The Island Conservation Society (ICS) is seeking volunteers for three- to six-month positions in the Aride Island Nature Reserve, Seychelles.  Aride Island is the home of breeding tropical seabirds, including TropicalPuffinus bailloni and Wedge-tailedPuffinus pacificus Shearwaters (click here).

Tropical Shearwaters

Volunteers should ideally possess a degree in a biological sciences and/or useful practical skills or IT skills plus a good level of fitness and the ability to swim.  ICS will contribute UK£ 375 towards international flights and provide free accommodation on 68-ha Aride.  Volunteers will be responsible for their own living expenses on the island.

Apply via the Aride volunteer application form.  Also available: Information for Aride volunteers.

The island is managed as a nature reserve by ICS.  The island’s only inhabitants are the reserve's staff, including the Island Manager, Conservation Officer and rangers.  The Society promotes the conservation and restoration of island ecosystems, sustainable development of islands, and awareness of their vulnerability and vital importance to the planet's biodiversity.

“Please consider that work on Aride can be extremely strenuous, the climate is hot and humid and you are isolated on a small island with only basic first aid”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 November 2016

Paulo Lago. Project Manager of the LIFE Arcipela Garnija Project “Securing the Maltese islands for the Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan” writes to ACAP Latest News with a job offer with BirdLife Malta.

BirdLife Malta is looking for a full-time Project Warden to join its international team in the LIFE Arcipelagu Garnija Project to carry out a range of seabird monitoring and wardening duties at Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan breeding sites in the Maltese islands.

Yelkouan Shearwater, photograph by Alex Ollie 

The Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwater is a potential candidate for ACAP listing.

“BirdLife Malta’s LIFE Arċipelagu Garnija project aims at securing the Maltese Islands for the Yelkouan Shearwater, of where approximately 10% of the species’ global population can be found.  Protection of this local population is important on the global scale, especially with the drastic declines Yelkouan Shearwaters have been facing over the last decades.”

Applications consisting of a cover letter and a CV may be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Deadline for applications is 7 December 2016.

Click here for more information.

With thanks to Paulo Lago for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 November 2016

Matthew Savoca (Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California, Davis, USA) and colleagues have published on-line and open access in the journal Science Advances on whether procellariform seabirds are attracted to plastic debris at sea by smell as well as by sight.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Plastic debris is ingested by hundreds of species of organisms, from zooplankton to baleen whales, but how such a diversity of consumers can mistake plastic for their natural prey is largely unknown.   The sensory mechanisms underlying plastic detection and consumption have rarely been examined within the context of sensory signals driving marine food web dynamics.  We demonstrate experimentally that marine-seasoned microplastics produce a dimethyl sulfide (DMS) signature that is also a keystone odorant for natural trophic interactions.  We further demonstrate a positive relationship between DMS responsiveness and plastic ingestion frequency using procellariiform seabirds as a model taxonomic group.  Together, these results suggest that plastic debris emits the scent of a marine infochemical, creating an olfactory trap for susceptible marine wildlife.”

Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses, photograph by Aleks Terauds

Read more here.

Reference:

Savoca, M.S., Wohlfeil, M.E., Ebeler, S.E. & Nevitt, G.A. 2016.  Marine plastic debris emits a keystone infochemical for olfactory foraging seabirds.  Science Advances 2(11)  DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1600395.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 November 2016

BirdLife Malta is looking for a voluntary assistant to join its international seabird team in the Maltese Islands.

The volunteer will assist in ongoing monitoring and research activities with two ACAP potential candidate species, the Yelkouan Puffinus yelkouan and the Scopoli's Calonectris diomedea Shearwaters and on the Mediterranean Storm Petrel Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis.

Volunteer assistants will be based in BirdLife Malta’s offices and in Natura 2000 sites.  Accommodation and allowances will be provided.

Scopoli's Shearwater on the wing, photograph by 'Pep' Acos 

Applications close on 27 November 2016. Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 November 2016