An online article in Hakai Magazine reports on research which shows that fishing at night instead of using bird-scaring lines (BSLs) in the US Pacific longline fishery for Black Cod Anoplopoma fimbria, also known as Sablefish, is a better choice to reduce mortality of seabirds, especially the Near Threatened Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes, but also of Short-tailed Albatrosses P. albatrus, which are considered globally Vulnerable.

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Short-tailed Albatross, photograph by Aleks Terauds

Bycatch rates of birds were 30 times lower at night than during the day, according to the research carried out with vessels using a floating longline that sinks more slowly by Amanda Gladics, Ed Melvin and others (click here), and it seems that the fishers prefer this to running the risk of entangling their longline with BSLs when day setting.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council is now considering whether to adopt this new best practice as part of its regulations for the fishery. The review process is set to start in September 2018 with the objective of having a regulation in place by April 2020 (click here).

With thanks to Ed Melvin, Washington Sea Grant.

References:

Braun, A, 2017. How not to kill an albatross. Hakai Magazine, November 13, 2017.

Gladics, A.J., Melvin, E.F., Suryan, R.M., Good^, T.P., Jannot^, J.E. & Guy, T.J. 2017. Fishery-specific solutions to seabird bycatch in the U.S. West Coast sablefish fishery. Fisheries Research 196: 85-95.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 January 2018

Jorge Pereira (MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the journal Ocean and Coastal Management on choosing marine protected areas (MPAs) off Portugal via at-sea surveys of seabirds, including the ACAP-listed and globally Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been established across all marine environments, though their coherence and effectiveness in protecting umbrella species remains unclear. We used a multi-model ensemble forecasting approach, on 8 years of at-sea censuses of 30 seabird species to identify candidate MPAs in the Portuguese coast, prioritizing important areas for their conservation based on their occurrence and distribution. We overlapped the outputs generated by the Ensemble Ecological Niche Models (EENMs) with layers representing important environmental stressors (fishing intensity, ship density and oil pollution risk), and calculated loss in conservation value using them as cost layers. Three key marine areas were identified along the Portuguese coast: For breeders, there was a key marine area encompassing the Tagus and Sado estuaries and Berlengas archipelago; for nonbreeders and migratory species two important areas were identified in the Northern and Southern coast. The key marine area identified in the Northern coast is characterized by high productivity and biodiversity, and can be affected by oil pollution from the refineries and the intensive ship traffic in this area. Also, the area identified in the Southern coast of Portugal for migratory seabirds overlaps extensively with areas of high fishing activity. Our results show that the Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) established along the Portuguese coast protect more than a third of the areas that we prioritized for breeding species and the official MPAs near 65% of the same areas. In contrast, current IBAs and national legislation protect less than 4% of the coastal areas that we prioritize for non-breeding species in this study. Our study, combining multi-species distribution with environmental constraints induced by human activities, allowed us to assess the coherence of the Portuguese marine planning and identify candidate areas to join the Portuguese network of marine protected areas. Our results, employing data from annual at-sea surveys together with the human stressors known to affect the Portuguese coast, proved to be an extremely useful strategy to identify spatial conservation areas along the Portuguese coast as well as to access the adequacy and consistency of those areas. Despite the constraints of this demanding approach, we are confident that our study provides a reliable strategy to inform marine conservation efforts and management planning in similar coastal environments elsewhere, characterized by strong coastal upwelling movements.”

Balearic Shearwater at sea

With thanks to Susan Mvungi, Niven Librarian, FitzPatrick Institute, University of Cape Town.

Reference:

Pereira, J.M., Krüger, L., Oliveira, N., Meirinho, A., Silva, A., Ramos, J.A. & Paiva, V.H. 2017. Using a multi-model ensemble forecasting approach to identify key marine protected areas for seabirds in the Portuguese coast. Ocean and Coastal Management 153: 98-107.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 January 2018

Amanda Kuepfer, a scientific seabird observer based in the Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas*, has reported to ACAP Latest News of her observations of three ACAP-listed seabirds at sea in the South Atlantic that had red paint on their plumage.

