Shearwater species that breed on inhabited islands or mainland sites are affected by light pollution, notably fledglings leaving their breeding sites and heading out to sea at night for the first time.  These naïve birds can become dazzled, lose their way, collide with structures and become grounded – where they are at risk to vehicle traffic and mammalian predators, such as cats.  Two ACAP-listed shearwaters, the Critically Endangered Balearic Puffinus mauretanicus and the Vulnerable Pink-footed Shearwater Ardenna creatopus, are no exception, as previously reported in ACAP Latest News (click here and here).  At least a further nine shearwater species, all not listed by ACAP, are notably affected by land-based light pollution during breeding.  These are Cory's Calonectris borealis, Hutton's P. huttoni, Manx P. puffinus, Newell's P. newelli, Scopoli’s C. Diomedea, Short-tailed A. tenuirostris, Streaked C. leucomelas, Wedge-tailed A. pacifica and Yelkouan P. yelkouan (click here and reference below).

Gabriela Lamanna has written an article on the website of the environmental NGO Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge that describes light pollution affecting the Chilean endemic Pink-footed Shearwater on Robinson Crusoe Island.  Her edited text follows.

Sky without light pollution, photograph by Héctor Gutiérrez Guzmán

“Pink-footed Shearwater chicks are raised in dark burrows, and when the time comes to undertake their first flight to the ocean, instead of finding a sky like the one in the photo above, they find artificial lights that disorient them. When they fall to the ground, they become prey to dogs and cats.  Robinson Crusoe Island is one of the three islands that form the Juan Fernández Archipelago.  Located 700 miles [1125 km] off central Chile, about 900 people live in the only year-round town of San Juan Bautista.

Fallen Wilson’s Storm Petrel disoriented due to the artificial lights; photograph by Red de Observadores

In 2020, due to the installation of bright streetlights on the waterfront at Robinson Crusoe, where seabirds and humans co-exist, a high number of shearwater chicks [was] found grounded and vulnerable during night surveys.  The Pink-footed Shearwater is not only an endangered species, but also has a national action plan (RECOGE) developed by the Ministry of the Environment of Chile.  To reduce this problem, multiple actions were taken that helped the following nesting season (2021-22).

Streetlights with filters on the coast of Robinson Crusoe Island; photograph by Rolando Recabarren

We collaborated with the Municipality of Juan Fernández, the Office of Sky Quality Protection of Northern Chile, and Aladdin Lighting in the installation of 23 streetlight filters along the coast, with the goal of minimizing the number of seabirds disoriented on the ground. These filters reduce the blue light spectrum that affects biodiversity and people.  The [above graph] shows that the number of grounded seabirds increased significantly when the bright coastal lights were newly installed in 2020 and reduced when actions to reduce light pollution started in 2021 and filters were added in 2022.

Night tour with members of the Robinson Crusoe community; photograph by Florencia Olivares

We joined ROC [Red de Observadores de Aves y Vida Silvestre de Chile] and the Office for the Protection of Sky Quality in Northern Chile to develop the "Guide for Friendly Lighting with Seabirds in Chile”, which provides guidance for outdoor lighting projects that may affect seabirds.  In addition, it provides practical recommendations for designing suitable lighting projects and examples of real case studies, hoping that project developers, evaluators and territorial planners will use it to mitigate light pollution in the development of their projects.  We also carry out activities such as night tours with the Robinson Crusoe community [photograph above] where they can learn about light pollution and what to do if they find fallen chicks on the ground.”

ACAP has announced that its theme for next year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June will be “Plastic Pollution”.  However, other types of pollution affecting procellariform seabirds will also be featured, such as from street lighting reported here.  Additionally, this year’s World Migratory Bird Day, held on 14 May and again on 08 October has as its theme light pollution under the slogan “Dim the Lights for Birds at Night!”.

The Australian Department of the Environment and Energy in collaboration with the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions has developed National Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife including Marine Turtles, Seabirds and Migratory Shorebirds.  The guidelines aim to raise awareness of the potential impacts of artificial light on wildlife and provide a framework for assessing and managing them.  See also Guidelines for Ecologically Responsible Lighting produced in Malta.

