG).  Igor Debski, the other Co-convenor of ACAP’s SBWG, was also in attendance as part of the New Zealand Delegation.  The meeting considered a number of seabird-related papers, three of which were submitted and presented by ACAP. These were ACAP’s latest best-practice advice for mitigating seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries (EB-WP-13), a report on work underway to develop ACAP indicators for seabird bycatch (EB-WP-15), and an update on the conservation status and priorities for albatrosses and large petrels distributed in the WCPFC area (EB-WP-14).  Abstracts and full texts of these three papers are available on line.

Two seabird-related papers were presented by New Zealand colleagues, one of which reviewed the effectiveness of Hookpods at reducing seabird bycatch (EB-WP-10) and the other provided an update on bycatch risks to New Zealand seabirds in the Western Pacific, with a particular focus on the globally Endangered Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis, a New Zealand endemic (EB-WP-11).  In addition, the meeting discussed two papers presenting preliminary results of seabird-fisheries risk assessment processes that are currently underway (EP-WP-03 and EP-WP-09).

Antipodean Albatross on Adams Island, Auckland Group, photograph by Colin O'Donnell

On the basis of the papers presented and discussed, the WCPFC-SC14 adopted two recommendations in respect of seabirds. WCPFC-SC14 recommended that due to new information on the distribution of Antipodean Albatrosses, which shows that they forage up to and north of 25°S, the Technical and Compliance Committee (TCC) and the Commission of the WCPFC consider revising the southern area of application of its seabird conservation measure (CMM2017-06; which currently extends to 30°S) up to 25°S. The second recommendation is that CMM 2017-06 is revised to add the use of hook-shielding devices, specifically Hookpods, as an optional stand-alone seabird bycatch mitigation measure to provide more choices and greater flexibility to the fishing industry to mitigate seabird bycatch in their fishing operations. These recommendations will be considered by WCPFC’s TCC and Commission later this year.

Click here to access all the meeting’s documents and the draft Summary Report.

Anton Wolfaardt, Co-convenor, ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, 05 October 2018

A census of the globally Endangered Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni at its high-altitude breeding localities in the Seaward Kaikoura mountains of New Zealand’s South Island is being carried out by the New Zealand Department of Conservation and the Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust.

Hutton's Shearwater breeding valley

Hutton's Shearwater in the snow at its breeding locality

Photographs courtesy of Wildlife Management International

Hutton’s Shearwaters are being caught at night as they return to their snow-clad colonies and marked with non-toxic paint, to enable them to be re-sighted at sea.  Over two nights the field team has caught and marked over 2000 shearwaters.

Survey teams are now on the water off the Kaikoura coast attempting to re-sight the marked birds at sea.  Already, one of the painted birds has been scoped from the shore among a large flock of Hutton’s Shearwaters.

Hutton’s Shearwater suffered from landslides caused by the November 2016 Kaikoura earthquake that obliterated parts of its breeding sites and it appears a significant portion of the breeding population was lost as a consequence (read more here).

Read why Hutton's Shearwater wants your vote for New Zealand Bird of the Year 2018 here.

Information from Wildlife Management International.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 October 2018

The Australasian Seabird Group (ASG) hosts a seabird symposium at each of the Australasian Ornithological Conferences (AOCs).  The next conference, the 10th, will be held in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia over 3-5 July next year.

The conveners for the ASG symposium are This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  The ASG also holds an informal get together for seabirders at each AOC.  Abstracts for the AOC must be submitted to the conference organisers by 04 December 2018.  Seabird-related abstracts should be copied to the symposium convenors for consideration for inclusion.

The abstract for the ASG Symposium follows:

“By habitat, seabirds are arguably the most threatened group of birds. Subject to threats both ashore and at sea, and with climate change, sea water warming, fisheries interactions, prey depletion and the insidious growing presence of plastics in the marine environment, the threats will intensify over coming decades. The Australasian Region has one of the most diverse seabird faunas anywhere in the world.  Over a third of the world’s seabird species breed in or annually migrate to the Australasian Region; about 10% of all seabirds breed only in New Zealand, and Australia too has its own endemic species.

Seabirds of the Australasian Region breed from the tropics of northern Australia, south to the Australian and New Zealand sub-Antarctic Islands. Some species remain close to their breeding sites year-round, whereas others undertake migrations crossing entire ocean basins. Likewise, other seabirds breed elsewhere and visit Australasian seas between breeding seasons. Many migratory species that are protected while in Australia and New Zealand lack legal protection in international waters or during sojourns in certain foreign EEZs. These divergent movement strategies pose challenges for seabird conservation.

Australasian seabird scientists are at the forefront of research to tackle these diverse threats. In this symposium we will present new information on the threats to and management of seabirds in the Australasian Region, with presentations about tropical seabirds taking precedence. We will explore the challenges seabird specialists face in addressing the threats and managing this hugely diverse seabird fauna.”

The main aims of the Australasian Ornithologival Conferences are to:

• Promote communication and interaction among ornithologists in Australasia;

• Encourage student participation and provide networking opportunities, particularly for early-career ornithologists;

• Showcase the best ornithological research from across Australasia.

Information from Kerry-Jayne Wilson, Australasian Seabird Group.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 October 2018

The New Zealand NGO, Forest & Bird, is once more holding its annual competition to choose the country’s most popular bird; the competition has been running since 2005.  So far no ACAP-listed albatross or petrel has been chosen as New Zealand’s Bird of the Year.

This year New Zealand endemics and ACAP-listed Vulnerable Black Procellaria parkinsoni and Endangered Westland P. westlandica Petrels are both listed.  You can also vote for an albatross, with 10 threatened species that breed in New Zealand named in the category.

Two other procellariiform seabirds on the voting list are the globally Endangered Hutton’s Shearwater Puffinus huttoni and the recently described and thought Critically Endangered Whenua Hou Diving Petrel Pelecanoides whenuahouensis, known from just one breeding site on Codfish Island (Whenua Hou) in very small numbers.

Whenua Hou Diving Petrel, photograph by Jake Osborne

In November 2016 Hutton’s Shearwater suffered a major blow when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake badly affected its sole breeding habitat in South Island’s Seaward Kaikoura Range, destroying around 15% of the mountainous area and possibly killing as many as 200 000 individuals (click here).

Voting is now open: visit www.birdoftheyear.org.nz to cast your vote before 15 October for a chance to win a trip to New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands.

“Bird of the Year is a fun celebration of our native taonga [treasure], but there’s a serious side. Eighty percent of our bird species are threatened with extinction, with a third in serious trouble. They face threats ranging from habitat destruction, to predators such as stoats, possums, and rats who eat eggs, chicks, and even adult birds.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 October 2018