Georgios Karris (Department of Environmental Technology, Technological Educational Institute of Ionian Islands, Panagoula, Zakynthos, Greece) and colleagues have published on fishery discards taken by Scopoli’s Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea (Least Concern) in the eastern Mediterranean in the light of proposed Common Fishery Policy reforms in the open-access journal Avian Research.

The paper’s long abstract follows:

“Background

The banning of fisheries discards by imposing an obligation to land unwanted catch constitutes a key point of the Common Fishery Policy reform proposed by the European Commission. The effect of such a ban on discards on top marine predators such as seabirds is largely unknown, especially in oligotrophic systems of the Mediterranean. The current study investigates the presence of scavenging seabirds around fishing trawlers as well as the exploitation of discards produced by bottom trawlers in the eastern Ionian Sea.

Methods

On-board observations were randomly conducted in May and December 2014, in order to record the presence and use of fishery discards by two common seabird species, namely, Scopoli’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) and the Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis).

Results

A total of 3400 seabirds were counted during May of which 2190 individuals were Scopoli’s Shearwaters and 1210 were Yellow-legged Gulls. The latter species was the only scavenger observed during winter and in total, 768 individuals were counted. Differences in species abundance in the study area are related to breeding phenology and migratory movements. The number of seabirds attending bottom trawler operations during morning and afternoon hours showed no significant differences for both seabird species. Both scavenging seabirds extensively exploited fishery discards, which were mainly demersal fish, and consumed 70–80% of the total fishery discards biomass; however, they appeared to avoid poisonous species and/or large-sized fish. Yellow-legged Gulls displayed kleptoparasitic behaviour on Scopoli’s Shearwater during feeding experiments. The number of such incidents depended on the number of gulls around the fishing vessel, with more than 90% success rates.

Conclusions

Considering the average annual biomass of discards estimations and the consumption rate found in this work, 106.1–117.9 t may be offered as a food subsidy to scavenging seabirds in the study area and should support a substantial part of local populations. Our results constitute baseline information on the annual amount of fishery discards and their exploitation rate by seabirds in the Ionian Sea, and suggest further work for a complete understanding of the potential impacts of the discards reform bill on seabirds.”

Scopoli's Shearwater, photograph by Benjamin Metzger

Reference:

Karris, G., Ketsilis-Rinis, V.,Kalogeropoulou, A., Xirouchakis, S., Machias, A., Maina, I. & Kavadas, S. 2018.  The use of demersal trawling discards as a food source for two scavenging seabird species: a case study of an eastern Mediterranean oligotrophic marine ecosystem.  Avian Research https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-018-0118-5.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 October 2018

Georgios Karris (Department of Environmental Technology, Technological Educational Institute of Ionian Islands, Panagoula, Zakynthos, Greece) and colleagues have published open access in the journal Wildlife Biology on aspects of the foraging ecology of Scopoli's Shearwater Calonectris diomedea (Least Concern) breeding within Greece.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Pelagic seabirds that breed colonially are central-place foragers; their spatial distribution is restricted to marine areas around their colonies during the chick-rearing period, when attendance and food provision to their chicks has to be intense. In this study we analyzed the foraging trips of 11 Scopoli's shearwater Calonectris diomedea breeders that were tagged with GPS data loggers during 2014 in oligotrophic waters (Ionian Sea, western Greece), and assessed the range and oceanographic parameters of their foraging habitat. Contrary to previous findings suggesting a varying foraging strategy depending on the breeding stage, the tracked shearwaters made short trips, less than 4 days long, in the vicinity of the colony. By applying the Adaptive Kernel method, their 50% and 95% foraging range was estimated at 6871 km² and 23 014 km² respectively. In addition, generalized additive models showed that sea surface temperature (<25.5°C), minimum distance from the colony (<100 km), fishing pressure index from small scale fisheries (medium values) along with a two-dimensional soap film smoother for space (easting, northing) were the most significant factors affecting at-sea distribution of this marine top predator during the early chick-rearing period (i.e. 99.9% of the final model deviance). Our study will contribute to the revision of the boundaries of the local Special Protection Area (SPA) of Strofades. It will also address the implementation of specific conservation measures for the species at regional and national scale, and the development of a management plan for the protection of the study area.”

Scopoli's Shearwater at sea, photograph by 'Pep' Arcos

With thanks to Georgios Karris.

