A Wandering Albatross chick at risk to Marion’s mice; photograph by John Dickens, poster design by Michelle Risi

NOTE:  The Mouse-Free Marion Project is working towards eradicating the island’s introduced House Mice Mus musculus which attack and kill albatrosses and other seabirds.  In this guest post marking World Albatross Day on 19 June, the MFM Project Manager, Dr Anton Wolfaardt, describes how restoring Marion’s ecological integrity affected by climate change is an important stimulus behind the eradication.

Anton Wolfaardt on the cliffs above Marion Island’s south coast in 2021, close to where Grey-headed Albatross chicks face the onslaught of mice every year
photograph by Leandri de Kock

Marion Island is an awe-inspiring place. This windswept and remote outpost, located in the southern Indian Ocean roughly halfway between Cape Town and Antarctica, is home to a wealth of seabirds and marine mammals.  Marion is the larger of the two islands that together comprise the Prince Edward Islands group, which in turn forms part of a ring of sub-Antarctic islands that rise from the floor of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.  Given the sparsity of these islands in the extensive and highly productive Southern Ocean, they contain many riches of the natural world.  They are particularly important for seabirds and seals, who, although spending most of their time at sea, must return to land to breed.  With few places to choose from, these sub-Antarctic islands are havens for an abundance of wildlife, hosting spectacular congregations of seabirds.

The meteorological/research station on Marion Island on a rare good-weather day, photograph by Anton Wolfaardt

Marion and Prince Edward Island are no exception. The volcanic sand beaches, rocky outcrops, cliff faces, and grassy hills of Marion Island are home to 28 seabird species, including nine albatross and petrel species listed by the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP).  The two islands collectively support almost half of the world’s Vulnerable Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans, with Marion alone hosting a quarter of the global population.

Given the global importance of the Prince Edward Islands for seabirds and other wildlife, the island group was declared a Special Nature Reserve by the South African Government in 1995. This is the highest level of protection afforded under South African legislation. As the country’s only declared Special Nature Reserve, the Prince Edward Island group is arguably the jewel in the crown of South Africa’s protected area network.

A House Mouse feeds on the exposed scalp of a Wandering Albatross chick at night on Marion Island; the bird did not survive, photograph by Stefan Schoombie

Unfortunately, Marion Island is no longer the safe haven that it used to be.  House Mice, accidentally introduced by humans early in the 19th century, have had a devastating impact on the ecology of the island.  Mice are highly adaptable and voracious omnivores that reproduce rapidly and can eat almost anything in such quantity that they can alter ecological processes and drive an island into a state of ecological impoverishment.

The impacts of mice on Marion Island’s ecology are widespread, pervasive, extreme and highly deleterious.  The native invertebrate fauna has been particularly hard hit, with several species reduced to tiny proportions of their pre-mouse populations, altering nutrient cycling and other key ecological processes. Mice also impact vegetation, greatly reducing seed production and seriously damaging keystone species, such as the cushion plant Azorella selago.

These ecological impacts have been greatly exacerbated by climate change.  Marion Island’s climate is changing rapidly, with a significant reduction in rainfall and an increase in temperature of more than 1°C over the last 30 years.  This warmer and drier climate has contributed to a substantial increase in the densities of mice on the island each summer, causing a shortage of invertebrates upon which the mice have been surviving over the winter months.  This shortage of food has driven mice to find alternative food sources, which they have found in the form of naïve seabirds.  As on several other oceanic islands, the mice found many of the seabirds had no defence against their attacks. They are literally “sitting ducks”.

The scale and frequency of attacks on seabirds have been increasing since they were first observed in the early 2000s.  Mice currently kill up to 5-10% of albatross chicks each year, and this rate of mortality is expected to get worse as climate change facilitates increasing densities of mice each summer.  Left unchecked on Marion Island, the mice are likely to cause the local extinction of 18 of the 28 seabird species that breed on the island.

This Light-mantled Albatross chick has also been scalped by mice, photograph by Peter Ryan

The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project is a collaborative conservation initiative working towards eradicating the invasive mice from Marion Island. This will be done through the aerial application of rodenticide bait – the only approach that has proven successful on large oceanic islands. In addition to the formal partnership between the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and the environmental NGO BirdLife South Africa to undertake the project, there are a number of other organisations engaged in and helping to progress this endeavour.

ACAP and the MFM Project have collaborated to produce this infographic to mark World Albatross Day 2022; one in a growing series to be found on the ACAP website

Restoring the ecology of Marion Island, including its impressive seabird assemblage, will have permanent and significant conservation benefits, and will help mitigate the impacts of other threats, such as climate change. The removal of introduced predators from islands is one of the most effective and tractable conservation interventions. We know from operations that have preceded ours that once introduced predators have been removed from islands, the ecological recovery and rebounding of affected populations can be truly spectacular. We can achieve this outcome for Marion Island.

