Sooty Albatross by Shary Page Weckwerth for World Albatross Day 2020, after a photograph by Michelle Risi

Aymeric Fromant (Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Villiers en Bois, France) and colleagues have published in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series on tracking Endangered Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria fusca in the southern Indian Ocean in relation to the presence of fishing vessels.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Recent developments in assessing species-specific seabird bycatch risks have demonstrated that fine-scale approaches are essential tools to quantify interactions with fishing vessels and to understand attraction and attendance behaviours.  Matching boat movement with bird tracking data specifically allows us to investigate seabird–fisheries interactions for cryptic species for which on-board information is critically lacking.  The sooty albatross Phoebetria fusca overlaps with fisheries throughout its range and is known to be vulnerable to incidental bycatch.  Combining radar detectors, GPS and behavioural data from individuals from the Crozet Islands and boat locations during the incubation period, we investigated interactions of sooty albatrosses with fisheries in the southern Indian Ocean.    Individuals foraged mostly in sub-tropical international waters, where they only encountered a small number of boats, all reporting to the Automatic Identification System (AIS). The low interaction rate during this period may suggest that sooty albatrosses are not strongly attracted to fishing vessels, and that attraction rates may vary between populations.  However, this result should be interpreted with caution due to the low sample size and fishing effort during the study period, as these observations may conceal a higher bycatch risk during intense fishing effort and/or energetically demanding periods. The conservation status of this species requires further data to be collected throughout the annual cycle to provide an accurate assessment of the threat.”

With thanks to Karine Delord.

Reference:

Fromant, A., Collet, J., Vansteenberghe, C., Musseau, R., Filippi, D., Delord, K. & Barbraud, C. 2024.  Fine-scale behaviour and population estimates of endangered sooty albatross suggest low exposure (while not excluding high sensitivity) to bycatch.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 749: 181–192.

25 November 2024

The rescued juvenile Black-browed Albatross gains strength in SANCCOB’s pool, photograph by David Roberts

Andrea Angel, Albatross Task Force Manager in South Africa, writes in the November 2024 issue of BirdLife South Africa’s online newsletter.

“Having spent close to 20 years working for the protection of albatrosses and petrels, I am elated every time I see them at sea and mourn each one I collect dead from a fishing vessel.

Yet it is thanks to the Albatross Task Force’s (ATF’s) work with the fishers and to the relationships we’ve built up over the years that Markus, a fisher, could call me to help him with a live albatross that had been brought in by one of the vessels.  It was fortunate that the vessel docked in Cape Town, where help was on hand.

The juvenile Black-browed Albatross [Thalassarche melanophris], its bill still mostly black, was not ringed so we couldn’t tell where it came from, but we know from tracking records that most of them come all the way from South Georgia [Islas Georgias del Sur*].  One bird was recorded as having flown more than 4500 km across the Atlantic in just four days!

The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) took the bird in and informed us that although it was wet, dehydrated and tired, it had no life-threatening injuries. It was X-rayed to check for any internal injuries or lodged hooks, re-hydrated and brought back to strength in SANCCOB’s large pool.  A few days later, and with the help of a recreational fishing vessel, it was released back into the ocean where it quickly found its bearings and flew off.

 
Released safely back to the ocean with the help of a recreational fisher, photograph by Fernando de Sousa

Juvenile Black-browed Albatrosses come to forage in our waters during their first 3–4 years, before they start their annual trips to a breeding colony to court a mate.  Yet only when they are between eight and13 years of age do they breed for the first time!  As host to these amazing birds, South Africa needs to ensure that none are killed in our waters, because every time an adult albatross dies, a chick on its home island dies with it.  And it can take the lone mate years to find another partner.

Despite evidence of how much work we still need to do, I am confident that the ATF is preventing thousands of albatrosses like this young Black-browed from getting killed when interacting with our fisheries.  To me, albatrosses embody freedom, wisdom and untamed wildness.  They rule the skies over the open oceans and remote islands, and I feel privileged to be part of keeping them safe.”

22 November 2024

*A dispute exists between the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland concerning sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Islas Georgias del Sur y Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.

A feral pig attacks a Wedge-tailed Shearwater, trail cam photograph by Pacific Rim Conservation

News from the Facebook page of Pacific Rim Conservation.

“This series highlights a tragic reality for Hawai'i's ground-nesting seabirds.  Invasive mammalian predators like cats, dogs, rats, and pigs kill and eat our native seabirds that evolved without such predators.

These images, captured at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on Kaua'i, show a feral pig killing an 'Ua'u kani (Wedge-tailed Shearwater Ardenna pacifica.).  Eradication efforts are underway at KPNWR to remove all pigs from inside the newly constructed mammalian exclusion fence.  We are working alongside our partners at USFWS to ensure this is a safe seabird nesting area for many years to come.”

22 November 2024

At-sea tracking of Northern Royal Albatross fledglings from Taiaroa Head/Pukekura

Update from NZ DOC Royal Cam Ranger Sharyn Broni (Nov 20):

Today's GPS tag update of juvenile toroa [Northern Royal Albatroses Diomedea sanfordi] from Pukekura tagged 25th of September and 5th of October 2024.  They fledged between the 27th of September to the 14th of October 2024.

Thanks to the generous donations on the Otago Peninsula Trusts give-a-little page we can share the tracking of 10 juveniles including the orphaned Top of Bluff Track. The orphan is now well over 4000 km from Pukekura in the mid Southern Pacific Ocean.

The starting point was at Pukekura, Dunedin, New Zealand and they have travelled across the south Pacific Ocean to the waters of South America.  They will not make landfall until they return to Pukekura in 4 to 10 years’ time.  The five males and five females were 230 to 264 days old at fledging.  The distance across Te Moana-nui-a-kiwa | Pacific Ocean, is over 9000 km.

Taken from the Albatross Lovers Facebook page.

20 November 2024