Reference:

Rodríguez, A., Holmes, N.D., Ryan, P.G., Wilson, K.-J., Faulquier, L., Murillo, Y., Raine, A.F., Penniman, J., Neves, V., Rodríguez, B., Negro, J.N., Chiaradia, A., Dann, P., Anderson, T., Metzger, B., Shirai, M., Deppe, L., Wheeler, J., Hodum, P., Gouveia, C., Carmo, V., Carreira, G.P., Delgado-Alburqueque, L., Guerra-Correa, C., Couzi, F.-X., Travers, M. & Le Corre, M. 2017.  A global review of seabird mortality caused by land-based artificial lights.  Conservation Biology DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12900.

John Cooper, ACAP News Correspondent, 20 September 2022

Albatross Infographic featuring ACAP-listed albatrosses by Thai illustrator Namasri ‘Namo’ Niumim

ACAP’s Executive Secretary, Dr Christine Bogle, recently attended the 35th Session of the Committee of Fisheries (COFI 35) held from 5-9 September in Rome, Italy. Participating as an Observer, ACAP submitted an Opening Statement and a Comment to Agenda Item 11 to the Session. 

Whilst highlighting fisheries bycatch to be one of the greatest threats to seabirds, particularly albatrosses and petrels, ACAP also stressed in its Opening Statement to the Session that the problem was not insoluble.  Referencing its suite of best practice advice for reducing the impact of fisheries on seabirds ACAP stated, “within jurisdictions where implementation of effective mitigation measures and appropriate enforcement has occurred, reductions in seabird bycatch have been demonstrated, sometimes dramatically so and without perceived detrimental consequences arising”.

ACAP recommends the simultaneous use of weighted branch lines, bird scaring lines and night setting, or use of one of the assessed hook-shielding and underwater bait setting devices as the most effective way to reduce seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries. ACAP’s best practice advice, available in multiple languages, can be accessed in the Resources section of its website at, www.acap.aq.

In its Opening Statement ACAP also acknowledged the need for ongoing, concerted efforts by all whose activities have an impact on the fate of seabirds, including albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters, who are facing a conservation crisis. 

Supplementary to ACAP’s Opening Statement to COFI 35, ACAP provided a Comment to Agenda Item 11 ‘Development in global and regional processes related to fisheries and aquaculture’, that provided more detail on recent updates of ACAP’s best practice advice for mitigating the threats to seabirds from fisheries operations.

The full text of ACAP’s Opening Statement to COFI 35 is available here.

The full text of ACAP’s Comment to Agenda Item 11 is available here.

Posted 19 September 2022

ACAP Executive Secretary (left), Dr Christine BogIe, and ICCAT Executive Secretary, Camille J. P. Manel (right) signing the renewal of the Guidelines for Cooperation between the two organisations

ACAP and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) are pleased to announce the renewal of the Guidelines for Cooperation between ICCAT and ACAP Secretariat. The guidelines facilitate cooperation between ICCAT and the ACAP Secretariat with a view to supporting efforts to minimise the incidental bycatch of ACAP-listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters within ICCAT's Convention Area. 

ACAP Executive Secretary, Dr Christine BogIe, and ICCAT Executive Secretary, Camille J. P. Manel, signed the renewal whilst attending the recent 35th Committee on Fisheries session (COFI 35) held in Rome, Italy. 

Speaking of the renewed agreement, Dr Christine Bogle stated, "I am pleased that ACAP and ICCAT will continue to cooperate in relation to the development and enhancement of measures to protect seabirds from the impacts of fisheries in the ICCAT region".

Camille Jean Pierre Manel echoed the sentiment saying, “ICCAT thanks ACAP and welcomes this renewal of the guidelines for cooperation between our two organizations allowing us to continue strengthening this cooperation.” 

The Guidelines state  ICCAT and the ACAP Secretariat may consult, cooperate and collaborate with each other on areas of common interest that are relevant to the conservation, including the protection and management, of populations of albatrosses and petrels. These include: data collection and analysis; information exchange; the implementation of education and awareness programmes for fishers; the design, testing and implementation of bycatch mitigation measures relevant to ICCAT fisheries; reciprocal participation with observer status at the relevant meetings of ACAP and ICCAT, and more. 

