Richard Phillips, with a Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans under study on its nest on Bird Island in the South Atlantic

Richard Phillips, a long-term senior scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, has been awarded a Polar Medal in the United Kingdom’s 2023 New Year’s Honours List for his research to improve understanding of Antarctica and Antarctic conditions (click here).  Richard has been involved with the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) for many years as an expert member of UK Delegations to its Meetings of the Parties and its Advisory Committee.  His contributions to and his past and present roles as Co-convenor and Vice-convenor of the Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG) and its predecessors have, and continue to be, much valued by the Agreement.

An example of an early Polar Medal from the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration

His citation follows:

“Richard Phillips has been at BAS for 22 years and is Head of the Predators Group, and deputy science leader of the Ecosystems Programme.  He has made 12 fieldwork trips to the Antarctic and South Georgia.  Richard’s research interests are in the ecology and conservation of seabirds, particularly albatrosses and petrels.  He is involved with the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), the SCAR Expert Group on Birds and Marine Mammals and the CCAMLR Working Group on Incidental Mortality Associated with Fisheries.  These international agreements develop strategies to promote research on seabirds and other marine taxa, particularly where this is of relevance to understanding and managing marine and terrestrial threats.”

The Polar Medal, struck in silver, is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research abd other activities, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates.  It was instituted in 1857 as the Arctic Medal and renamed the Polar Medal in 1904 (click here).

Richard is also recognized academically by his positions as an Honorary Professor at the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge (click here).

In the same Honours List albatross researcher Kath Walker was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (click here).  Others who have received the same or similar awards for their work towards albatross conservation in the Southern Ocean and on sub-Antarctic islands include the late Peter Prince (Polar Medal, 1978),  John Croxall (Polar Medal  and clasp, 1992 & 2004), Sally Poncet (Polar Medal 2015; one of only 18 women to receive such an award) and Graham Robertson (Australian Antarctic Medal and clasp, 1989 & 2012).

The ACAP Secretariat takes great pleasure in offering its congratulations to Richard Phillips for his well-deserved award.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Abatrosses and Petrels, 19 January 2023

The graphical Abstract for the paper, "Environmental assessment of proposed areas for offshore wind farms off southern Brazil based on ecological niche modeling and a species richness index for albatrosses and petrels"

Carolina Alves Lemos (Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation on utilising ecological niche modelling and a species richness index in environmental impact assessments on Albatrosses and Petrels for proposed offshore wind farms in Brazil.

The abstract follows:

“The increasing number of offshore wind farms (OWFs) proposed off the Brazilian coast is a biodiversity management challenge that needs to be addressed with strategic and targeted environmental impact assessments. The effects of OWFs on birds are much better studied in the northern than southern hemisphere. Knowledge of species distributions is key to developing effective conservation strategies. Ecological niche modeling can support strategic siting decisions and identify the target species for which mitigation of the impacts of OWFs may be required. We used the maximum entropy algorithm (MaxEnt) for modeling species niche suitability, incorporating environmental variables and presence-only data from tracking and at-sea surveys for seven albatrosses and petrels, of which five are threatened by extinction. We used the predicted niche suitability index (NSI) to calculate niche overlaps, assess distribution patterns and generate spatial prioritizations across seasons based on a species richness index (RI). Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos, Atlantic Petrel Pterodroma incerta, and Great Shearwater Ardenna gravis were selected as target species for monitoring in Brazilian shallow waters (0–200 m depth) in the warm season, and Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross and White-chinned Petrel Procellaria aequinoctialis in the cold season. The RI was higher in waters between 200 m and 1000 m depth, a preferred area for OWFs with floating foundations. We advocate for the incorporation of niche models in environmental impact studies, as a tool for improving conservation, environmental planning, and impact assessment.”

