ACAP’s 2017 meetings kick off today in Wellington, New Zealand

Meetings of ACAP’s Advisory Committee and two of its working groups start today in the CQ Hotel situated on cosmopolitan Cuba Street in Wellington, New Zealand. First up will be the 8th Meeting of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG), under the convenorship of Anton Wolfaardt.

SBWG Chief Officers met with AC Chair and Vice Chair along with the three-member ACAP Secretariat in the secretarial office on Sunday afternoon to discuss the “order of events” for the next three days of meetings. With 22 Documents to consider and no less than 31 Information Papers to take note of there will be a lot to discuss.  These papers, or in some cases only their abstracts, are available for public reading on this website.

Planning the next day's work: from left Sebastián Jiménez (SBWG Vice Convenor), Anton Wolfaardt (SBWG Convenor) Marco Favero (ACAP Executive Secretary), Nathan Walker (ACAP Advisory Committee Chair) and Tatiana Neves (ACAP Advisory Committee Vice Chair).  Not in view:  John Cooper (ACAP Information Officer), Igor Debski (SBWG Vice Convenor) and Wiesława Misiak (ACAP Science Officer)

Tatiana Neves, Sebastián Jiménez and Richard Phillips (PaCSWG Co-convenor) mug for the camera

 The group then moved to the conference venue, also in the CQ Hotel, to advise on set up of the room: some table shuffling transpired.

In discussion: Nathan Walker, Marco Favero and Anton Wolfaardt in the meeting room

Sound, lights, camera (and water glasses).  Setting up for two weeks of meetings

An early evening then followed for some of us still a little tired and jet-lagged after flights from South Africa, South America and Europe: Antipodes indeed!

Later in the week, the Population and Seabird Conservation Working Group (PaSCWG) will meet over two days, to be convened by Richard Phillips of the UK. This will be followed by the Pterodroma Workshop on the weekend and the 10th Meeting of the Advisory Committee next week.  In between all these meetings ACAP attendees will go on a few welcome outings.  ACAP Latest News will report on them all.

Photographs by John Cooper.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 September 2017