The Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan, endemic to islands within the Mediterranean Sea, has been identified as a potential candidate for listing within the Albatross and Petrel Agreement.  Its conservation status of Vulnerable has been under review by BirdLife International this year, with the proposal to downlist the species to Least Concern because of a perception its populations are not decreasing in size (click here).

A detailed discussion on the downlisting proposal has been undertaken on the BirdLife International’s Globally Threatened Seabird Forum, with 21 individual submissions made, all arguing for retaining its current status.  As a consequence BirdLife has agreed to recommend that the shearwater’s Vulnerable category remain:

“We accept the argument that the most prudent approach at this stage would be to precautionarily maintain Yelkouan Shearwater as Vulnerable, recognising that the various components of the 2012 study may represent a more accurate assessment of the species’ status than the European Red List data, given the difficulties associated with monitoring the species.  If further study and monitoring fail to provide evidence of declines, the species should again be considered for downlisting in the future” (click here).

Yelkouan Shearwater, photograph by Matthew Borg Cardona

Reference:

BirdLife International 2015.  European Red List of Birds.  Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 October 2015

Researchers from the EU Life+ Malta Seabird Project have been attaching Geolocator tags (GLS) to Scopoli’s Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea at Hal Fra, Malta that will gather information on at-their sea movements.

Eleven GLS tags (20 x 9 x 6.5 mm; 1.8 g) have been secured to adult birds around the metal band with a cable tie.  The tags are able to gather data for up to two years until the battery runs out.  Recovery of the devices is possible due to the fact that adult pairs return to the same nest site each year (click here to read more).

Scopoli's Shearwater, photograph by "Pep" Arcos

The Maltese seabird project aims to identify Marine Important Bird Areas for the three species of tubenose seabirds breeding in the Maltese Islands. The project is 50% funded by the EU’s LIFE unit, and is a partnership between BirdLife Malta, the RSPB (BirdLife UK), SPEA (BirdLife Portugal) and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change.

Click here to read about a then  28+-year old Scopoli’s Shearwater banded as a breeding adult on Malta in 1985, and recaptured there in 2013, the oldest known up to that time.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 October 2015

The Federative Republic of Brazil is one of 13 Parties to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), with a date of entry into force of 1 December 2008 (click here).

Brazil has now become the 122nd Party to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS or Bonn Convention) with effect from 1 October this year.

“As an environmental treaty under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme, CMS provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats.  CMS brings together the States through which migratory animals pass, the Range States, and lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout a migratory range.” (click here).

Black-browed Albatrosses occur in numbers in Brazilian waters, photograph by Graham Parker

According to Minister of the Environment of Brazil Izabella Teixeira, “Brazil's ratification of the Convention on Migratory Species (UNEP-CMS) confirms the country's firm commitment to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.  By means of this, Brazil will be able to further strengthen cooperation for environmental protection with its international partners and to contribute to global efforts focusing on migratory species.  Brazil is looking forward to work in close collaboration with CMS Parties and under the auspices of that Convention in the areas of research, conservation and sustainable management of migratory species, which are particularly important for Brazilians because of the characteristics of our large territory,"

Brazil regularly attends and contributes to meetings of ACAP.  It published its National Plan of Action for Reducing Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Fisheries (NPOA-Seabirds) in 2006.

With Brazil’s accession to the CMS all 13 Parties to ACAP are now also Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (click here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 October 2015

Land-based protection for the Endangered Newell’s Shearwater Puffinus newelli is being extended out to sea aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line’s 80 439-gt Pride of America, a large cruise ship that sails Hawaii’s waters each week (click here).

“The boat’s bright lights were attracting the birds at night,” says Robert Torres, the ship’s environmental officer, “so we had to figure out a solution.” Torres partnered with the Kauai’s Save our Shearwaters program and all the ship’s staff was trained in capturing and protecting the birds.  Two cages are kept on board and, when a bird is found stranded on deck, the ship’s crew grab the cage and a towel and rescue it."

"Shearwater rescues are far less frequent than in the past.  The birds navigate by moonlight and the ship’s lights can look like the moon to young birds flying for the first time.  With the counsel of the Kauai program, Torres oversaw the replacement of all the ship’s exterior light bulbs with lower wattage ones that point down, not up and out.  Between September and December – the months when fledgling birds typically first take flight – the ship’s passengers are informed and encouraged to close their cabin drapes and turn off lights when not needed.  The ship has even darkened its NCL logo to protect native birds.”

A rescued Newell's Shearwater gets released, photograph by Elizabeth Ames

The Hawaiian-endemic Newell’s Shearwater is affected by light pollution ashore, especially of fledglings at the end of the breeding season as has been reported in ACAP Latest News on several occasions (click here).

Selected Literature on Ship-based Light Pollution:

Black, A. 2005.  Light induced seabird mortality on vessels operating in the Southern Ocean: incidents and mitigation measures.  Antarctic Science 17: 67-68.

Merkel, F.R. & Johansen, K.L. 2011.  Light-induced bird strikes on vessels in Southwest Greenland.  Marine Pollution Bulletin 62: 2330-2336.

Ryan, P.G 1991.  The impact of the commercial lobster fishery on seabirds at the Tristan da Cunha islands, South Atlantic Ocean.  Biological Conservation 57: 339-350.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 October 2015