A Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris metal (121-A9056) and colour (Red 352) banded as a chick on Macquarie Island on 6 March 2009 was brought aboard alive an industrial longline vessel fishing for Broad-billed Swordfish Xiphias gladius near Isla Choros, Coquimbo Region, Chile on 1 July 2017 (click here).

The time between banding and recovery was eight years, three months and 25 days.  According to the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) the bird had travelled a linear distance of 9350 km.

Long-way from home: Macquarie Island to the coast of Chile for a banded Black-browed Albatross

The bird was hooked in its left foot, assumed likely during line hauling as it was in good condition.  The vessel was not using a bird-scaring line at the time but the hooks were weighted (75 g).  After being measured it was released by Luis Díaz Báez, a Chilean Fisheries Development Institute (Instituto de Fomento Pesquero, IFOP) scientific observer aboard as part of the Highly Migratory Resource Monitoring Project directed by IFOP’s Dr. Patricia Zárate.  The bird was not photographed.

Fewer than 50 pairs of Black-browed Albatrosses currently breed on Macquarie Island.  According to information supplied to Patricia Zárate from Australia this is the first record of a banded Macquarie bird from the south-eastern Pacific.

Dr. Zárate informs ACAP that as a Party to the Agreement Chile is committed to maintaining a favourable conservation status for albatrosses and petrels that occur along its coast.

Read a news item on the record here.  The original IFOP report of the recapture can also be read in Spanish.

With thanks to Luis Adasme, Ilia Cari and Patricia Zárate for additional information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 July 2018

Audrey Jaeger (Processus Infectieux en Milieu Insulaire Tropical, Université de La Réunion, Saint Denis, La Réunion,) and colleagues have published in the on-line and open-access journal PLoS ONE on low reproductive success and declining populations of albatrosses breeding on Amsterdam Island that face infections from avian cholera-causing Pasteurella multocida.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Infectious diseases may be particularly critical for the conservation of endangered species. A striking example is the recurrent outbreaks that have been occurring in seabirds on Amsterdam Island for the past 30 years, threatening populations of three Endangered seabird species and of the endemic, Critically Endangered Amsterdam albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis. The bacteria Pasteurella multocida (avian cholera causative agent), and to a lesser extent Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (erysipelas causative agent), were both suspected to be responsible for these epidemics. Despite this critical situation, demographic trends were not available for these threatened populations, and the occurrence and characterization of potential causative agents of epizootics remain poorly known. The aims of the current study were to (i) provide an update of population trends for four threatened seabird species monitored on Amsterdam Island, (ii) assess the occurrence of P. multocida, and E. rhusiopathiae in live birds from five species, (iii) search for other infectious agents in these samples and, (iv) isolate and genotype the causative agent(s) of epizooties from dead birds. Our study shows that the demographic situation has worsened substantially in three seabird species during the past decade, with extremely low reproductive success and declining populations for Indian yellow-nosed albatrosses Thalassarche carteri, sooty albatrosses Phoebetria fusca, and northern rockhopper penguins Eudyptes moseleyi. Pasteurella multocida or E. rhusiopathiae were detected by PCR in live birds of all five investigated species, while results were negative for eight additional infectious agents. A single strain of P. multocida was repeatedly cultured from dead birds, while no E. rhusiopathiae could be isolated. These results highlight the significance of P. multocida in this particular eco-epidemiological system as the main agent responsible for epizootics. The study stresses the urgent need to implement mitigation measures to alter the course of avian cholera outbreaks threatening the persistence of seabird populations on Amsterdam Island.”

Amsterdam Albatross, endemic to Amsterdam Island and at risk to avian cholera; photograph by Scoyy Shaffer

Reference:

Jaeger, A., Lebarbenchon, C., Bourret, V., Bastien, M., Lagadec, E., Thiebot, J.-B., Thierry Boulinier,  T., Delord,  K., Barbraud, C., Marteau, Dellagi, K., Tortosa, P. & Weimerskirch, H. 2018.  Avian cholera outbreaks threaten seabird species on Amsterdam Island.  PLoS ONE 13(5): e0197291.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 July 2018

The emerging knowledge of seabird bycatch in fisheries is exemplified in the context of purse seine fisheries, targeting forage fish in the coastal waters of at least eight countries, and interacting with some 33 species of seabirds.

