The 6th International Albatross and Petrel Conference (IAPC6) will be held in Barcelona Catalonia, Spain, from 19-23 September 2016.  The venue for the conference will be the historic Paranimf (Paranymph) of the University of Barcelona, right in the City Centre.

You can read the original notice in Spanish below.

Key Dates:

Registration and Abstract Submission will open in January 2016

Abstract Submission Deadline - 1 March 2016

Travel Award Submission Deadline - 1 March 2016 (depending upon availability of funds)

Early Registration Deadline - 1 March 2016

Travel Award Recipients announced - 1 June 2016

Please circle these dates on your calendar, plan to attend and spread the word about the conference.   Make sure to pre-register on the conference website to receive further announcements.

A welcome icebreaker will be held in the afternoon of 19 September.  Tours and other activities will take place from 17 to 19 and from 24 to 25 September, including La Mercè Festival with its street parades, processions and papier maché giants and the Delta Birding Festival.

If you would like to support the student travel awards, you will find sponsorship opportunities on the conference website or you can contact us directly.

We look forward to seeing you in Barcelona!

Balearic Shearwater, Spain's endemic ACAP-listed species, photograph by the Ibiza Preservation Fund

Jacob González-Solís, Raül Ramos, Gaia Dell’Ariccia, Laura Zango, Virginia Morera, Marta Cruz, Joan Ferrer & Carles Giménez, IAPC6 Local Organizing Committee, 26 October 2016

Estimados colegas,
"6th International Albatross and Petrel Conference (IAPC6)" tendrá lugar en Barcelona (Catalunya, España) del 19 al 23 de septiembre de
2016. Marcad esta fecha en vuestros calendarios, asistid al congreso y difundid el mensaje entre todos los que pueden estar interesados!
El registro y envío de resúmenes estarán disponibles en el portal del congreso el próximo mes de enero (http://iapc6.info). El congreso se
celebrará en el "Paranimf  de la Universitat de Barcelona", en el centro de la ciudad. La recepción e inscripciones tendrán lugar el 19
de septiembre por la tarde. Excursiones y otras actividades se realizarán durante los días del 17 al 19 y del 24 al 25 de
septiembre, incluyendo el festival del a ciudad de "La Mercè" y el "Delta Birding Festival". Si pensáis que podrías apoyar el programa
de becas de viaje para estudiantes, encontrareis distintas formas de esponsorización en el portal del congreso o poneros en contacto con
nosotros directamente
Fechas clave:
-Fecha límite para el envío de resúmenes: 1 de marzo de 2016
-Fecha límite para la petición de becas para estudiantes: 1 de marzo de 2016 (en función de la disponibilidad de fondos) -Fecha límite
para el registro a precio reducido: 1 de marzo 2016 -Anuncio de los estudiantes ganadores de las becas de viaje: 1 de junio de 2016
Si deseáis recibir información actualizada sobre el congreso por favor pre-registraros en el portal del congreso. Para más información
podéis visitar el portal  http://iapc6.info
Esperamos veros a todos en Barcelona!
El comité local organizador:
Jacob González-Solís, Raül Ramos, Gaia Dell´Ariccia, Laura Zango, Virginia Morera, Marta Cruz, Joan Ferrer and Carles Giménez.

The Portuguese Government has approved the designation of two new marine Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in terms of the European Birds Directive (click here).

As well as the approval of the Cabo Raso and Aveiro/Nazaré SPAs, two existing marine SPAs are being expanded at Cabo Espichel and Costa Sudoeste.  The decision was based on seabird monitoring data collected along the Portuguese coast over the past 10 years by BirdLife International’s Portuguese Partner, the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA).

The new and expanded sites will add to the existing Portuguese marine SPA network, offering protection to important feeding and roosting areas used by the Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus and other seabirds.

Balearic Shearwater at sea

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 25 October 2015

Golden Crownbeard Verbesina encelioides is an aggressive annual plant  that has been introduced and has spread widely over the USA’s Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian North-western  Islands (NWHI).

The yellow-flowered daisy-like plant grows head-high, creating a dense barrier that ACAP-listed Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. albatrus Albatrosses are unable to walk through, much less breed within.  For these birds who do find a place to lay their eggs, the tangle of flowering stems limits airflow to nests, leaving chicks vulnerable to dehydration and to death.

Densely-breeding Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses in the North-western Hawaiian Islands

A few years ago the drought-tolerant and fast-growing Golden Crownbeard covered 80% of the three islands that make up Midway.  In the late 1990s, the US Fish and Wildlife Service began removing the plants by hand spraying.  It is expected that Golden Crownbeard will be eradicated from the smaller Eastern Island and Spit Island by early 2017, with the last seedlings to be removed from the bigger Sand Island by 2018.  As the invasive plant removed native Cyperus grass is being planted. The native grasses allow for more airflow to the nests as well as more breeding space.

Read more here.

Attempts are also being made to eradicate Golden Crownbeard on the NHWI's Kure Atoll.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 24 October 2015

A session dedicated to top-predator research in the Southern Ocean will be held during the SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research) Open Science Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia over 22-26 August 2016.

The session entitled “From the top: higher trophic predators as ecosystem sentinels” is to be co-hosted by Dan Costa (USA), Yan Ropert-Coudert (France), Mercedes Santos (Argentina), Andrew Lowther (Norway) and Jaimie Cleeland (Australia).

Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses, photograph by Aleks Terauds

The session outline follows:

“The recognition of the utility and importance of predators as indicators of the marine ecosystem is such that it is a recurrent topic in SCAR conferences.  Natural (oceanographic, terrestrial, atmospheric, climatic) and anthropogenic forcing (fisheries, pollution...) are taking place at an accelerated pace in the Southern Ocean.  Session 29 will address issues surrounding the responses of higher trophic level predators to these modifications and consequently their appropriateness as sentinels of the ecosystem.  Topics welcome in this session include but are not limited to:

• Animals as a sensor platforms in the marine environment
• Changes in predator-prey relationships and trophic interactions
• Polar species population/ community responses to changes in the Antarctic and/or other latitudes
• Effects of natural (including extreme) and anthropogenic forcing on top predators
• Marine predator conservation policies in a changing environment
• Epidemiology in the Antarctic in response to growing human activities and warming
• Advances in marine predator research methods and technology.

Abstract submission is now open and ends on 4 February next year (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 23 October 2015