Karen Bourgeois (School of Biological Sciences, Auckland University, New Zealand) and colleagues have published in the journal Acta Ornithologica on site and mate selection in the Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan, a candidate species for ACAP listing.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Nest and mate choice is important in seabirds, influencing reproductive performance as both nest-site and partner quality varies.  The Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan nests mainly in pre-existing cavities and to a lesser extent in cavities it excavates.  We have monitored breeding colonies of the Yelkouan Shearwater on two islands of the Hyères archipelago, south-east of France, for nine years to analyse nest-cavity and mate selection, to evaluate nest-cavity and mate fidelity, and to investigate their relationships with reproductive performance.  Yelkouan Shearwaters selected nest-cavities providing a high degree of concealment and protection.  Reproductive performance and fidelity to cavity were highest in deep cavities with a winding tunnel and a steep slope around the entrance. Mating was assortative for bill and tarsus measurements.  High rates of return to the same cavity (94.7%) and mate (95.5%) were recorded.  Fidelity to nest-cavity was highest when breeding succeeded the previous year (fidelity rate: 97.3% in successful breeders vs. 87.8% in unsuccessful breeders) and was most likely to result in successful breeding the same year (breeding success: 67.5% in faithful breeders vs. 43.8% in movers).  The rate of divorce was low (4.5%), did not differ between islands and was not associated with breeding performance.  However, breeding success increased by 22.2 ± 9.9% after mate change following a divorce or the absence of a previous mate.  Such high rates of nest-cavity and mate fidelity could indicate a good population status with breeding habitat, food resource and mates of good quality.”

Yelkouan Shearwater, photograph by Jerome Lagrand

With thanks to Karen Bourgeois for information.

Reference:

Bourgeois, K., Dromzée, S. & Vidal, E. 2014.  Relationships between nest-cavity and mate selection, reproductive performance and fidelity in the Mediterranean endemic Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan.  Acta Ornithologica 49: 9-22.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 August 2014

The licensed longline fishery for Patagonian Toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides in the French Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands has reported to the Working Group on Fish Stock Assessment (WG-FSA) of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) that 18 seabird mortalities were observed in the 2012/13 fishing season, consisting of 16 White-chinned Petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis and two Northern Giant Petrels Macronectes halli.  An estimated extrapolated mortality of 70 birds was calculated.

From 2007 to 2013 a total of 690 birds of three species (all ACAP-listed and including the Grey Petrel P. cinerea) were reported killed over the seven-year period, with a decline from a high of 257 in 2008.  White-chinned Petrels were the most commonly killed, at 608 over seven years.

Grey Petrel at sea, photograph by Peter Ryan

Conservation Measure 25-02 ‘Minimisation of the incidental mortality of seabirds in the course of longline fishing or longline fishing research in the CAMLR Convention Area’ was adhered to in the fishery.  An exemption was allowed to the requirement for night setting by achieving the sink rates described in CM 25-02 and subject to a seabird by-catch limit.

The report states that “[a]dditional measures for the upcoming season will also be applied … , including:

(i) changes to the bird exclusion device to ensure it is effective in all weather conditions

(ii) closure of fishing areas and quota allocation reduction to vessels that have high by-catch rates

(iii) education and training will be strengthened by regular meetings between TAAF and fishing masters of vessels with high by-catch

(iv) data will continue to be collected and submitted using CCAMLR standard methods and forms

(v) a demographic study on the white-chinned petrel will be undertaken at Kerguelen Island, as well as the continued population counts of white-chinned petrels on the Kerguelen archipelago.”

Reference:

CCAMLR  2013.  Fishery Report 2013: Dissostichus eleginoides Kerguelen Islands French EEZ (Division 58.5.1).  Hobart: Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.  9 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 August 2014

A recently posted account to the Southern Seabirds Solutions Trust gives details of an expedition to New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Snares Islands to count breeding Buller’s Albatrosses Thalassarche bulleri (click here).

“The census is undertaken by using maps of previous surveys and counting off each nest with an egg in it (or sitting bird).  In the forest this is hard work but relatively easy compared to the cliffs which comprise nearly the entire coastline; here binoculars are used and counts all written down and cross referenced statistically later.”

A Buller's Albatross at The Snares, photograph by Paul Sagar 

“The 2014 census resulted in around 8,000 pairs of Southern Buller’s being counted - remarkably similar to the 2002 count and around double the number reported breeding in 1969.”  This is the first complete census of the species at The Snares since 2002.

Four birds banded on The Snares in 1972 were resighted, 42 years ago, on the trip.  Click here to read of other old albatrosses at The Snares – and elsewhere in New Zealand.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 August 2014

Lise Ruffino (Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland) and colleagues have published in the journal Pest Management Science on a rat and plant eradication programme on a French Mediterranean island that supports a small colony of 8-15 pairs of Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwaters Puffinus yelkouan – a candidate species for listing within ACAP.  A few pairs of Scopoli’s Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea have bred on the island in the past.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Black rats, Rattus rattus, and mat-forming iceplants, Carpobrotus aff. acinaciformi and Carpobrotus edulis, are pervasive pests on Mediterranean islands.  Their cumulative impacts on native biotas alter the functioning of island ecosystems and threaten biodiversity.  A report is given here of the first attempt to eradicate both taxa from a protected nature reserve in south-eastern France (Bagaud Island).  In order to minimise unwanted hazardous outcomes and produce scientific knowledge, the operations were embedded in a four-step strategy including initial site assessment, planning, restoration and monitoring.

Trapping, which resulted in the removal of 1923 rats in 21 045 trap-nights, made it possible to eliminate a substantial proportion of the resident rat population and to reduce the amount of rodenticide delivered in the second stage of the operation.  Forty tons of Carpobrotus spp. were manually uprooted from a total area of 18 000 m²; yet careful monitoring over a decade is still required to prevent germinations from the seed bank.

Two years after the beginning of the interventions, both eradication operations are still ongoing.  Biosecurity measures have been implemented to reduce reinvasion risks of both taxa.  With the long-term monitoring of various native plants and animals, Bagaud Island will become a reference study site for scientific purposes.”

Yelkouan Shearwater, photograph by Borg Cardona 

With thanks to Karen Bourgeois for information.

Reference:

Ruffino, L., Krebs, E., Passetti, A., Aboucaya, A., Affre, L., Fourcy, D., Lorvelec, O., Barcelo, A., Berville, L., Bigeard, N., Brousset, L., De Méringo, H., Gillette, P., Le Quilliec, P., Limouzin, Y., Médail, F., Meunier, J.-Y., Pascal, M., Pascal, M., Ponel, P., Rifflet, F., Santelli, C., Buisson, E. & Vidal, E. 2014.  Eradications as scientific experiments: progress in simultaneous eradications of two major invasive taxa from a Mediterranean island.  Pest Management Science DOI: 10.1002/ps.3786.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 August 2014