“Love Duo” by ABUN artist Joyce Hartmann, after a photograph of Laysan Albatrosses by Hob Osterlund

The Seventh Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MoP7) to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels was held online over 9-13 May 2022, with Australia acting as host and Meeting Chair.  The Final Report of the meeting is now available in the three ACAP official languages of English, French and Spanish.  Documents and Information Papers considered at the meeting are also available.

Read a summary by the ACAP Secretariat of the  meeting’s outcomes here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 01 July 2022

Jarrod Hodgson (left) and Andrea Turbett hold up Barbara; photograph by Urs Grueter

To celebrate World Albatross Day 2022 on Australia’s sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island (a nature reserve and World Heritage Site), Tasmania Park and Wildlife Service rangers Jarrod Hodgson and Andrea Turbett constructed a life-sized Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans sculpture out of wood.  On 19 June ‘Barbara’ was due to ‘fledge’ to the main living area on the station and then double as the centrepiece decoration for the following midwinter celebrations.

And she lights up at night! Photograph from Jarrod Hodgson

“Macquarie Island provides critical breeding habitat for Australia’s extremely small Wandering Albatross population. This year there are six Wandering Albatross chicks on the island.  The nests are all located in very remote and spectacular locations: five are in the rugged south‑west corner of the island and the other nest is on the north‑west coast. The chicks hatched at the start of the year and will live at their nest alone, including through the sub‑Antarctic winter, until it is time to fledge at the end of the year. Remote cameras are located at each nest to non-invasively monitor the breeding ecology of the birds.

The successful eradication of rabbits, rats and mice from Macquarie Island (the Macquarie Island Pest Eradication Project, declared a success in 2014) has helped restore the quality of albatross breeding habitat, most evident through the recovery of the tussock vegetation. The removal of these invasive pests also means there is no possibility of them having an impact on breeding birds and chicks (click here)”.

A Wandering Albatross pair on Macquarie Island, photograph by Melanie Wells

View the ACAP Species Infographics for the Wandering and (Macquarie breeder) Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma Albatrosses..

With thanks to Keith Springer, Operations Manager, Mouse-Free Marion Project.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 July 2022

Four animations addressing seabird bycatch were created as part of the Seabird Sentinels Project to mark World Albatross Day on 19 June this year.  Here is the final animation; view the first and the second and third on this website.

“We know bycatch is a threat to seabirds such as albatrosses, but what can we do to protect them? As part of the Seabird Sentinels project, scientists tracked the movements of Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans to understand better their interactions with fisheries.  The data collected enabled scientists to map areas where Wandering Albatrosses are most at risk from bycatch and identify the countries who fish there.  With various fisheries and countries identified, the results highlight how important it is to work with multiple stakeholders, including fisheries managers, operators and crew to protect the future of these iconic sentinels of the sea.” [edited]

The four animations by Hannah Whitman have been funded by the United Kingdom's Darwin Plus government grants scheme and created as part of the British Antarctic Survey and BirdLife International's Seabird Sentinels Project.

With thanks to Bernadette Butfield, International Marine Conservation Officer, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer,29 June 2022

An ACAP Species Infographic for the Endangered Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca in support of this year's World Albatross Day and its theme of Climate Change is now available.English and Portuguese language versions of infographics are available to download here, whilst French and Spanish versions can be found in their respective language menus for the website under, Infographies sur les espèces and Infographía sobres las especies. The infographic has been co-published with South Africa's Mouse-Free Marion Project, which aims to eradicate the island’s introduced House Mice Mus musculus in 2014  The mice have taken to attacking and killing the seabirds, including its breeding Sooty Albatrosses – as is illustrated in the infographic.

Versions in the three ACAP official languages of English, French and Spanish are available for six of the nine; French and Spanish versions for the three infographics, including the Sooty, produced this year will be released soon.  Available in two poster sizes (approximately A2 and A3) and in a web version, the infographic may be freely downloaded and used non-commercially and with acknowledgement in the support of albatross conservation.

Attacked by mice at night, this Sooty Albatross chick on Marion Island will not survive; photograph by Stefan Schoombie

The Sooty Albatross Infographic follows on from the eight previously produced for the Endangered Antipodean Diomedea antipodensis, Near Threatened Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes, Endangered Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma, Near Threatened Laysan P. immutabilis, Near Threatened Shy T. cauta, Critically Endangered Tristan D. dabbenena, Vulnerable Wandering D. exulans and Waved Phoebastria irrorata Albatrosses.

All the infographics have been created by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim who has also produced a poster illustrating the albatrosses depicted on the infographics (click here).

Sponsorships for a further six infographics have been obtained, including for three ACAP-listed petrels.  It is intended they will be prepared and released over the next 12 months in time for World Albatross Day on 19 June 2022.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 June 2022