Hoping for a restored island: a Wandering Albatross pair interact near a research laboratory on Marion Island, photograph by Stefan Schoombie, poster design by Michelle Risi

There remains a lot to do before we undertake the actual baiting operation, not least the need to raise the outstanding funding required. We are working hard to ensure that the MFM Project has the best chance of success.  Eradicating mice from Marion Island will provide an incredible conservation legacy, one which will enable the island group to rightly claim its title of being the jewel in the crown of South Africa’s protected area network.

Your support can help us achieve this outcome. For more information on the MFM Project and ways to support it (and to download the collection of posters), please visit our website.

Editorial thanks to Michelle Risi for poster design, Namo Niumim for infographic work, and all the photographers.

Dr Anton Wolfaardt, Mouse-Free Marion Project Manager, 16 June 2022

 

Albatrosses and large petrels are particularly at risk of bycatch when they are attracted to baited hooks in longline fisheries, or to discarded fish

Two more animations addressing seabird bycatch and created as part of the Seabird Sentinels Project were released yesterday to mark World Albatross Day on 19 June.  View the first animation (of four) which was produced to mark last week’s World Oceans Day from here.  Bycatch is when wildlife that is not targeted by fisheries, such as seabirds, are killed by fishing gear.  Albatrosses and large petrels are particularly at risk as scavengers attracted to dead or dying prey near the ocean surface. They feed on longline bait or discards (offal or unwanted catch) and can get caught on hooks or collide with trawler cables.  Their huge feeding ranges create an extra challenge in monitoring and mitigating these risks.

 
The third animation above shows that bycatch is a serious threat to albatrosses and some petrels.  However, effective mitigation measures exist that can reduce seabird bycatch by >90% in some fisheries, helping to protect many globally threatened species.

A fourth animation due to be released on 16 June will be featured in ACAP Latest News soon.

The four animations by Hannah Whitman have been funded by the United Kingdom's Darwin Plus government grants scheme and created as part of the British Antarctic Survey and BirdLife International's Seabird Sentinels Project.

With renewed thanks to Bernadette Butfield, International Marine Conservation Officer, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds & Richard Phillips, British Antarctic Survey for information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 June 2022

Two more infographics depicting conservation threats are released today for the Near Threatened Black-footed Albatross Phoebastria nigripes and the Near Threatened Laysan Albatross P. immutabilis.  They have been produced in collaboration with the Hawaii-based environmental NGO Pacific Rim Conservation to support World Albatross Day 2002 and its theme of “Climate Change”.

Both these albatrosses have most of their breeding populations situated on the low-lying atolls of the USA’s Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The atolls - and their breeding seabirds - are all at risk from predicted sea level rise and increases in the number and severity of storms that result in flooding, both considered a consequence of climate change.  Storm floods have already caused at least one small sandy islet to disappear into the sea, losing breeding sites for several thousand albatross pairs (click here).  Elsewhere in the island chain, as on Midway Atoll, storms have caused flooding of albatross nests and loss of chicks close to the shore.

Infographics in the three ACAP official languages of English, French and Spanish were produced earlier for the Critically Endangered Tristan Diomedea dabbenena and Waved Phoebastria irrorata Albatrosses and Vulnerable Wandering Albatross D. exulans to support World Albatross Day on 19 June 2021 and its chosen theme “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries”.  In addition, a Portuguese version of the Tristan Albatross infographic takes note that the species visits the waters of Brazil.  These three infographics were followed by a fourth in the same year, for the globally Endangered and Nationally Critical Antipodean Albatross Diomedea antipodensis, co-published with and sponsored by the New Zealand Department of Conservation in the three official ACAP languages.  Two more infographics in English for the Endangered Grey-headed Thalassarche chrysostoma and Near Threatened Shy T. cauta Albatrosses were produced in the first half of 2022 (click here).  They have been co-published with and sponsored by the Australian Antarctic Division.

All the infographics have been designed to help inform the general public, including school learners, of the threats faced by albatrosses and what is being and can be done to combat them.  They serve to complement the detailed and referenced ACAP Species Assessments, the more concise and illustrated ACAP Species Summaries and the ACAP Photo Essay series.

The eight infographics produced to date may be freely downloaded at a high resolution to allow for printing professionally in two poster sizes (approximately A2 and A3).  Please note they are only being made available for personal use or when engaging in activities that will aid in drawing attention to the conservation crisis faced by the world’s albatrosses and petrels – when ACAP will be pleased to receive a mention.

English and Portuguese language versions of infographics are available to download here, whilst French and Spanish versions can be found in their respective language menus for the website under, Infographies sur les espèces and Infographía sobres las especies.

