Claire Mason (Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia) and colleagues have published in the journal Diversity and Distributions on the coverage of foraging areas of globally Near Threatened Shy Albatrosses Thalassarche cauta by Marine Protection Areas (MPAs).

The paper’s abstract follows;

“Aim: To assess the efficacy of marine reserves in Australia for shy albatross, using long-term tracking data.

Location: Albatross Island, Tasmania, and south Australian waters.

Methods:  We integrated a tracking dataset consisting of 111 individuals collected over 23 years and generated Brownian bridge kernel density estimations to identify important habitat. We quantified the overlap between the foraging distribution of early incubating adults and post-fledgling juveniles with management boundaries and marine reserves. We compared the extent of coverage of albatross foraging areas by Marine Protection Areas (MPAs) relative to a randomly designed network of the same size to determine whether the spatial protection measures are likely to be effective.

Results:  Incubating adults consistently foraged in waters to the northwest of Tasmania while post-fledglings occupied shelf waters around Tasmania and South Australia. We show that our sample of 99 incubating adults adequately represented the population but that our sample of 12 post-fledgling birds was insufficient, thereby limiting the confidence in our results for this life stage. The Commonwealth Government has the majority of management responsibility for shy albatross at-sea, containing 88% and 90% of the area occupied most intensively by adult and post-fledgling shy albatross, respectively. Randomly designed reserve networks outperformed the current MPA network for both life stages, such that the mean protection by a random reserve system was 30% and 12% higher than the actual protection for adults and juveniles in Commonwealth waters.

Main conclusions:  Important foraging habitat of shy albatross from Albatross Island is mostly within Commonwealth-managed waters. The current MPA network, the only spatial protection measure for shy albatross, provides less coverage for this species than a randomly placed network. An increase in the representation of productive shelf waters in MPA networks would benefit the conservation of shy albatross through reducing fisheries interactions and protecting habitat in these regions.”

Shy Albatrosses, photograph by Aleks Terauds

With thanks to Barry Baker.

Reference:

Mason, C., Alderman, R.| McGowan, J., |Possingham, H.P., Hobday, A.J., Sumner, M. & Shaw, J. 2018.  Telemetry reveals existing marine protected areas are worse than random for protecting the foraging habitat of threatened shy albatross (Thalassarche cauta).  Diversity and Distributions DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12830.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 September 2018

Jesica Andrea Paz (Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Argentina) and colleagues have published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems on seabird interactions and by‐catch in the anchovy pelagic trawl fishery in northern Argentina.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“1. Commercial fishing has been identified as one of the main threats affecting the survival of most seabird species. Although seabird mortality in Argentine longline and demersal trawl fisheries has already been characterized and quantified, the interactions with pelagic trawl fisheries targeting anchovy (Engraulis anchoita Hubbs & Marini, 1935) remains unknown.

The goal of this study was to characterize seabird assemblages attending pelagic trawl vessels and to analyse their interactions (i.e. contact of the birds with the vessel and/or fishing gear and by‐catch). Data were obtained by on‐board observers during three consecutive fishery runs, 2011–2013.

From a total of 333 observations, seabird abundance averaged 157.3 ± 229.7 birds per haul (totalling 23 species). Procellariiform followed by Charadriiform birds were the more frequent and abundant groups. The black‐browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris (Temminck, 1828)), shearwaters (Ardenna spp. and Puffinus spp.), whitechinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis Linnaeus, 1758), and the kelp gull (Larus dominicanus Lichtenstein, 1823) were the most frequent and abundant attending species.

The seabird abundance increased when the swell and the number of neighbouring vessels decreased.

Seabird interactions with the vessel and/or fishing gear occurred in approximately 70% of the observations, with most of these representing interactions with the net (92%). The estimated contact rate was 16.7 birds h−1 per haul. A total of 121 birds were by‐caught and the average mortality rate was 0.55 birds h−1 per haul. Shearwaters and Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus (Forster, 1781)) were the main by‐caught species (101 and 12 individuals, respectively). Lower levels of mortality were recorded in black‐browed albatrosses and white‐chinned petrels.

The interactions increased in the presence of fishing discards and during haulback operations.

This study is relevant to the implementation of the Argentine National Plan of Action – Seabirds, as well as for the continuing certification process in the anchovy fishery.”

Great Shearwater at sea, photograph by John Graham

With thanks to Juan Pablo Seco Pon.

Reference:

Paz, J.A., Seco Pon, J.P., Favero, M., Blanco, G. & Copello, S. 2018.  Seabird interactions and by‐catch in the anchovy pelagic trawl fishery operating in northern Argentina.  Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems.  DOI: 10.1002/aqc.2907.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 September 2018

Jennifer Lavers (Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Battery Point, Tasmania, Australia) and colleagues have published on the globally Near Threatened Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes in Western Australia in the journal Bird Conservation International.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Seabirds face diverse threats on their breeding islands and while at sea. Human activities have been linked to the decline of seabird populations, yet over-wintering areas typically receive little or no protection. Adult survival rates, a crucial parameter for population persistence in long-lived species, tend to be spatially or temporally restricted for many seabird species, limiting our understanding of factors driving population trends at some sites. We used bio-loggers to study the migration of Western Australian Flesh-footed Shearwaters Ardenna carneipes carneipes and estimated adult survival over five years. Western Australia is home to around 35% of the world’s breeding Flesh-footed Shearwaters, a population which was up-listed to Vulnerable in 2015. During the austral winter, shearwaters migrated across the central Indian Ocean to their non-breeding grounds off western Sri Lanka. Low site fidelity on breeding islands, mortality of adult birds at sea (e.g. fisheries bycatch), and low annual breeding frequency likely contributed to the low estimated annual adult survival (2011–2015: ϕ = 0.634-0.835).”

Flesh-footed Shearwater, photograph by Tim Reid

Reference:

Lavers, J.L., Lisovski, S. & Bond, A.L. 2018.  Preliminary survival and movement data for a declining population of Flesh-footed Shearwater Ardenna carneipes in Western Australia provides insights into marine threats.  Bird Conservation International doi.org/10.1017/S0959270918000084.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 September 2018

Harriet Paterson (University of Western Australia, Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management, Albany, Australia) and Nick Dunlop have published open access in the journal Marine Ornithology on the paucity of plastic pollution in globally Near Threatened Flesh-footed Shearwaters Ardenna carneipes.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Flesh-footed Shearwaters Ardenna carneipes are declining globally, and exposure to plastic pollution may be a contributing factor. To investigate the exposure of the southwestern Australian population to plastic, under the assumption that fragments would be defecated by burrow occupants or occasionally spilled as parents regurgitate food to their young, and samples were collected from nesting burrows from Shelter and Breaksea islands and examined for plastic fragments. One fragment was found among a total of 67 burrows inspected. The lack of plastics may be due to the feeding habits of these birds, or the availability of plastics related to local oceanography. Our study provides evidence that plastics may not yet be an issue for nesting Flesh-footed Shearwaters on the south coast of Western Australia.”

Flesh-footed Shearwater, photograph by Barry Baker

Reference:

Paterson, H.L. & Dunlop, J.N. 2018.  Minimal plastic in flesh-footed shearwater Ardenna carneipes burrows at southwestern Australia colonies.  Marine Ornithology 46: 165-167.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 September 2018