A number of presentations on albatrosses and issues relating to seabird bycatch by fisheries was made at the 44th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Seabird Group held in Tacoma, Washington, USA, last week.

Titles with senior authors follow.  Click here to read their abstracts (find them via the index).

Arden Blumenthal:  Could lasers damage albatross vision? a review of potential risks

Jane Dolliver:  Multispectral processing of high resolution satellite imagery to determine the abundance of nesting albatross

Jonathan Felis:  Migratory routes and wintering areas of Pink-footed Shearwaters (Ardenna creatopus)

Amanda Gladics:  Community engagement strategies for promoting seabird bycatch reduction in commercial fisheries

Ed Melvin: The devil is in the detail: trends in albatross bycatch rates in Alaskan longline fisheries

Pamela Michael: Spatially-explicit population dynamics: incorporating bycatch and environmental variation

Hannah Nevins:  Status and conservation of Waved Albatross

Rachael Orben:  Comparative flight altitudes of Hawaiian albatrosses

John Peschon:  A summary of albatross band recovery data in the Hawaii deep and shallow set longline fisheries

John Peschon:  Seabird interactions in the Hawaii deep and shallow set longline fisheries in 2015

 Critically Endangered Waved Albatross Phoebatria irrorata on Ecuador's Isla La Plata, photograph by Sebastian Cruz 

Many other presentations were made on procellariform seabirds not listed within the Albatross and Petrel Agreement, notably on the threatened petrels and shearwaters of the Hawaiian islands.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 02 March 2017

Stephanie Borrelle (Institute for Applied Ecology New Zealand, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand) and colleagues have published “pre-press” in the journal Oryx on how New Zealand seabirds islands are recovering after the removal of alien predators.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Protecting the world’s seabirds is a global conservation priority given that 29% of seabird species are threatened with extinction. One of the most acute threats to seabirds is introduced predators, which depredate seabirds at all life stages from eggs to adults. Consequently, invasive predator eradication has been identified as an effective and commonly used seabird conservation method. Seabird recovery post-eradication is influenced by complex and interacting environmental and demographic factors, though gaps remain in our understanding of species-specific responses. Here, we reflect on the recovery of seabirds to islands cleared of predators by drawing on the equilibrium theory of island biogeography and synthesise key influences on recovery reported in the literature. To illustrate this synthesis, we present a regionally specific case study on the recovery of seabird colonies (n=98) in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand; a seabird diversity hotspot (27 species), which has a long history of invasive predator eradications. We found that islands cleared of predators show recovery of seabirds over time, and surprisingly had more diverse seabird assemblages than islands that never had predators. This recovery appears to be influenced by a suite of site- and species- specific factors. Managers may assume that given enough time following an eradication, seabirds will recolonise. While time is a factor, island spatial distribution has a significant effect on the recolonisation of seabirds, in addition to demographic traits, colonizing ability and habitat suitability.  Therefore, integrating expected site and species-specific recovery responses into planning seabird island eradications could help guide post-eradication management actions.”

Vulnerable Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni, a Hauraki Gulf breeder and an ACAP-listed species, photograph by David Boyle

Reference:

Borrelle, S.B., Boersch-Supan, P.H., Gaskin, C.P & Towns, D.R. 2016.  Influences on recovery of seabirds on islands where invasive predators have been eradicated, with a focus on Procellariiformes.  Oryx doi:10.1017/S0030605316000880.

Supplementary information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 March 2017

Lucas Krüger (Marine and Environmental Science Centre, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the journal Animal Conservation on using the at-sea seasonal distribution of 14 procellariform seabird species to choose pelagic MPAs in the in the south-west Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“With increasing pressure on the oceans from environmental change, there has been a global call for improved protection of marine ecosystems through the implementation of marine protected areas (MPAs). Here, we used species distribution modelling (SDM) of tracking data from 14 seabird species to identify key marine areas in the southwest Atlantic Ocean, valuing areas based on seabird species occurrence, seasonality and extinction risk. We also compared overlaps between the outputs generated by the SDM and layers representing important human threats (fishing intensity, ship density, plastic and oil pollution, ocean acidification), and calculated loss in conservation value using fishing and ship density as cost layers. The key marine areas were located on the southern Patagonian Shelf, overlapping extensively with areas of high fishing activity, and did not change seasonally, while seasonal areas were located off south and southeast Brazil and overlapped with areas of high plastic pollution and ocean acidification. Non-seasonal key areas were located off northeast Brazil on an area of high biodiversity, and with relatively low human impacts. We found support for the use of seasonal areas depending on the seabird assemblage used, because there was a loss in conservation value for the seasonal compared to the non-seasonal approach when using ‘cost’ layers. Our approach, accounting for seasonal changes in seabird assemblages and their risk of extinction, identified additional candidate areas for incorporation in the network of pelagic MPAs.”

Wandering Albatross - one of the studied species, photograph by John Chardine

Reference:

Krüger, L., Ramos , J.A., Xavier, J.C., Grémillet , D. González-Solıs, J. Kolbeinsson , Y. Militão, T., Navarro , J. Petry, M.V., Phillips, R.A., Ramírez, I., Reyes-González , J.M., Ryan, P.G., Sigurðsson, I.A., Van Sebille, E., Wanless, R.M. & Paiva, V.H. 2017.  Identification of candidate pelagic marine protected areas through a seabird seasonal-, multispecific- and extinction risk-based approach.  Animal Conservation  doi:10.1111/acv.12339.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 February 2017

Graham Parker (Parker Conservation, Dunedin, New Zealand) and colleagues have published in the journal Antarctic Science on the population of Near Threatened and ACAP-listed Grey Petrels Procellaria cinerea at New Zealand’s Campbell Island.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Populations of grey petrels have declined globally due to both incidental capture in commercial fisheries and predation by introduced mammals at breeding sites. In the New Zealand region, grey petrels only breed on Campbell and Antipodes islands. Rats were successfully eradicated from Campbell Island in 2001.We assessed the spatial extent and conducted the first quantitative population estimate of the grey petrel population on Campbell Island and surrounding islets. There was an estimated c. 96 pairs (95% CI: 83, 109) of breeding grey petrels from the four colonies. Since work was conducted during the middle of the chick-rearing stage, this is an underestimate of the breeding population. The Campbell Island grey petrel breeding population remains small. Our study provides a baseline for future population estimates of grey petrels on Campbell Island.”

Graham Parker surveys Grey Petrels on Campbell Island

Read more on the survey here.

Reference:

Parker, G.C., Rexer-Huber, K. & Thompson, D. 2016.  Grey petrel population on Campbell Island 14 years after rodent eradication.  Antarctic Science  doi:10.1017/S0954102016000626.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 February 2017