In 2013 the Albatross Task Force - Chile (ATF – CODEFF [Comité Pro Defensa de la Fauna y Flora]) started characterising seabird bycatch in the domestic small-scale purse seine fleet and developing novel mitigation measures such as the Modified Purse Seine (MPS) to reduce seabird entanglements (click here).  Supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), field experiments comparing real-time sets with MPS and unmodified control nets showed a 98% reduction in entanglements.

Pink-footed Shearwater, photograph courtesy of Oikonos
 

Noting that seabird bycatch in purse seine fisheries includes ACAP-listed species, such as the globally Vulnerable Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus, MPS compliance was discussed at the most recent meeting of ACAP’s Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG8).

Since 2015 Premios Latinoamérica Verde has made awards to the best 500 environmental projects in Latin America within the categories of Oceans, Energy, Forests & Flora, Sustainable Cities, Waste Management, and Human Development, Inclusion and Equality.  Last year some 2400 projects from 36 countries were assessed. Currently, the 2733 projects nominated for 2018 from 38 countries are being evaluated and the top 500 have been selected by a committee of 150 experts from 20 countries and include contestants from Latin America, Canada, Spain and the USA.

The MPS under the title “Pescadores Innovando En Medidas De Mitigación De Captura Incidental De Aves Marinas” has been selected and ranked 11th in the Oceans (Océanos) Category (and 313th overall) as a contribution that addresses fisheries bycatch.  This is an important recognition of the collaborative work conducted amongst fishers, fishing gear manufacturers and seabird scientists.  The awards ceremony will be held in Guayaquil, Ecuador on 14 August, giving an excellent opportunity for the issue of seabird bycatch and mitigation measures to be included in a continent-wide agenda for environmental solutions.

Read more (in Spanish) here.

Cristián Suazo, Albatross Task Force - Chile, 02 July 2018

Yves Cherel (Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Villiers-en-Bois, France) and colleagues have published in the journal Environmental Pollution on mercury levels in feathers from 20 albatross species.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Albatrosses (Diomedeidae) are iconic pelagic seabirds whose life-history traits (longevity, high trophic position) put them at risk of high levels of exposure to methylmercury (MeHg), a powerful neurotoxin that threatens humans and wildlife. Here, we report total Hg (THg) concentrations in body feathers from 516 individual albatrosses from 35 populations, including all 20 taxa breeding in the Southern Ocean. Our key finding is that albatrosses constitute the family of birds with the highest levels of contamination by Hg, with mean feather THg concentrations in different populations ranging from moderate (3.8 μg/g) to exceptionally high (34.6 μg/g). Phylogeny had a significant effect on feather THg concentrations, with the mean decreasing in the order Diomedea > Phoebetria > Thalassarche. Unexpectedly, moulting habitats (reflected in feather δ¹³C values) was the main driver of feather THg concentrations, indicating increasing MeHg exposure with decreasing latitude, from Antarctic to subtropical waters. The role of moulting habitat suggests that the majority of MeHg eliminated into feathers by albatrosses is from recent food intake (income strategy). They thus differ from species that depurate MeHg into feathers that has been accumulated in internal tissues between two successive moults (capital strategy). Since albatrosses are amongst the most threatened families of birds, it is noteworthy that two albatrosses listed as Critical by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) that moult and breed in temperate waters are the most Hg-contaminated species (the Amsterdam and Tristan albatrosses). These data emphasize the urgent need for robust assessment of the impact of Hg contamination on the biology of albatrosses and they document the high MeHg level exposure of wildlife living in the most remote marine areas on Earth.”

A female Tristan Albatross incubates on Gough Island, photograph by John Cooper

Reference:

Cherel Y., Barbraud, C., Lahournat, M., Jaeger, A., Jaquemet, S., Wanless, R.M., Phillips, R.A., Thompson, D.R. & Bustamante, P. 2018.  Accumulate or eliminate? Seasonal mercury dynamics in albatrosses, the most contaminated family of birds.  Environmental Pollution 241: 124-135.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 June 2018