Reference:

Lemos, C.A., Hernández, M., Vilardo, C., Phillips, R.A., Bugoni, L., Sousa-Pinto, I. 2023. Environmental assessment of proposed areas for offshore wind farms off southern Brazil based on ecological niche modeling and a species richness index for albatrosses and petrels. Global Ecology and Conservation. Volume 41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02360

18 January 2023

This Laysan Albatross pair seems safe from climate change 500 m above the sea in the Kuaokala Game Management Area on Oahu, photograph from Pacific Rim Conservation

For some years, ACAP Latest News has regularly reported on conservation management activities on two of the main islands of Hawaii that are directed at creating and enhancing breeding opportunities safe from sea level rise for two ACAP-listed albatrosses, the Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and Laysan P. immutabilis.  To keep readers up to date, here are snippets of news of the current breeding season that have been gleaned from recent social media posts.

Kauai

Twenty-eight fertile Laysan Albatross eggs collected from the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMFR) were placed in nests that contained infertile eggs (as deduced by candling, watch a video) over two days by a team led by the environmental NGO, Pacific Rim Conservation.  Localities where foster eggs were placed included the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, Na Aina Kai Botanical Gardens and sites in private ownership on the island.  Since 2009, more than 523 eggs, that would have otherwise been destroyed at the PMFR in order to reduce the risk of collisions with aircraft, have been placed in foster nests.

Read more about this project here and watch a  video by Hob Osterlund (Founder of the Kauaʻi Albatross Network) of a translocation taking place at a nest with a female-female pair that had laid two infertile eggs.

“May they live long and Trossper”. The December 2022 egg foster team from Pacific Rim Conservation, Pacific Missile Range Facility and the Kauaʻi Albatross Network, along with a private landowner, photograph by Hob Osterlund

According to the December issue of Wild Times (the online newsletter of the Friends of Kauai Wildlife Refuges), the total number of breeding attempts by Laysan Albatrosses within the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge for the 2022/3 breeding season stands at 132, “which, we are delighted to share, is higher than last season” (click here).  The breeding albatrosses within the refuge are due to receive better protection this season as a predator-proof fence that will keep out feral pigs and stray dogs is being erected (click here).

The new predator-proof fence goes up in October 2022 in the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, photograph from Pacific Rim Conservation

An incubating Laysan Albatross in the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge, 04 December 2022, photograph from the Friends of Kauai Wildlife Refuges

Oahu

Egg laying has finished for Laysan Albatrosses this season with a reported 95 occupied nests in the Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve within a predator-proof fence, 46 in the Kuaokala Game Management Area which is fenced against pigs and dogs and nine at the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on Oahu.  The last locality is where efforts have been made to create a new breeding colony within a predator-proof fence for both Black-footed and Laysan Albatrosses by hand-rearing translocated chicks and allowing them to fledge from the refuge, to return some years later to breed (click here).  Pacific Rim Conservation writes “2022 was one of the worst albatross nesting years on record.  With a strong La Nina (the opposite weather pattern of El Nino), their preferred foraging grounds move further north and thus give them longer commutes.  With another La Nina expected for the 2023 breeding season, we are trying to keep our fingers crossed that the birds will do slightly better this year with the record number of nests we've seen [on Oahu].”

The first Black-footed Albatross of the season was seen in the reserve at Kaena Point on 15 November 2022 by Pacific Rim Conservation.  “Typically, Black-footed Albatrosses come back a few days before the Laysans, but this pair is still relatively young and thus starting later. The female (colour band V949) arrived first and we are awaiting her mate.”  Decoys and calls have been used in the hope they will improve the likelihood of the species breeding within the refuge.  It is hoped the pair will breed this season, which would be the first time for the species on Oahu (click here).

