Black-browed Albatrosses accumulate behind a fishing vessel in the South Atlantic

Can Zhou (Texas A&M University, College Station, USA) and Nigel Brothers have published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science on assessing seabird bycatch by observing pre-capture interactions from pelagic longline fishing vessels.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Fishery bycatch poses a serious threat to seabird populations globally. Traditional haul-only post-capture observations are inadequate and inefficient to document seabird bycatch due to the substantial bycatch loss known to occur. Pre-capture observations offer an alternative by documenting seabird interactions leading up to captures. Based on the long-term large-scale dedicated field observations, this study revealed significant risk factors for the pre-capture stages of the seabird bycatch process in pelagic longline fisheries using Bayesian methods. Rough sea conditions were found to correlate with more seabirds following fishing vessels. Species identity, density effect, inter-species effect, and sea condition were found to significantly affect how frequently seabirds aggregated around a fishing vessel engage in bait-taking interactions. Intra-species competition was found to be the dominant type of density effect. Moreover, a web of inter-species interactions was identified to facilitate the bait-taking of superior competitors at the expense of inferior ones. The findings of this study are relevant to fishery managers in updating current data collection protocols to alleviate data issues caused by bycatch loss, to conservation biologists in quantifying bycatch risks for susceptible seabird populations, and in aiding the design and evaluation of bycatch mitigation measures.”

With thanks to Nigel Brothers.

Reference:

Zhou, C. & Brothers, N. 2021.  Interaction frequency of seabirds with longline fisheries: risk factors and implications for management.  ICES Journal of Marine Science doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab014.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 March 2021

Felipe, the Waved Albatross

A Critically Endangered Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata found by a villager within the Pantanos de Villa Wildlife Refuge in the district of Chorrillos on the coast of Peru near Lima on the 14th of last month was collected and taken into care in the Parque de las Leyendas (Legends Park Zoo) in Lima.  The bird, given the name “Felipe”, was X-rayed for injuries and checked for disease by veterinarians from the Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria (School of Veterinary Medicine), Universidad Ricardo Palma and found to be in good health after two weeks in captivity.   Following being banded by the environmental NGO Pro Delphinus the bird was transported by staff from the Servicio Nacional de Areas Protegidas por el Estado (Peruvian Service for Natural Protected Areas; SERNANP) and Servicio Nacional Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (National Forest and Wildlife Service; SERFOR) to the coastal town of Ancon a few tens of kilometres north of Lima.  Felipe was then taken out to sea and released on 3 March, as depicted by video.

Read of an earlier rehabilitated Waved Albatross from the same region of Peru.

Felipe gets weighed

The Waved Albatross, along with the equally Critically Endangered Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena, has been chosen as a “feature species” to support this year’s World Albatross Day on 19 June, with its theme of “Ensuring Albatross-friendly fisheries”.  Specially prepared posters and an infographic featuring both albatrosses are available for viewing and downloading on this website.  Versions have been produced in both English and Spanish.  Click here to view the ACAP Species Summary for the Waved Albatross.

Photographs of Felipe and information from Facebook pages linked in text.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 March 2021

A Black-browed Albatross pair on New Island, South Atlantic; photograph by Ian Strange

Francesco Ventura (Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the journal Polar Biology on chick mortality events in the Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris on New Island in the South Atlantic.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“In the context of environmental change, determining the causes underpinning unusual mortality events of vertebrate species is a crucial conservation goal. This is particularly true for polar and sub-polar colonial seabirds, often immunologically naïve to new and emerging diseases. Here, we investigate the patterns of black-browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) chick mortality events unrelated to predation recorded between the 2004/05 and 2019/2020 breeding seasons in four colonies across the species range in the Falklands. The prevalence of these mortality events was highly variable across years, causing the death of between 3 and 40% of all chicks in the studied plots. With few exceptions, mortality was patchily distributed. Using clustering methodologies, we identified the spatio-temporal mortality clusters based on the nest locations and chick death date. Using generalised linear models and generalised additive mixed-effects models we found that chicks nearer the first mortality event were predicted to die before those in more distant nests. The probability of death increased with age and was highest for chicks close to nests where a chick had died previously. Our findings, along with the symptoms consistently exhibited by most deceased chicks in the study, strongly suggest the prevalence of a widespread infectious disease, potentially with a common aetiology, both in areas with regular and with very rare human presence. Understanding the causes driving these disease-related mortality events, which seem different from the outbreaks documented in the literature, is a conservation priority for the Falklands black-browed albatross population, which comprises over 70% of the species global population.”

