Translocated Black-footed Albatrosses were featured by Mexico’s Grupo de Ecología y Conservación de Islas to celebrate World Albatross Day on 19 June 2024

The Albatross and Petrel Agreement inaugurated World Albatross Day in 2020.  The fifth  “WAD” was marked last month with the theme ‘Marine Protected Areas – Safeguarding our Oceans’.  The day (“WAD2024”) was marked around the world with banners displayed on seabird islands, activities back at home, such as the Australian Antarctic Division’s regular baking of “albicakes”, and via social media, such as the Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature’s collage poster, featuring 47 albatross artworks produced in collaboration with ACAP.

A photographic record of the other ways WAD2024 was marked and that have caught ACAP’s eye follows.

The Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge marked WAD2024 with a Laysan Albatross flying over the lagoon at Midway Atoll (Kuaihelani), photograph by USFWS Volunteer Keelee Martin

In South Africa the Tygerberg Bird Club posted a portfolio of albatross faces to its Facebook Group to mark WAD2024, photographs by Michael Mason

Eve Howard of Eve Howard Ceramics, in Hobart Tasmania, writes on her Facebook page: “Happy World Albatross Day, as many of you know I love making albatross and here is one I'm currently creating. I have to say they are easier to make than they are to get through the kiln firing process! The left eye of Horus (the moon) and the right eye of Ra (the sun)"

Birds New Zealand came up with its own take on Katsushika Hokusai’s much loved “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” for World Albatross Day - Te Rā O Ngā Toroa

Birds New Zealand also displayed Owen Davey’s albatross poster produced for the inaugural World Albatross on 19 June this year

 
France’s Terres australes et antarctiques françaises TAAF marked WAD2024 with six albatross photographs by J. Abbou, M. Horlie, M. Parisot and R. Harivel.  This sunset photograph of three Wandering Albatrosses is one of them


School children mark World Albatross Day with a banner and albatross masks they made on Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, photograph by Maria Swain


Identified as a juvenile Gibson’s Antipodean Albatross in Auckland Island's Carnley Harbour; one of five albatross photographs by Laura Findlay posted by the Royal Albatross Centre in New Zealand on 19 June 2024

Birds New Zealand also had this poster of a royal albatross taking off for World Abatross Day - that includes the theme for 2024

The last planned post in this short series marking World Albatross Day for 2024 will feature activities that took place in Japan in June and July.  If your celebration is missing, ACAP will be pleased to add it to its files.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 09 July 2024

Balearic Shearwater, mixed media by Catarina Vitorino for ACAP, after a photograph by Pep Arcos

Iván Ramírez (Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species, Bonn, Germany) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Animal Conservation on a review of seabird bycatch in European waters.  Fisheries bycatch is considered the biggest threat to the ACAP-listed and Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, endemic to European waters.

The paper’s abstract follows:

jEuropean species that demands urgent conservation and management action. Here, we present the first European review of seabird bycatch data, considering all fishing gears and data collection methods available in the region. We calculate seabird bycatch numbers per species, family, country and European marine region and assess the reliability of the data available. The cumulative bycatch estimate extracted from this review suggests that about 195,000 seabirds (ranging from around 130,000 to 380,000) are bycaught in European waters annually. The most affected seabird species is the Common Guillemot Uria aalge with over 31,000 birds killed per year. The marine region with the highest bycatch estimate is the Northeast Atlantic (over 115,000 seabirds year⁻¹). Gillnet fisheries are responsible for the highest bycatch levels, with over 95,000 seabirds year⁻¹, followed by longline fisheries. The families most affected by bycatch are Anatidae and Alcidae. These numbers are likely an underestimation since we were unable to find bycatch estimates, or to extrapolate estimates from available bycatch data for 12 (out of 34) European coastal states. Our assessment also identified significant data gaps in key areas such as Gran Sol (in the north-east Atlantic), the central and Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Combining systematic data collection with immediate implementation of mitigation measures will be crucial to fill in knowledge gaps, reduce current mortality levels and meet international conservation commitments such as those of the European Union and the Convention on Migratory Species”.

Read a popular account of the publication here.

Reference:

Ramírez, I., Mitchell, D., Vulcano, A., Rouxel, Y., Marchowski, D., Almeida, A., Arcos, M., Cortes, V., Lange, G., Morkūnas, J., Oliveira, N. & Paiva, V.H. 2024.   Seabird bycatch in European waters.  Animal Conservation  doi.org/10.1111/acv.12948.

05 July 2024

Australian Antarctic Division staffers celebrate ‘WAD2024’ outside their Kingston headquarters, reusing their 2021 banner

As in previous years, the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) marked World Albatross Day, this year with its theme of ‘Marine Protected Areas – Safeguarding our Oceans’, on 19 June with speeches, cakes and a group photograph at its Kingston Headquarters in Tasmania.

WAD2024 cakes with a Marine Protected Area theme by Andrea Polanowski (top) and Leonie Suter (below)

No ‘Bake-off’ competition was held this year, as in the past, but two ‘albicakes’ especially baked for the occasion by Andrea Polanowski and Leonie Suter, along with some other treats, were enjoyed.

Julie McInnes speaks to colleagues at the WAD2024 event

At the event, vertebrate biologist Julie McInnes spoke about World Albatross Day, providing an overview of its importance, mentioning some recent milestones, such as that it was now 10 years since the eradication of all the vertebrate pests on Macquarie Island and 30 years since  albatross monitoring was initiated on the island.  The WAD2024 Marine Protected Areas (MPA) theme was discussed in relation to the recently expanded Macquarie Island MPA and the current review of the Heard and MacDonald Islands MPA.  Julie also talked about the work the AAD is undertaking to collate at-sea tracking data for Macquarie Island seabirds and seals to ascertain how they are utilizing the MPA.  The need for more tracking data was then considered.  Julie is a member representing Australia of ACAP’s Population and Conservation Status, and Taxonomy Working Groups.

Aleks Terauds (left) and Kris Carlyon undertook a 10-day hike to the south of Macquarie Island this year to see the changes in the landscape, photograph by Pete Harmsen

Aleks Terauds, AAD spatial ecologist, spoke briefly about his recent visit to Macquarie and the vegetation on the island which he says was “looking incredible”, following its recovery after the eradication of vertebrate pests.  Read  an article here and watch a video featuring Aleks here about the island’s recovery.  Aleks has also been interviewed for radio.

Striking a pose.  Macquarie Island overwinterers with their WAD2024 banner, photograph from Melanie Wells

With thanks to Mandi Livesey and Julie McInnes, Australian Antarctic Division.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 04 July 2024

The Great Auk was once widely distributed across islands in the North Atlantic but became extinct due to excessive hunting by humans

Today is World Seabird Day.  Held on 3 July, it marks the date the now extinct Great Auk Pinguinis impennis was last seen alive in 1844.  The World Seabird Union, an organization comprised of the world’s seabird societies, announced the first annual World Seabird Day in 2017.

“Most seabird species are currently threatened by human activities, such as fisheries, oil pollution and climate change.  Seabird scientists and enthusiasts commemorate this date to raise awareness of the ongoing conservation threats to seabird populations.”

 
Wandering Albatross at sea, by April Grossruck of Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature for World Albatross Day 2020, after a photograph by Laurie Smaglick Johnson

Read a 2022 article marking World Seabird Day that concentrates on the threats albatrosses face from longline fisheries here.

03 July 2024