From left – right: João Luis Fernandino Ferreira - Specialized Technical Advisor from the Fisheries co-Management Department (DPES), Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change; Bráulio Ferreira de Souza Dias - Director of the Department of Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (DCBIO), Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change;Tatiana Neves, Vice-chair of ACAP’s Advisory Committee and CEO and founder of the conservation NGO Projeto Albatroz; ACAP Executive Secretary, Dr Christine Bogle; Leandro Magalhães Silva de Sousa - Secretary. Deputy Head of Biodiversity Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Krishna Barros Bonavides - Environmental Analyst from the Department of Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (DCBIO), Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change;Inez Varoto Correa - Environmental Analyst from the Office of International Affairs, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change; Gabriela Isa Rosendo Vieira Campos  - Environmental Analyst from the Office of International Affairs, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change; Pedro Ricardo Alexandre de Albuquerque - Environmental Analyst from the Fisheries co-Management Department (DPES), Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change

The Executive Secretary of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), Dr Christine Bogle, recently visited Brazil as part of a series of liaison visits in South America, following the conclusion of ACAP’s meetings in Peru this August. 

In the nation’s capital, Brasília, Christine engaged with key government officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Fishing and Aquaculture and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change with the Department of Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (DCBIO), the Fisheries co-Management Department (DPES) and the Department of Oceans and Coastal Management. The meetings included a round table discussion, in which Tatiana Neves, Vice-chair of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (and CEO and founder of the conservation NGO Projeto Albatroz) also participated. 

The meetings focused on the outcomes of the Fourteenth Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (AC14) in Peru, Brazil’s efforts to protect albatrosses and petrels, including its National Plan of Action for the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, and the conservation and outreach work of the Petrobas sponsored NGO, Projeto Albatroz. 

ACAP National Contact Point and Deputy Head of Biodiversity Division at Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Leandro Magalhães Silva de Sousa, and Krishna Barros Bonavides from Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change said the ACAP Executive Secretary’s visit represented a significant step for Brazil to show national efforts in the conservation of albatrosses.  

“The roundtable discussion provided a valuable opportunity to exchange information and learn about new initiatives among Brazilian stakeholders dedicated to the conservation of albatrosses and petrels. This reaffirmed the government´s commitment to implementing the Agreement in Brazil and underscored the importance seabird conservation efforts.”

This year is the 20th anniversary of the Agreement coming into force. During the round table meeting, Christine spoke about this significant milestone for ACAP, outlining the Agreement’s achievements over the twenty-year period as well as the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for ACAP. She also presented meeting participants with ACAP's 20^th Anniversary Booklet produced to mark the occasion.

“Brazil is an active ACAP Party committed to multilateral cooperation to protect albatrosses and petrels, including many that regularly visit Brazil’s coastal waters. I was pleased to meet the officials responsible for these endeavours,” said Dr Bogle.

Dr Bogle also visited ACAP Parties, Uruguay and Argentina as part of her schedule of liaison visits in South America in September.

25 September 2024

YRK in flight over Pukekura/Taiaroa Head, 17 September 2024, photograph by Zach Barford

Today, the bells started ringing in Dunedin at 13h00 NZST on New Zealand’s South Island.  In what has become an annual tradition, the city’s bells sound out from churches and schools to mark the return of a new season’s cohort of the biennial breeding Northern Royal Albatrosses Diomedea sanfordi in the nearby mainland colony at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head.

The first returnee of the Endangered albatross was sighted and photographed in flight around the colony headland on 17 September by colony guide Zach Barford.  Identified by its yellow, red and black leg-mounted colour bands, “YRK”, a female, is described by The Royal Albatross Centre’s Facebook page as a “rather well-known bird which had previously featured as a former Royal Cam parent who raised [chicks] Atawhai in 2020 and Lilibet in 2022, both with her mate OGK [orange, green, black] who sadly went missing in June 2022.   Having hatched in 1994 YRK is currently 30 years old and has successfully raised many chicks so far in her lifetime.”

Watch a video of the bell ringing within the centre today here.  The 2022 ceremony was also covred by ACAP Latest News.

