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The 1st World Seabird Conference "Seabirds: Linking the Global Oceans" will be held next month from 7 to 11 September in Victoria, Canada.  Click here for the conference web site.

 The conference programme, a list of presenting authors of oral and poster papers, and presentation abstracts (over 600!) are all now available (click here).  A large number of papers to be presented will consider ACAP-listed species.  The threats, especially from fishing at sea, that albatrosses and petrels face will also be well covered.  ACAP species to be reported on include Wandering Diomedea exulans, Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes, Laysan P. immutabilis, Atlantic Yellow-nosed Thalassarche chlororhynchos and Black-browed T. melanophris Albatrosses, Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus and Black Petrel Procellaria parkinsoni.

 A paper entitled "Working together to tackle bycatch - the work of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels" will be presented by Mark Tasker, Vice Chair, ACAP Advisory Committee, Barry Baker, Convenor ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, Marco Favero, Chair, ACAP Advisory Committee and Warren Papworth, ACAP Executive Secretary.

 The abstract follows:

 "The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) is an intergovernmental conservation mechanism established in 2004 to address the dire state of the world's albatrosses and larger petrels.  Bycatch in fisheries operations is one of the greatest pressures on their populations.  The Agreement is working on several levels to tackle bycatch. It has a grants scheme whereby funds are invested in determining bycatch levels in priority fisheries and in developing promising approaches to bycatch mitigation.  The Agreement has also reviewed published information on bycatch and its mitigation in demersal and pelagic longline, and in trawl fisheries.  This information has been used by Parties to the Agreement in their efforts to reduce bycatch and to develop specific plans of action in their Exclusive Economic Zones.  Challenges in both domestic and high seas fisheries include obtaining sufficient information on bycatch rates and gaining support for implementation of bycatch mitigation measures.  Much work remains to be done to verify the efficacy of mitigation measures.  ACAP has worked collectively to provide technical assistance and to influence decisions in the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations that govern fisheries on the global High Seas.  ACAP cannot work alone and has therefore operated in partnership with other organisations and governments that are not Party to the Agreement, most notably BirdLife International and the USA.  This paper will review some of the approaches being taken to reduce seabird bycatch, and will identify key issues that need to be addressed for the effective implementation of bycatch mitigation measures." 

NOTE:  It is hoped to post a report or two from the conference to this web site.  Unfortunately, I will not be attending, as I sail for Gough Island next week to conduct research on Southern Giant Petrels at the species' most northerly breeding locality. No stories are to be expected while I'm at sea, but "normal news" should be reinstituted once I'm ashore.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 August 2012.