On 12 April 2017, while conducting seabird observations aboard a trawler targeting finfish in the South Atlantic at 60.52S, 50.69E, Amanda saw two Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris and one Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus that had been daubed with red paint. The three painted birds appeared to be in good condition and were actively feeding on discards consisting primarily of processing waste behind the trawler.

Two views of one of the two red-painted Black-browed Albatrosses

The red-painted Southern Giant Petrel

Photographs by Amanda Kuepfer

The paint, that looked to be of an identical type and shade, seemed to have been rather randomly applied, covering parts of the head, throat, breast, nape, back and upper wings of the birds. However, the similar head markings of the two birds photographed does suggest a deliberate act. The birds may have been splattered from a brush, or daubed by a long-handled paint roller while in the water close to a vessel at sea. Alternatively, the birds could have come aboard a ship somehow and the paint then applied before their release.

At the request of ACAP Latest News Yan Ropert-Coudert, Secretary of the SCAR Expert Group on Birds and Marine Mammals (EGBAMM), has commented on Amanda’s observations and photographs. He writes “probably not part of a study. Most of the painting marks on [study] birds are generally temporary (with marks being washed by seawater quickly) and would thus not be extremely useful if the purpose was to examine distribution”.

Incubating Shy Albatrosses T. cauta have been marked with a small daub of paint in one study in recent times (click here) but it seems permanent paint (and usually not red that resembles blood and so could attract predators) is little used nowadays as a marking tool when studying seabirds.

Future observations of painted seabirds, including albatrosses and petrels, in the Southern Ocean may be reported to EGBAMM. It would be intriguing, if any painted birds get caught in the future, to ascertain whether the applied paint is of a type used to paint vessels. The ultimate aim would be to discover who has applied the paint.

With thanks to Amanda Kuepfer and Yan Ropert-Coudert.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 January 2018

*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.

Globally Endangered Newell’s Shearwaters Puffinus newelli commenced breeding for the first time last year  within the Makamakaole Stream fenced sanctuary on Hawaii’s Maui Island. The predator-free enclosures were established in 2013 to keep out feral cats, rats and mongooses.

“For the first time in four years, Newell’s shearwaters have started laying eggs in an artificially created seabird colony in West Maui.  Biologists confirmed that four human-made burrow boxes - three with eggs - are being occupied by the threatened species this season”.

The two Makamakaole Stream fenced enclosures

Newell's Shearwaters at the entrance to an artificial burrow inside a Makamakaole Stream enclosure

Two predator-free enclosures were constructed near the Makamakaole Stream basin in 2012 and 2013 to offset accidental deaths of native seabirds by wind turbines at TerraForm Power’s Kaheawa wind energy facilities on Maui.

A Kaheawa wind farm on Maui

Photographs by TerraForm Power

Acoustic attraction has been used to attract prospecting shearwaters:

“Every night, seabird social calls similar to those at existing colonies were broadcast through weatherproof, solar-powered sound systems. Within the enclosures, biologists have installed 100 “burrow boxes.” The corrugated plastic burrows connect to underground plywood boxes that serve as nesting chambers, mimicking the birds’ own natural habitats. A 6-foot-high [1.8 m] mesh fence protects the enclosures, and “year-round intensive predator control” keeps the area clear of predators. The goal was to attract the shearwater and the endangered [in the USA] Hawaiian petrel to an area where both species had been assumed absent for more than a decade.”

Globally Vulnerable Hawaiian Petrels Pterodroma sandwichensis have "shown interest” but as yet have not bred within the enclosures.

“An estimated 16 [Hawaiian] petrels have been killed at the Kaheawa I site since it was permitted in 2006, and none at Kaheawa II since it was permitted in 2012, said Mitchell Craig, TerraForm’s compliance manager for its Habitat Conservation Plan. Biologists have not recorded any Newell’s shearwaters killed at either site. The total estimated take over the 20-year period is 31 petrels and zero shearwaters at Kaheawa I, and neither petrels nor shearwaters at Kaheawa II.”

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 January 2018