Wandering Albatrosses such as the one pictured, are known to forage in Antarctic waters; photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Today is Antarctica Day, a commemorative day underscoring the significance of the Antarctic Treaty as one of the most successful international agreements in history. The Treaty, which designates Antarctica as a scientific preserve devoted exclusively to peaceful purposes, has been instrumental in fostering an environment that has led to numerous breakthroughs in our understanding of Earth and its ecosystems. There are now 56 Parties to the Treaty which includes all 13 Parties to The Albatross and Petrel Agreement.

Over the past six decades, the Antarctic Treaty has emerged as a symbol of unity and shared commitment to the peaceful exploration of the southernmost continent. By promoting international scientific collaboration, the Treaty has paved the way for an abundance of research initiatives that have contributed to our collective knowledge of climate change, biodiversity, and glaciology. 

The ongoing dedication to the Treaty's core pillars will be essential in safeguarding Antarctica's unique environment and ensuring that it continues to be a beacon of international cooperation for generations to come. 

01 December 2023

New Caledonia's capital, Noumea (pictured), will host the very first Oceania seabird symposium in 2024, photograph by Sarah Macmillan (cc)

The inaugural Oceania seabird symposium, 2024 Oceania Seabirds: talking, listening & hands-on, will be held in New Caledonia next year over 23 – 26 September. 

Recognised as a French overseas territory, New Caledonia is located in the Pacific Ocean approximately 1200 kilometres off the east coast of Australia and has a population of just over 270,000. It comprises of the main island of Grande Terre, the four Loyalty Islands (Ouvéa, Lifou, Tiga and Maré), the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines and a number of remote islands. 

The Pacific Community (SPC) Conference Centre in the capital, Noumea, is the venue for the event, co-hosted by, The Pacific Community (SPC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement – France (IRD Noumea), Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the World Seabird Union (WSU).

The symposium's mission is to:

• "Connect government policy makers, seabird conservation practitioners and scientists, land managers and communities from all Pacific Island countries and territories working with seabirds
• Increase our collective understanding of the value of seabirds to Pacific economies and communities including cultural values
• Highlight conservation and scientific initiatives currently underway or planned, to the benefit of region’s seabirds, their islands, and the seas where they occur and to the people of Oceania"

Information on the conference programme and schedule, abstract submission and student and participation support is yet to be released by organisers but will be available soon at the event website, https://oceaniaseabirdsymposium2024.com/.

To register your interest in attending, complete the expression of interest form, here.

29 November 2023

A Sooty Albatross in flight, photograph by Stefan Schoombie

Shamiso Banda (Marine Apex Predator Research Unit, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa) and colleagues have published in the open-access ICES Journal of Marine Science on interactions with fishing vessels by tracked Sooty Albatrosses and White-chinned Petrels from Marion Island.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Bycatch risk assessments typically rely on spatial overlaps between seabirds and fishing vessels but should also consider seabirds’ position in the attraction spectrum. Investigating seabird-fishery interactions in relation to habitat use is vital for species-specific risk assessments. To address this, we studied interactions between sooty albatrosses (SA) and white-chinned petrels (WCP) with fisheries. GPS data from 20 SA and 18 WCP individuals from Marion Island were analysed alongside Automatic Identification System-derived boat locations over two breeding seasons. We calculated encounter and attraction rates and correlated them with marine habitat characteristics. SA interactions occurred in deeper, warmer waters compared to their foraging habitat when vessels were absent, with 20% of individuals encountering and only 5% being attracted to boats. In contrast, WCP interactions occurred in shallow, warm South African shelf waters, consistent with their typical foraging habitats, with 72% encountering and 56% attracted to boats. These results highlight the need for continued reinforcement of mitigation measures for WCP. Despite the low attraction rates for SA, ongoing vigilance is required due to their smaller population size, which heightens the potential impact of illegal fisheries. The comparison of species along an attraction spectrum contributes to refining risk assessments and informs species-specific conservation strategies.”

A White-chinned Petrel in flight, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Reference:

Banda, S., Pistorius, P., Collet, J., Corbeau, A., Weimerskirch, Pajot, A., Keys, D.Z. & Orgeret, F. 2023. Gauging the threat: exposure and attraction of sooty albatrosses and white-chinned petrels to fisheries activities in the Southern Indian Ocean. ICES Journal of Marine Science doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsad176.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 28 November 2023

An Amsterdam Albatross in flight; photograph by Kirk Zufelt

A new paper by Karine Delord (Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, France) and colleagues has been published in PCI Ecology. The study investigates developmental shifts in the foraging behaviour of the Amsterdam Albatross through the use of remote tracking on naïve juveniles, immatures and adults.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The transition to independent foraging represents an important developmental stage in the life cycle of most vertebrate animals. Juveniles differ from adults in various life history traits and tend to survive less well than adults in most long-lived animals. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain higher mortality including that of inadequate/inferior foraging skills compared to adults, young naïve individuals combining lack of experience and physical immaturity. Thus a change in behaviour, resulting in an improvement of skills acquired from growing experience, is expected to occur during a period of learning through the immaturity phase. Very few studies have investigated the ontogeny of foraging behaviour over long periods of time, particularly in long-lived pelagic seabirds, due to the difficulty of obtaining individual tracking data over several years. We investigated the foraging behaviour, through activity patterns, during the three life stages of the endangered Amsterdam albatross by using miniaturized activity loggers on naïve juveniles, immatures and adults. Naïve juveniles during their first month at sea after leaving their colony exhibited lower foraging effort (greater proportion of time spent sitting on water, longer and more numerous bouts on water, shorter and fewer flying bouts). Patterns of activity parameters in juveniles after independence suggested a progressive change of foraging performances during the first two months after fledging. We found sex differences in activity parameters according to time since departure from the colony and month of the year, consistent with the important sexual dimorphism in the Amsterdam albatross. Regardless of life stage considered, activity parameters exhibited temporal variability reflecting the modulation of foraging behaviour. This variability is discussed in light of both extrinsic (i.e. environmental conditions such as variability in food resources or in wind) and intrinsic (i.e. energetic demands linked to plumage renew during moult) factors.”

Reference:

Delord, K., Weimerskirch, H. & Barbraud, C. (2023). The challenges of independence: ontogeny of at-sea behaviour in a long-lived seabird. PCI Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.23.465439

27 November 2023