Black-footed Albatross V651 rests between two decoys within the fenced area at the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge

A translocated Black-footed Albatross with colour band V651 returned to both Kaena Point and the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge in December last year.  The bird, identified as a female by Pacific Rim Conservation, was a member of the 2018 cohort translocated from Tern Island, French Frigate Shoals, making it a four-year-old at the time. Recent news from Pacific Rim Conservation is of another returning translocated Black-footed Albatross chick to the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge.  V674 is also a female from the same 2018 translocation cohort. This is the first time she’s been resighted on Oahu. This month a third banded bird of the 2018 cohort has been photographed next to the decoys, and a pair has been filmed mutually displaying in the refuge.

V674 gets caught on camera on 28 December 2022

Such attempts to “micro-manage” albatross breeding populations are not common elsewhere.  Japan has worked to create new breeding colonies for the globally Vulnerable Short-tailed P. albatrus on Torishima and in the Ogasawara Islands on Mukojima using decoys, calls and translocated chicks with some success.  A similar operation to create a new colony of Black-footed Albatrosses on Mexico’s Isla Guadalupe is ongoing, with the third year of egg transfers from Midway Atoll by Pacific Rim Conservation taking place this month.   However, the effort to eestablish a new colony of globally Vulnerable Chatham Albatrosses Thalassarche eremita in New Zealand has apparently not succeeded, although many translocated hand-fed chicks fledged over a five-year period (click here).  Elsewhere in New Zealand, the well-known mainland colony of globally Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi at Taiaroa Head is carefully managed by such regular practices as the use of artificial incubators around hatching time, combating fly strike and hot-weather days with insecticides and asprinklers respectively, regular weighing coupled with supplementary feeding of chicks deemed to be underweight, and the control of alien predators.  A somewhat different case has tbeen the one-off attempts, mostly successful, to eradicate introduced rodents and feral cats on a number of sub-Antarctic islands over the last two decades or so (click on Island Eradications to access descriptions of several such eradications).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 17 January 2023

The call for abstract submissions to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea’s Annual Science Conference is now open. A wide range of themes are covered in the conference program including a session on Managing fisheries bycatch of threatened species – which is described below: 

2023 ICES ASC session - Managing fisheries bycatch of threatened species
Fisheries targeting highly productive species can have profound impacts on co-occurring species also susceptible to capture that have long generation lengths, low fecundity and other life history traits that make them vulnerable to anthropogenic mortality. There has been increasing concern over the sustainability of bycatch mortality of marine megafauna given their vulnerability to exploitation, ecosystem-level cascading effects from declines in abundance and reduced population fitness from fisheries-induced evolution. There has also been increasing attention to risks from bycatch to food, nutrition and livelihood security.
 
The session’s presentations and discussion will cover priority topics in fisheries bycatch science and policy such as:

• Estimates of individual components of bycatch fishing mortality
• Population effects of bycatch removals
• Bycatch magnitude
• Sublethal effects of fishing on threatened species
• Estimates of bycatch through observer and electronic monitoring programs
• Explanatory predictors of catch and mortality rates of bycatch species
• Multispecies conflicts from bycatch mitigation methods
• Costs to economic viability, practicality and crew safety
• Principles for evidence-informed bycatch policy
• Applying a sequential mitigation hierarchy to manage bycatch
• Approaches to mitigate the catch and fishing mortality of bycatch species such as:
  • area-based management tools
  • gear technology to increase selectivity
  • input and output controls
  • international trade bans
  • minimized production and ghost fishing efficiency and duration of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear
  • management of fishing depth
  • fishing methods and gear designs to reduce pre-catch and at-vessel mortality rates
  • handling and release practices

• Performance of regional fisheries management organizations’ bycatch measures
• Bycatch measures of market-based programs such as the Marine Stewardship Council and Fisheries Improvement Projects
• Enabling environment conditions that affect compliance with bycatch measures
• Defining target and limit biological reference points for stocks of data-limited bycatch species
• Comprehensive harvest strategies for incidental bycatch species
• Offsets of residual bycatch losses through equivalent gains.

More information on the conference including session themes, and guidelines and instructions for the submission of abstracts can be found at the ICES website. The deadline for abstract submissions is 21 March 2023.

16 January 2023