With thanks to Janine Dunlop, Niven Librarian, FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town

Reference:

Ventura, F., Granadeiro, J.P., Matias, R. & Catry, P. 2021.  Spatial and temporal aggregation of albatross chick mortality events in the Falklands suggests a role for an unidentified infectious disease.  Polar Biology 44: 351-360.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Office 09 March 2021

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One of the species in the study: Black Petrel  at sea by Griselle Chock in gouache, from a photograph (see below) by Virginia Nicol 

Martin Beal (Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, University of Lisbon, Portugal) and many co-authors from 16 countries have published open access in the journal Science Advances showing from at-sea tracks of 39 species of albatrosses and large petrels breeding  at 87 localities that their conservation is dependent on international action on the high seas.  The data used in the analysis came from BirdLife International’s Seabird Tracking Database that facilitates collaboration between researchers working on the conservation of seabirds.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Migratory marine species cross political borders and enter the high seas, where the lack of an effective global management framework for biodiversity leaves them vulnerable to threats. Here, we combine 10,108 tracks from 5775 individual birds at 87 sites with data on breeding population sizes to estimate the relative year-round importance of national jurisdictions and high seas areas for 39 species of albatrosses and large petrels. Populations from every country made extensive use of the high seas, indicating the stake each country has in the management of biodiversity in international waters. We quantified the links among national populations of these threatened seabirds and the regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) which regulate fishing in the high seas. This work makes explicit the relative responsibilities that each country and RFMO has for the management of shared biodiversity, providing invaluable information for the conservation and management of migratory species in the marine realm.”

With thanks to Martin Beal and Richard Phillips.

Read media articles on the publication from New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

A Black Petrel takes off, photograph by Virginia Nicol

  Reference:

Beal, M., M.P. Dias, R.A. Phillips, S. Oppel, C. Hazin, E.J. Pearmain, J. Adams, D.J. Anderson, M. Antolos, J.A. Arata, J.M. Arcos, J.P. Arnould, J. Awkerman, E. Bell, M. Bell, M. Carey, R. Carle, T.A. Clay, J. Cleeland, V. Colodro, M. Conners, M. Cruz-Flores, R. Cuthbert, K. Delord, L. Deppe, B. J. Dilley, H. Dinis, G. Elliott, F. De Felipe, J. Felis, M.G. Forero, A. Freeman, A. Fukuda, J. González-Solís, J.P. Granadeiro, A. Hedd, P. Hodum, J. M. Igual, A. Jaeger, T.J. Landers, M. Le Corre, A. Makhado, B. Metzger, T. Militão, W.A. Montevecchi, V. Morera-Pujol, L. Navarro-Herrero, D. Nel, D. Nicholls, D. Oro, R. Ouni, K. Ozaki, F. Quintana, R. Ramos, T. Reid, J.M. Reyes-González, C. Robertson, G. Robertson, M.S. Romdhane, P.G. Ryan, P. Sagar, F. Sato, S. Schoombie, R.P. Scofield, S.A. Shaffer, N.J. Shah, K.L. Stevens, C. Surman, R.M. Suryan, A. Takahashi, V. Tatayah, G. Taylor, D.R. Thompson, L. Torres, K. Walker, R. Wanless, S.M. Waugh, H. Weimerskirch, T. Yamamoto, Z. Zajkova, L. Zango & P. Catry 2021.  Global political responsibility for the conservation of albatrosses and large petrels.  Science Advances  7(10).  DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd7225.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 March 2021