The 2024 Royal Cam chick in August, photograph by Laura Findlay

Other recent news from the colony is that the chick from the 2024 Royal Cam pair fledged on 23 September.  It hatched on 23 January 2024 and so left the headland exactly eight months later (click here).  The fledging has not as yet received its name, but you can still vote for one of 10 short-listed names (click here).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 24 September 2024

 
Testing positive: Black-browed Albatrosses breeding on New Island in the South Atlantic, photograph by Ian Strange

Ashley Banyard (Department of Virology, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Addlestone, Surrey, UK) and many colleagues have published open access in the journal Nature Communications on the arrival of avian influenza virus on sub-Antarctic islands and on the Antarctic Continent.  ACAP-listed species affected include Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris and the Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Until recent events, the Antarctic was the only major geographical region in which high pathogenicity avian influenza virus (HPAIV) had never previously been detected. Here we report on the detection of clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 HPAIV in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions of South Georgia and the Falkland Islands, respectively.   We initially detected H5N1 HPAIV in samples collected from brown skuas at Bird Island, South Georgia on 8th October 2023. Since this detection, mortalities were observed in several avian and mammalian species at multiple sites across South Georgia.  Subsequent testing confirmed H5N1 HPAIV across several sampling locations in multiple avian species and two seal species.  Simultaneously, we also confirmed H5N1 HPAIV in southern fulmar and black-browed albatross in the Falkland Islands v Genetic assessment of the virus indicates spread from South America, likely through movement of migratory birds.  Critically, genetic assessment of sequences from mammalian species demonstrates no increased risk to human populations above that observed in other instances of mammalian infections globally.  Here we describe the detection, species impact and genetic composition of the virus and propose both introductory routes and potential long-term impact on avian and mammalian species across the Antarctic region.  We also speculate on the threat to specific populations following recent reports in the area.”

Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans in the South Atlantic have also succumbed to the influenza, as previously reported in ACAP Latest News.

Reference:

Banyard, A.C., Bennison, A., Byrne, A.M.P. et al. 2024.  Detection and spread of high pathogenicity avian influenza virus H5N1 in the Antarctic Region.  Nature Communications 15, 7433.  doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51490-8.

23 September 2024

The bait-spreading bucket is lowered to the ground to be reloaded with cereal bait, photograph by Lucie Pichot

The project RECI (Restauration des écosystèmes insulaires de l’océan Indien; Restoration of Insular Ecosystems of the Indian Ocean) has announced the completion of the baiting operation to eradicate Norway Rats Rattus norvegicus and House Mice France’s sub-Antarctic Amsterdam

The bait-spreading bucket is suspended below the helicopter on a long cable; photograph by Lucie Pichot

The first baiting application took place over 7-25 June 2024, dropping rodenticide-laced cereal bait over the 5800 ha island, including along the Entrecasteaux cliffs, utilizing a bait-spreading bucket suspended below a single-engine Airbus A350 B3 helicopter, known as a Squirrel.  The helicopter was operated by a team from the Réunion-based company Helilagon.  In addition, rodenticide bait was spread by hand around the Martin-de-Viviès scientific station, with the baiting of interiors, inside ceilings and underneath buildings and field huts.

To guarantee access to bait for all the island’s rats and mice, including any young rodents not weaned at the time of the first application, a second bait treatment commenced on 5 July and was completed on 23 July.  A second manual treatment of the station buildings was also carried out during this time.

Setting up a camera trap to detect rodents on Amsterdam, photograph by Lucie Pichot

During and on completion of the eradication operation the RECI team was also involved with:

placement of biosecurity bait and monitoring stations,
deploying camera traps;
controlling alternative food resources;
monitoring bait availability by the establishment of quadrats distributed over the island; and
dismantling and cleaning up the load sites.

The RECI and Helilagon teams gather after the completion of the eradication operation, photograph by Lucie Pichot

The eradication team and all the TAAF and Helilagon equipment were retrieved on 19 August after four months on the island by the French Antarctic vessel Marion Dufresne during a five-day visit.  Two field assistants have stayed on the island to set up a biosecurity detection network and to monitor camera traps around the island for signs of any surviving rodents.  Fabrice le Bouard, Restauration des écosystèmes insulaires de l’océan Indien, has informed MFM News that so far the signs are promising, with no live rodents being detected on the island in the first couple of weeks after the eradication attempt.  However, as is the standard practice, a two-year period with no signs of rodents is required before Amsterdam can be declared free of its rats and mice.

Information from Fabrice le Bouard of RECI and the Facebook page of Terres australes et antarctiques françaises (TAAF).  Photographs by Lucie Pichot, TAAF.

Co-published by the Mouse-Free Marion Project.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Office, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 19 September 2024, updated 22 September 2024