Gustavo Jiménez-Uzcátegui (Department of Sciences, Charles Darwin Foundation, Puerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador) and colleagues have published  in the open access journal Marine Ornithology on heavy metals in feathers of three endemic or near-endemic species of Galápagos seabirds.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Heavy metals are a threat to wildlife, and they have yet to be analyzed in seabirds from the Galápagos Archipelago. To gauge their prevalence in Galápagos seabird species, we collected and analyzed feather samples from Galápagos Penguins Spheniscus mendiculus, Flightless Cormorants Phalacrocorax harrisi, and Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata in seven different breeding areas in 2011 and 2012 as part of an ongoing mark-recapture study. The results showed that lead is higher in penguins and cormorants; cadmium was found to be below the limit for quantification in all our samples. The heavy metals recorded did not have a clear local source related to human activities, as breeding areas are not located near populated areas. Environmental media (soil, water), marine currents, and atmospheric deposition are possible sources.”

A Waved Albatross incubates its single egg

Reference:

Jiménez-Uzcátegui, G., Vinueza, R.L., Urbina, A.S., Egas, D.A., García, C., Cotín, J. & Sevilla, C. 2017. Lead and cadmium levels in Galapagos Penguin Spheniscus mendiculus, Flightless Cormorant Phalacrocorax harrisi, and Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata. Marine Ornithology 45: 159-163.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 August 2017

Graham Parker (Parker Conservation, Dunedin, New Zealand) has produced a report for the Southern Seabird Solutions Trust (SSST) that reviews mitigation measures for seabirds in New Zealand fisheries. The report’s introduction states:

“The scope of this report includes mitigation measures (device or fishing practice) that have potential application in New Zealand commercial long-line, trawl or set net fisheries. For completeness, mitigation measures already in use in New Zealand fisheries are included. The multi-lateral Agreement for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), of which NZ is a signatory, has provided a set of criteria that defines best practice mitigation to reduce or eliminate the incidental mortality of seabirds in commercial fisheries. This report assesses the extent to which each mitigation measure has been developed and tested against the ACAP criteria.”

SSST describes the report:

“Bird bafflers, warp scarers, hook pods and lumo leads. This stocktake covers all these weird and wonderful inventions, designed to keep seabirds safe from harm around fishing vessels. Our new report describes these inventions and all other measures that are suited to the types of commercial fishing carried out in New Zealand. We assess the extent to which each measure has been developed and tested, and hurdles that might need to be overcome for the measure to be used more widely. This work was undertaken by Graham Parker of Parker Conservation, and generously funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries, Sealord Group, Deepwater Group and WWF-NZ.”

Chatham Albatross - endemic as a breeding species to New Zealand, photograph by Brent Stephenson

Reference:

Parker, G.C. 2017. Stocktake of Measures for mitigating the incidental Capture of seabirds in New Zealand Commercial Fisheries. Report to Southern Seabird Solutions Trust. Dunedin: Parker Conservation. 102 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 August 2017

Cristián Suazo (Department of Animal Ecology and Systematics, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany) and colleagues have published in the journal Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía on the at-sea distribution of the Critically Endangered Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata off the coast of Chile.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Long-lived seabird species such as albatrosses and petrels, which are widely distributed at sea and have small populations are threatened globally by bycatch in fisheries. Among these, the waved albatross Phoebastria irrorata is scarcely detected in the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of countries beyond its traditional distribution throughout the Southeast Pacific In this article, in situ distributional records on the waved albatross obtained from non-systematic (pelagic birdwatching) and systematic (fishery monitoring) records were compiled. Occurrence of sightings was carried out in relation to recording traits as presence/absence of breeding period and El Niño proxies such as the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), among others. A total of 13 sightings of waved albatrosses was described which 76.9% of sightings were related to non-breeding period (December to April). Records indicated waved albatrosses reached 4,391 km south of the Galapagos Islands (38°S) and 920 km west of the South American coast (79°W). The waved albatross was associated with industrial pelagic longline and demersal trawl fisheries, and although there were no records of bycatch, the observation of individuals feeding on discards and offal suggests a potential risk of mortality for this species. 53.8% of sightings were during positive readings of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), representing colder conditions than neutral El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).”

Waved Albatrosses scavenge at sea, photograph by Jeffrey Mangel

With thanks to Cristián Suazo.

Reference:

Suazo, C.G., Yates, O., Azócar, J., Díaz, P. González-But, J.C. & Cabezas. L.A. 2017. Emerging platforms to monitor the occurrence and threats to critically endangered seabirds: The waved albatross in Chile and the Southeast Pacific (Plataformas emergentes para monitorear la ocurrencia y amenazas de aves marinas críticamente en peligro: El albatros de Galápagos en Chile y en el Pacífico Sudeste). Revista de Biología Marina y Oceanografía 52: 245-254.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 August 2017

The 2017 Intersessional Meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) Sub-committee on Ecosystems (SC-ECO) was held in Madrid, Spain, from 10-14 July 2017. The Albatross and Petrel Agreement was represented by Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor of its Seabird Bycatch Working Group.

The previous intersessional meeting of ICCAT’s SC-ECO took place in September 2016, at which the latest (current) ACAP best-practice advice for mitigating seabird bycatch in pelagic longline fisheries was presented, together with a paper outlining the work being progressed to develop ACAP bycatch indicators and a reporting framework. At its 2016 meeting, the SC-ECO recommended that ICCAT’s Supplemental Recommendation on Reducing Incidental Bycatch of Seabirds in ICCAT Longline Fisheries (Rec 11-09) be updated to conform with the revised ACAP advice on line weighting. The SC-ECO acknowledged the updated advice from ACAP on the addition of the two hook-shielding devices as stand-alone best-practice measures.

However, given the novel nature of these measures, and that the source papers used by ACAP to conduct their assessment are still in the process of being peer-reviewed for publication, the SC-ECO was of the view that it is premature at this point to recommend their inclusion in the list of available seabird mitigation measures for ICCAT fisheries.

Because there has not been a subsequent ACAP meeting since the 2016 SC-ECO meeting, and the ACAP advice presented to the 2016 meeting of ICCAT’s SC-ECO remains current, no formal ACAP papers were presented at the 2017 meeting. However, a number of papers pertaining to seabird bycatch were presented by ICCAT Parties and other organisations, and discussed at the meeting. These included papers providing updated estimates of seabird bycatch for some ICCAT fisheries, results from ongoing research into the efficacy of seabird bycatch mitigation measures, the use of bill-length measurements of bycaught birds as a tool to distinguish species in the wandering albatross Diomedea species complex, updates from initiatives underway to assess seabird bycatch associated with ICCAT and other tuna fisheries, and results from a recent analysis of the overlap of albatrosses from South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* and ICCAT fisheries, the latter confirming the importance of the ICCAT area for South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur)* albatrosses. Many of these initiatives are ongoing, and will help contribute to a review of Rec 11-09. Some of these issues will also be discussed at the forthcoming meeting of ACAP’s Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG8) to be held in Wellington, New Zealand this September. The intention is to develop updated inputs and advice to present to the 2018 intersessional meeting of ICCAT’s SC-ECO, and to other Regional Fisheries Management Organisations.

Yellow-fin Tuna

Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor, ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, 02 August 2017

*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 e Islas Sandwich del Sur) and the surrounding maritime areas.