The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) held an intersessional meeting of its Sub-Committee on Ecosystems from 08 to 12 June 2015 in Madrid, Spain (click here).

At the meeting progress was achieved in preparing for the formal review of the Commission’s seabird bycatch mitigation measure (Recommendation 11.09 Supplemental Recommendation by ICCAT on Reducing Incidental Bycatch of Seabirds in ICCAT Longline Fisheries).  The review of Rec 11-09 was originally scheduled to take place in 2015.  However, at the 2014 meeting of ICCAT’s Sub-Committee on Ecosystems it was agreed that a longer time series of data was required, and so it was recommended that the review be delayed by a year.  Consequently, the 2015 meeting of the Sub-Committee on Ecosystems was earmarked for preparatory work to inform and help facilitate the review in 2016.  The meeting considered a number of seabird-related papers, three of which were submitted by the Albatross and Petrel Agreement.

On the basis of the papers presented and discussions at the meeting, the Sub-Committee agreed to use as the two main indicators for the 2016 review trends in seabird bycatch rates and estimated total numbers of seabirds killed from 2010 to 2014, a period which spans the adoption of seabird bycatch mitigation measures as set out in Rec 11-09.  A draft work plan was prepared, and the information that Contracting Parties (CPCs) will be required to submit for the review was identified.  The ICCAT Secretariat has also recently contracted work to update EFFDIS (the Fisheries Effort and Distribution Database), which is an important source of information for the seabird review.  It is anticipated that the update will be ready well in advance of the 2016 review.

ACAP was represented by the Convenor of its Seabird Bycatch Working Group, Anton Wolfaardt.

Submitted papers relevant to seabirds:

ACAP Secretariat 2015.  ACAP summary advice for reducing impact of pelagic longlines on seabirds.  SCRS/2015/114.

Angel, A., Wanless, R. & Small, C. 2015.  ICCAT process for national reporting on bycatch: an assessment of need from a seabird bycatch perspective.  SCRS/2015/119.

Crawford, R. 2015.  Seabird bycatch mitigation factsheets.  SCRS/2015/117.

Inoue, Y., Yokawa, K. & Minami, H. 2015.  Preliminary analyses; evaluation of the effects of the newly employed seabird bycatch regulation for longline fisheries in ICCAT conventional area with using current observer data.  SCRS/2015/130.

Wanless, R. & Small, C. 2015.  New opportunities to improve reporting and develop approaches for better understanding seabird bycatch in tuna longline fisheries.  SCRS/2015/118.

Wolfaardt, A. 2015.  Data collection requirements for observer programmes to improve knowledge of fishery impacts on seabirds.  SCRS/2015/115.

Wolfaardt, A. & Debski, I. 2015.  Estimation of seabird bycatch rates and numbers. SCRS/2015/116.

Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor, ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, 30 June 2015

Hadoram Shirihai (Shoham, Israel) and colleagues have published in the journal Dutch Birding on the endemic gadfly petrels of Chile’s Juan Fernández Islands.

“This paper details the special avifauna of Juan Fernández archipelago, off Chile.  We visited the archipelago from 3 to 15 March 2013, mainly to study the local gadfly petrels Pterodroma at sea, namely Juan Fernández Petrel P. externa, Stejneger’s Petrel P. longirostris and De Filippi’s Petrel P. defilippiana.”

Reference:

Shirihai, H., Díaz, H.A., Huichalaf, J.E. & Bretagnolle, V. 2015.  Endemic breeding birds of Juan Fernández archipelago, Chile.  Dutch Birding 37: 1-20.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 June 2015

Thomas Good (Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Washington, Seattle, USA) and colleagues have produced a report on the mortality of Short-tailed Albatrosses Phoebastria albatrus in longline fisheries.

The report’s Executive Summary follows:

“In accordance with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Biological Opinion (BiOp) on Continuing Operation of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery, this document provides an analysis of observed bycatch and fleet-wide take estimates of U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)-listed short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) in all sectors of the west coast groundfish fishery from 2010–2013.  Short-tailed albatrosses are large, pelagic seabirds of the Order Procellariiformes with long narrow wings adapted for soaring just above the water surface.  They are the largest of the three species of North Pacific albatrosses and are “continental shelf-edge specialists.”  Birds breed at 5-6 years of age; 25% of breeding age adults may forego breeding in a given year.  Females lay single eggs, and chicks are fed by adults by surface feeding on squid, shrimp, fish, and fish eggs.  Bycatch of short-tailed albatrosses in commercial fisheries continues to be a major conservation concern.  From 1983 to 2009, eleven short-tailed albatross were documented in North Pacific groundfish fisheries.  From 2010-2014, eight short-tailed albatross mortalities have been observed during commercial fishing activities, six in Alaska, one off Oregon, and one off Japan.  On April 11, 2011, a short-tailed albatross mortality was documented in the limited entry sablefish fishery off the Oregon coast.  Following this mortality in one of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fisheries, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council adopted recommendations for seabird bycatch mitigation, requiring streamer lines be deployed during setting operations on commercial fixed gear vessels 55’ (17 m) or greater in length; smaller vessels will not be required to use seabird bycatch avoidance measures under the current council action.  Additionally, outreach efforts are increasing seabird bycatch awareness as well as voluntary use of seabird deterrents throughout the U.S. portion of the range of this species.  Annual bycatch estimates varied as a function of hypothetical levels of seabird carcasses dropping off -before making it to observer sampling and varying estimates of the global short-tailed albatross population.  The existing estimate for the global black-footed albatross population has not been updated since 2009 and could also influence these calculations if there has been a substantial change to that population estimate.”

Mortality of Short-tailed Albatrosses at sea

Short-tailed Albatross at sea, photograph by Aleks Terauds

Reference:

Good, T.P., Tuttle,V., Jannot, J., Shama , R., Riley,N. & McVeigh, J. 2015.  Observed and Estimated Bycatch of Short-tailed Albatross in U.S. West Coast Groundfish Fisheries 2010-2013.    42 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 June 2015

Sooty Shearwater, photograph by John Graham

Grant Humphries (Farallon Institute, Pataluma, California, USA) and colleagues have written in PICES Press on using information from seabirds to predict climate events such as El Niño in the Pacific Ocean.

Top marine predators, such as seabirds, are particularly responsive to changes in oceanographic conditions during and other anomalous ocean conditions.  Declines in the breeding success and cahick size of Sooty Shearwaters Puffinus griseus in New Zealand are potential leading indicators of El Niño by up to 14 months. 

Answering the question “what are the birds telling us”? could provide insight into complex climate-marine ecosystem dynamics that also appear to be changing in unanticipated ways.

Reference:

Humphries, G.R.W., Velarde, E., Anderson, D.W., Haase, B. & Sydeman, W.J. 2015.  Seabirds as early warning indicators of climate events in the Pacific.  PICES Press 23: 40-43.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 June 2015