Verónica Cortés (Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) and colleagues have published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series on the bycatch of three species of shearwaters, including the ACAP-listed and globally Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus in Mediterranean longline fisheries.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Hundreds of thousands of seabirds die annually as a result of being bycaught in longline fisheries, and these rates are unsustainable for many seabird populations worldwide. To understand effects at the population level, it is essential to assess sex- and age-biased mortalities, since uneven mortalities may exacerbate bycatch impacts. In the Mediterranean, bycatch is the main cause of population declines for the 3 endemic shearwater species (Scopoli’s Calonectris diomedea, Balearic Puffinus mauretanicus and Mediterranean shearwater P. yelkouan), but little is known about population biases of the birds caught in longliners. From 2003 to 2015, we collected 639 shearwater carcasses from Spanish longliners operating in the north-western Mediterranean, determined their age and sex and examined their spatial and temporal patterns and the origin of ringed birds. Most shearwaters caught in longliners were adults, but the proportion of immatures and subadults increased in the late breeding period. Adult Scopoli’s shearwaters were mostly caught around the breeding colonies. In contrast, all Puffinus birds were caught on the Iberian shelf. Catches of Scopoli’s shearwaters were male-biased, particularly during the pre-laying period and close to the breeding colonies. Catches of Puffinus shearwaters were also male-biased during the pre-laying period, but adult catches were female-biased during chick-rearing. Ring recoveries revealed that most birds were ringed in the nearby Balearic Islands, but some Scopoli’s shearwaters ringed in France and Italy were also caught during their migration, indicating that the impacts of the Spanish longliners extend well beyond the Spanish colonies. The adult-biased and sex-biased mortality found in this study may aggravate bycatch impacts on populations and highlights the urgent need for conservation action.”

Balearic Shearwaters killed by longliners get examined, photograph from Verónica Cortés

Reference:

Cortés, V., García-Barcelona, S. & González-Solís, J. 2018. Sex- and age-biased mortality of three shearwater species in longline fisheries of the Mediterranean. Marine Ecology Progress Series 588: 229-241.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 February 2018

Kazuto Kawakami (Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Ibaraki, Japan) and colleagues have published in the journal Ornithological Science on the taxonomic status of the globally Endangered Bannerman’s Shearwater Puffinus bannermani.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Puffinus lherminieri bannermani is a small black-and-white shearwater, which is endemic to the Ogasawara Islands, Japan. The taxonomic position of this shearwater is contentious. It is treated as a subspecies of Audubon's Shearwater P. lherminieri or the Tropical Shearwater P. bailloni in some checklists, while it is as considered monotypic, as Bannerman's Shearwater P. bannermani, in others. We examined the mitochondrial cytochrome b region to determine the taxon's phylogenetic position. While on the one hand the results showed that it was not genetically related to either P. lherminieri or P. bailloni, but formed a clade with P. myrtae, P. newelli, and P. auricularis, on the other hand, bannermani has diverged substantially from the other three taxa in both genetic and morphological features. This shearwater was first described as Bannerman's Shearwater, and our results confirm that P. lherminieri bannermani should be split from Audubon's Shearwater, and the monotypic Bannerman's Shearwater is recommended to be restored as a distinct species.”

A Bannerman's Shearwater at its breeding site on Minami-iwoto Island, Ogasawara Islands, June 2017

Photograph by Kazuto Kawakami

Click here to view more photographs of Bannerman's Shearwater.

Wth thanis to Kazuto Kawakami.

Reference:

Kawakami, K., Eda , M., Izumi, H., Horikoshi, K. & Suzuki, H. 2018. Phylogenetic position of Endangered Puffinus lherminieri bannermani. Ornithological Science 17: 11-18.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 February 2018

“Following last years [sic] great success, we have scheduled the next World Seabird Twitter Conference #WSTC4 to be from 17-19 April 2018. The abstract submission is open until 15 February.

What we have learned from past participants is that twitter conferences can be academically rewarding and fun. For early career scientists it can be a particularly good place to discuss recent research or even just your plans, if you don't yet have much data. It can be very confidence building and safe to present from the comfort of your own desktop.

Black-footed Albatross, photograph by James Lloyd

A key finding in our feedback from last year’s conference, is that much like a "real" conference, the more you put in the more you get out. So please be bold in asking questions, interact with each other; don’t be embarrassed to give your input to the many discussion threads that will pop up. It's guaranteed to give you a more rewarding and enjoyable experience.

One important practical note for people that may have presented before. Since twitter has doubled the number of characters you can fit in a tweet, we have reduced the number of presentation tweets from 6 down to 4.

A new feature is that we will run a translation service, so people if they wish, can present in English, French or Spanish. So please let colleagues around the world know, that the language barrier should not hold them back, and if this feature is well received, we shall consider adopting other languages as well in the future!

We strongly encourage you to submit an abstract ASAP, as the submission deadline (15 February) is rapidly approaching”.

Sign up here. To comment on this post, or to view it online, click here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 February 2018

A 10-strong monitoring team, along with three rodent-detection dogs, is about to spend three weeks on New Zealand’s Antipodes Island searching for signs of House Mice Mus musculus. The team will be transported to the island next week by the New Zealand Defence Force (click here).  This follows on from the poison bait drop carried out by the Million Dollar Mouse campaign 18 months ago (equal to two austral summers) in July 2016. It is expected that monitoring tools will also include ink-tracking cards, wax tags and chew cards designed to show the presence of mice (click here).  Follow the history of the Antipodes eradication project here.

The Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis that breeds on the island has recently been uplisted to globally Endangered (from Vulnerable) due to “a very rapid decline in population size” (click here).

A pair of Antipodean Albatrosses, photograph by Erica Sommer

Meanwhile, at the other side of the world on a small Scottish island a team led by ‘Biz’ Bell of New Zealand’s Wildlife Management International is using chocolate wax blocks to detect signs of any remaining Black Rats Rattus rattus following the laying of bait stations on the Shiant Isles two years ago (click here). Results of the post-eradication investigation are expected by month end (click here). It is hoped Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus will colonize the island in the absence of rodents.

In the South Atlantic this austral summer field teams with three detection dogs have been searching for any remaining rodents on South Georgia/Islas Georgias del Sur* since November, following poison bait drops on the island over three separate austral summers from 2011 to 2015 (click here). The survey is set to be completed in April.

ACAP Latest News will report on the outcomes of these three post-eradication investigations as information becomes available.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 February 2018

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.