The renewed Guidelines for Cooperation between ICCAT and ACAP Secretariat are available on the ACAP website, here. 

Posted 16 September 2022, updated 21 November 2023

A burrow nest of a Subantarctic Rayadito in an active Grey-headed Albatross nest, Gonzalo Island, Islas Diego Ramírez, summer 2020/21; photograph by Maximiliano Daigre

Chile’s Diego Ramírez Islands 100 km south-west of Cape Horn, are important breeding sites for three ACAP-listed species: Black-browed Thalassarche melanophris and Grey-headed T. chrysostoma Albatrosses and Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus.

The Subantarctic Rayadito; photograph by Carlos Garcés Letelier

A group of Chilean researchers visiting Gonzalo Island, Diego Ramírez has discovered and described a new landbird species, the Subantarctic Rayadito Aphrastura subantarctica, in the journal Scientific Reports.  Rayaditos in the genus Aphrastura (Passeriformes: Furnariidae - oven bird family), are terrestrial birds endemic to south-western South America and until now were known only by two species.  These are the Thorn-tailed Rayadito A. spinicauda inhabiting the temperate forests of Chile and parts of Argentina, and the Masafuera Rayadito A. masafuerae, strongly associated with the tree fern forests of oceanic Alejandro Selkirk Island, 835 km off continental Chile.

Grey-headed Albatrosses breeding among tussock clumps on Diego Ramírez; photograph by Carlos Garcés Letelier

The presence of a rayadito species was first recorded on Diego Ramírez on an ornithological expedition by the late Roberto Schlatter and Guillermo Riveros, 41 years ago in the austral summer of 1980/81 (click here). After this first encounter, Schlatter was concerned that he was dealing with a species different from the rest of the rayaditos.  This was particularly because Diego Ramírez's rayadito lived among tussock grass Poa flabellata and nested in burrows in the ground, in contrast to the continental rayadito that inhabits forests.

The new paper and its supplementary information also highlight the relationship of the Subantarctic Rayadito with the islands’ seabirds.  We have been recording rayaditos on Diego Ramírez for more than a decade, slowly beginning to understand their relationship with albatrosses.  For example, in high densities of breeding Black-browed Albatrosses, the Subantarctic Rayadito is generally found linked to the tussock that surrounds albatross nests, moving with short flights between the plants.

One of the curiosities that has emerged is that a Subantarctic Rayadito was recorded breeding in a burrow in the side of an active Grey-headed Albatross nest.  The new rayadito species commonly breeds among tussock pedestals and rocky crevices.  The presence of Grey-headed Albatrosses, which breed in lower densities among tussock plants, in comparison with the relatively bare habitat of breeding Black-browed Albatrosses, is thus ideal for Subantarctic Rayadito nests.  Tussock is also key for the foraging of rayaditos, a small bird that searches for invertebrates caught among the tussock and even in the entrances of Blue Petrel Halobaena caerulea burrows.  The tusock habitat among albatrosses is also thought to offer protection to aerial predators, such as the Chilean Skua Stercorarius chilensis and Striated Caracara Phalcoboenus australis.

Covered in tussock: the Diego Ramírez Islands with a view of Bartolomé from Gonzalo, the two main islands of the Archipelago in the Drake Passage; photograph by Cristián G. Suazo

Fortunately, Diego Ramírez is free of invasive species that could affect both its land and seabirds. The presence of a new sub-Antarctic bird species calls attention to the fragility of and need to watch over one of the last living treasures that we still have.

Reference:

Rozzi, R., Quilodrán, C.S., Botero-Delgadillo, E., Napolitano, C., Torres-Mura, J.C., Barroso, O., Crego, R.D., Bravo, C., Ippi, S., Quirici, V., Mackenzie, R., Suazo, C.G., Rivero-de-Aguilar, J., Goffinet, B., Kempenaers,  B., Poulin, E. & Vásquez, R.A. 2022.  The Subantarctic Rayadito (Aphrastura subantarctica), a new bird species on the southernmost islands of the Americas.  [and supplementary information].  Scientific Reports 12, 13957.  doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-17985-4.

Cristián G. Suazo, Puerto Montt, Chile, 15 September 2022