Artificial nests are to be constructed in order to improve the breeding success of globally Near Threatened Shy Albatrosses Thalassarche cauta, an ACAP-listed species endemic to Australia where it is listed as nationally Vulnerable.

“With $110,000 from the federal government, as well as funding from the Tasmanian Department of the Environment, the CSIRO and WWF Australia, [Rachel] Alderman plans to install 100 nests this year before the breeding season starts in September.  The nests will be approximately 1 metre wide and 30 cm high.”

Shy Albatross, photograph by Drew Lee

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 July 2017

Oli Yates, BirdLife International‘s Albatross Task Force Programme Manager writes to ACAP Latest News with news of the task force:

“It has been a busy year for the Albatross Task Force (ATF), and our teams have made good progress in achieving their objectives towards reducing the bycatch of vulnerable seabirds in some of the world’s most deadly fisheries.  The annual progress report just released gives a full update country by country, but I would like to highlight a few of the major successes of the year.

I’m happy to say that 8/10 of our high-priority fisheries now have regulations to protect seabirds, following an announcement from Argentina that seabird regulations are to be introduced by May 2018 that will require trawlers to use bird-scaring lines. The benefit for seabirds in Argentina will be huge, as the main trawl fleet is responsible for the death of 13 500 Black-browed Albatrosses Thalassarche melanophris a year, an impact we expect to reduce by over 85% based on experimental results.

Across the Atlantic in Namibia, since regulations came into force there, 100% of trawl and demersal longline vessels have now been provisioned with bird-scaring lines, constructed through our collaboration with a local women’s group [Meme Itumbapo]. By next year we hope to show that Namibia has achieved significant bycatch reductions as we have previously documented in South Africa. This will be a major win, as our estimates for the two Namibian fleets suggest in excess of 25 000 seabirds were previously killed annually. 

Our work in small-scale fisheries has also leapt forward over the last 12 months; in Chile we have shown that modifications to purse-seine net design has the potential to reduce shearwater bycatch massively, and in Peru trials of net lights have virtually eliminated bycatch of not only seabirds, but also turtles and marine mammals. This is all hugely exciting as no mitigation measures previously existed for these types of fisheries.

All of these successes have only been possible due to the collaborative efforts between our in-country partners, the Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds and BirdLife International, plus generous funding from RSPB membership, external sponsors and many kind individual donations. We are extremely thankful for the continued support we receive, without which we would not be able to keep up the fight to save the albatross.”

Read more here.

With thanks to Olie Yates.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 June 2017

The 21st Session of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) was held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from 22-26 May. The Albatross and Petrel Agreement was represented by Anton Wolfaardt, Convenor of its Seabird Bycatch Working Group.

Previously, the IOTC’s Working Party on Ecosystems and Bycatch (WPEB) recommended at its 12th Meeting held in September 2016 that when the IOTC Seabird Conservation and Management Measure (Resolution 12/06 On Reducing the Incidental Bycatch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries of 2006) is next reviewed, the line-weighting specifications be updated to conform with the latest ACAP advice.

It further recommended that the two hook-shielding devices recommended by ACAP as best-practice measures be incorporated into a revised IOTC Seabird Conservation and Management Measure as additional mitigation options for use in IOTC fisheries operating south of 25°S (the area of application of Resolution 12/06).  These recommendations were subsequently endorsed at the 19th Session of the IOTC’s Scientific Committee in December 2016.

On the basis of IOTC’s scientific support for ACAP’s best-practice advice, some IOTC Contracting Parties were considering drafting a proposal to update Resolution 12/06 to bring it closer to the current ACAP advice. Later in the year, Parties decided they needed more time to discuss the proposal further with their relevant country agencies, and intend to continue working towards a proposal in 2017, for submission to the 2018 IOTC Commission meeting.

ACAP will continue to work with its Parties, IOTC Contracting Parties, and other RFMOs, to help support the adoption and implementation of seabird bycatch mitigation measures that are informed by ACAP’s best-practice advice.

AntonWolfaardt, Convenor, ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group, 29 June 2017

For five years or so members of the Ocean View Association for Persons with Disabilities (OVAPD) in the southern part of the Cape Peninsula have been making bird-scaring lines for South African long liners and trawlers (click here).

This year a number of association members got to see albatrosses and other seabirds at sea for the first time on an ocean-going cruise south of Cape Town organized by BirdLife South Africa as part of its 2017 AGM “Flock at Sea”.  BirdLife South Africa reports:

“When the members of the Ocean View Association for Persons with Disabilities (OVAPD) boarded the MSC Sinfonia, the joy and excitement on their faces was heart-warming. Until now the closest they had got to an albatross was the stuffed Wandering Albatross that the Albatross Task Force keeps for educational purposes. Not only was this the first time that many of them would be going out into the open ocean, but it was their first opportunity to see the birds that their bird-scaring lines are instrumental in protecting.

'A Sooty Albatross to the right!' the seabird guide shouted. There it was, the first albatross sighting for the team. Describing the experience, Ronald Stevens [of OVAPD] said, 'To see a live albatross is the most amazing thing, and for us to know that we help save them is wonderful.'

The proudest moment for the OVAPD team came when they were invited onto the stage at the start of the Albatross Task Force lecture describing the success that bird-scaring lines have had in reducing seabird bycatch. This was the formal recognition of their important contribution to seabird conservation.”

Members of OVAPD construct a bird-scaring line

Read more here and here on OVAPD’s contributions to seabird conservation.

Farther north in southern Africa bird-scaring lines for use on fishing vessels in Namibia are manufactured by the Meme Itumbapo Women’s Group, made up of hitherto unemployed women working from their headquarters “Bird’s Paradise,” in Walvis Bay (click here and here).

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 June 2017