Reference:

Karris, G., Xirouchakis, S., Maina, I., Grivas, K. & Kavadas, S. 2018.  Home range and foraging habitat preference of Scopoli's shearwater Calonectris diomedea during the early chick-rearing phase in the eastern Mediterranean.  Wildlife Biology doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00388.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 18 October 2018

At the beginning of December the ACAP Secretariat sees a change when Christine Bogle takes over from Marco Favero as the Agreement’s Executive Secretary, following a recruitment process that commenced in March this year.  Christine will become ACAP’s third Executive Secretary, after Marco who in February 2016 took over from Warren Papworth, who served for six years in the role.

Christine Bogle, a New Zealander, has a BA (Hons, First Class) in English and MA (Hons, First Class) in French from Victoria University of Wellington earned over 1971 to 1976, where she is currently completing a PhD in Political Science in the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations commenced in 2014. Previously, she worked for over 30 years as a diplomat with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).  She has served in five overseas posts: Peru, Italy, Spain, Tonga and Mexico, the last three as Head of Mission (Ambassador/High Commissioner).  During her career with MFAT she also spent several years working on multilateral issues, including two stints in the Ministry’s Environment Division, the first time as a founding member of the division and the second time as its Acting Director. During that time she became acquainted with the Albatross and Petrel Agreement and developed a strong interest in its work.  During the course of her university education and diplomatic career Christine has become proficient in both French and Spanish; she will thus be able to converse and communicate with Parties to ACAP and meeting delegates in all three of the Agreement’s official languages.

Christine made her first visit from New Zealand to the ACAP Secretariat in Hobart over 8-11 October.  The current Executive Secretary Marco Favero reports to ACAP Latest News:

“These were hectic working days.  My replacement was given a general overview about the work of the Secretariat and was introduced to key personnel in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Tasmania (DFAT Tasmania), Department of State Growth Tasmania (in particular Antarctic Tasmania), and with Jonathon Barrington of the Australian Antarctic Division, who is Australia’s ACAP National Contact Point and also a member of ACAP’s Advisory Committee.  Jonathan took the opportunity to brief Christine on the implementation of the ACAP Headquarters Agreement with the Tasmanian Government.”

Getting to know you: Jonathan Barrington, Marco Favero and Christine Bogle confer in the ACAP Secretariat's offices in Hobart

Christine Bogle will return to Hobart on 24 November for a hand-over week and will take charge of the Secretariat on 1 December for an initial four-year period, renewable for a further four-year term. She writes “I’m looking forward to taking up the reins from 1 December and carrying on the good work of my predecessors as Executive Secretary"

ACAP will hold the Eleventh Meeting of its Advisory Committee and meetings of two of its working groups in Florianópolis, Brazil in May next year. This will afford the new Executive Secretary the opportunity to meet and work with delegates and working group members expected to be attending from all 13 Parties to the Agreement, as well as from a number of Range States and international organizations.

Marco Favero will travel home to Argentina straight after handing over to Christine Bogle.  He will resume his work as a Principal Investigator with the National Research Council of Argentina (CONICET).  Marco will leave with ACAP’s best wishes and grateful thanks for his three years of service to the Agreement’s Secretariat and another nine years as Advisory Committee Chair.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 17 October 2018

It is well known that North Pacific albatrosses swallow large amounts of floating plastic items, which they feed to their chicks, as for example highlighted in the film ALBATROSS by Chris Jordan.

In the southern hemisphere, the main home of the world’s albatross species, it seems much less plastic ends up in the stomachs of albatross chicks, perhaps at least partially reflecting the smaller amounts of plastic floating in southern seas.  Records of plastic ingestion will help assess the severity of the problem. A recent post by the Royal Albatross Centre shows that the globally Endangered Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi of Taiaroa Head in New Zealand are not immune from plastic pollution as the following quote and photograph show.

“On an unremarkable plastic tab, ‘OPEN’ spelled out in raised letters lets the consumer know how they will get into their yogurt or ice cream container.  In an instant, that tab is broken off and its life as a useful piece of plastic is complete.  But where does it go from there?  For this one, into the gut of a hungry albatross chick on Taiaroa Head/Pukekura.  It is one of the five pieces of plastic found by [Department of Conservation] Rangers on the headland this year.

Albatross chicks, usually before they fledge, do their best to rid their guts of any indigestible material. For the most part, this means a small pile of squid beaks — gastric trophies of past meals. Small, sharp, and inconspicuous, these pieces of plastic were in amongst the squid beaks, and that is concerning.”

Plastic items regurgitated by four Northern Royal Albatross chicks at Taiaroa Head

Information from the Royal Albatross Centre.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 16 October 2018