Marguerite Tarzia (European Marine Conservation Officer, BirdLife International) and colleagues have published a report that summarizes four years of activities of BirdLife International’s Seabird Task Force which is centred in Europe. Work conducted by the task group has focused on gillnets and sea ducks in the Baltic Sea by Lithuania and in the Mediterranean by the Spanish Seabird Task Force on longliners and shearwaters, notably the ACAP-listed and globally Critically Endangered Balearic Puffinus mauretanicus).

Balearic Shearwater at sea

Information is also given for two other shearwater species considered endemic to the Mediterranean: Scopoli’s Calonectris diomedea (Least Concern) and globally Vulnerable Yelkouan P. yelkouan.

The Spanish Seabird Task Force had two main aims: understanding the bycatch problem in this region and developing and testing solutions to this issue alongside the fishing community. These were addressed through:

1. Making contacts with fishers and assessment of the fishery operating off Catalonia;

2. Placing observers aboard demersal longline vessels to assess the functioning of the fishery and the occurrence of bycatch;

3. Supplying self-reporting logbooks as a complementary method to understand the functioning of the fishery and the occurrence of bycatch, allowing for a wider coverage and focus on the artisanal fleet; and

4. Developing and testing mitigation measures, specifically the viability of using vertical long-lines.

“The Task Force work in Spain provided the opportunity to gain a fine-scale understanding of the seabird bycatch issue in the demersal longline fishery of Catalonia. This work has shown the high heterogeneity of the demersal longline fishery in the Western Mediterranean and enabled the team to gain a clearer understanding of the fishing fleet and its relative risk for seabird bycatch.”

Progress was achieved towards developing a prototype mitigation measure– the adaptation of the Chilean vertical longline- which shows real promise as part of a mitigation measure toolbox.

Read related information here.

With thanks to ‘Pep’ Arcos.

Reference:

Tarzia, M., Arcos, J.M., Cama, A., Cortés, V., Crawford, R., Morkūnas, J., Oppel, S., Rau-donikas, L., Tobella, C., Yates, O., 2017. Seabird Task Force 2014-2017. [BirdLife International]. 85 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 November 2017

The 14th International Seabird Group Conference of the (UK) Seabird Group will be held in Liverpool, UK, over 3-6 September 2018.

“The organising committee from the Seabird Ecology Research Group (SEGUL) at the University of Liverpool are excited to announce confirmation of four plenary speakers: Kyle Elliot (McGill University, Canada), Ana Sanz-Aguilar (Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, Spain), Thierry Boulinier (CNRS, France) and Cleo Small (RSPB/BirdLife International).

Manx Shearwater at sea, photograph by Nathan Fletcher

The conference website is now live. Here, you can find more information about the event, location and plenary speakers. Registration and abstract submission are expected to open shortly. More details will be announced via the website and to our members via email.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 31 October 2017

The Australasian Seabird Group will host the Third World Seabird Conference, the world’s biggest gathering of marine ornithologists, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia in 2020.

“It is planned to be held in Hobart city in the spring [austral or boreal?] of 2020. The two previous conferences brought together ~800 delegates from more than 40 countries for presentations, posters, meetings and workshops. It is hoped that some exciting field trips will be developed in conjunction with the conference in both Australia and New Zealand. Keep an eye on the ASG’s website and Twitter account (@AUS_NZ_Seabirds) for further details” (click here).

A pair of Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses on New Zealand's Adams Island, photograph by Colin O'Donnell

The First World Seabird Conference was held in Victoria, Canada in 2010, the second in Cape Town, South Africa in 2015.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 October 2017

ACAP Latest News has regularly reported on the Million Dollar Mouse project that led to the attempt to eradicate introduced House Mice Mus musculus on New Zealand’s Antipodes Island. After a period of fund raising and planning, poison bait was dropped by helicopter over the island in July last year.

Now safe from mice? A pair of globally Vulnerable Antipodean Albatrosses Diomedea antipodensis on Antipodes Island, photograph by Erica Sommer

Over a year on with it considered possible the mice have now gone, the Predator Free New Zealand Trust has reported on the next steps:

“At least two mouse breeding seasons after the eradication attempt, a team of two rodent detection dogs and their handlers will work with a small team of monitoring staff to search the island for sign of mice. Monitoring tools may also include ink-tracking cards, wax tags and chew cards designed to show the presence of mice. It would not be possible to efficiently detect the presence of mice prior to this as the island is difficult to get around and the likelihood of detecting one or two individuals is too low. The eradication is a one-off attempt. The result monitoring will show whether it was successful or not and at this stage the result can be declared” (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 October 2017