Further infographics will be produced as new featured species are chosen to support future World Albatross Days, with the vision that, in time, all 31 ACAP-listed species will have their own infographic.  Currently, an infographic for the Endangered Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca is in production and will be released soon.  A further four infographics are to be sponsored by the Australian Antarctic Division for the Least Concern Black-browed Albatross T. melanophris, Near Threatened Grey Petrel Procellaria cinerea and for Northern Macronectes halli and Southern M. giganteus Giant Petrels (both Least Concern).  These are all species that breed on Australia’s Macquarie Island.  New Zealand’s Department of Conservation will sponsor its second infographic, this time for the country’s endemic and Endangered Northern Royal Albatross D. sanfordi.

Lastly, the environmental NGO BirdLife South Africa will sponsor an infographic for the Near Threatened Light-mantled Albatross P. palpebrata.  With this sponsorship all four of the albatrosses that breed on Marion Island will have an infographic, helping drawing attention to the climate change driven threat they face from introduced House Mice, and the efforts being made by the Mouse-Free Marion Project towards ridding the island of its only remaining introduced mammal.  It will also mean that all of Australia’s eight ACAP-listed breeding species will have an infographic, to become one of the first ACAP Parties to achieve this level of coverage.

Production will start on the six new infographics in the second half of the year, with the intention that they will be available for release by World Albatross Day 2023.  French and Spanish versions will also be produced for all the new infographics.

With thanks once more to Namasri Niumim for her artistic work, and to Eric VanderWerf and Lindsay Young of Pacific Rim Conservation for their inputs.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 14 June 2022

A Salvin’s Albatross perches on its pedestal nest, from which the protruding upper bill of a conspecific can be seen

NOTE:  This post completes a series that features photographs of the 31 ACAP-listed species, along with information from and about their photographers.  In this last photo essay, Graham Parker of Parker Conservation, supported by photographs taken by colleague Matt Charteris, writes about his experiences visiting and conducting research on the breeding sites of the New Zealand endemic and globally Vulnerable Salvin’s Albatross Thalassarche salvini.

It has taken a village of 31 albatross researcher/photographers around the globe and nine months of gentle cajoling to complete this series covering 31 ACAP-listed species.  Graham and Matt’s essay has been posted on the first day of a week of marking and raising awareness of World Albatross Day 2022 on 19 June.  It is hoped the varied writing styles of the authors, along with at times their stunning photographs, will offer both interesting reading and insights into what it is really like to live with albatrosses.  Thanks to you all!

Approaching Proclamation Island, Bounties in 2018.  From left: Matt Charteris, Graham Parker, Kalinka Rexer-Huber and Paul Sagar

Preparing for our first trip to the Bounty Islands was different to any other island trip we’d prepared for.  The destination is particularly intimidating.  Lying some 670 km off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, the 13 unvegetated granite islands that make up the group comprise just 135 ha in total land area.  Sitting on the Bounty Plateau, the islands are surrounded by the Southern Ocean.  There is no safe haven once a vessel arrives at the Bounty Islands.  No sheltered anchorage where the yacht Evohe that was taking us there could hide away.  This is a crucial factor for workers wanting access to the islands to conduct research work on the Nationally Critical Salvin’s Albatross.

Proclamation Island in 2017, with Erect-crested Penguins and Salvin’s Albatrosses breeding on bare rock

The Bounty Islands are home to perhaps 30 000 - 40 000 breeding pairs of Salvin’s Albatrosses. That is by far the majority of the breeding population for the species, with just 1100-1200 pairs on the other breeding site, the Western Chain of the Snares Islands.  Salvin’s Albatrosses are frequently incidentally caught in New Zealand commercial fisheries, in other nations’ waters, and on the high seas.  Estimates are imprecise, but pretty scary: between 2002 and 2020 an estimated 4373 –-11 361 Salvin’s Albatrosses were killed in commercial trawl, and demersal and pelagic longline fisheries.  Most captures are in trawl, follow by demersal longline and then pelagic longline.  And that’s just the captures in New Zealand waters.

Fortunately for our first trip to the Bounty Islands we had the vastly experienced Paul Sagar with us.  We also had Matt Charteris on the team, another veteran of Southern Ocean albatross work.  Paul and Matt had both visited the islands previously and so their combined experience and knowledge were key to the success of our trip.  It takes two and a half to three days to reach the Bounty Islands by yacht.  To coincide with the incubation phase of the Salvin’s breeding cycle, our first trip was in October.  The austral spring is a time of swiftly changing weather in southern New Zealand, and frequent strong winds.  We knew we’d be in for some wild conditions, but we hoped to have enough weather windows to land on Proclamation Island and deploy satellite transmitter tags on breeding Salvin’s Albatrosses to better understand the birds’ movements relative to commercial fishing vessels in New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone. We also planned to deploy GLS tracking tags and install cameras programmed to take hourly images, to better inform phenology for the species and provide some nest survival data.  Both GLS and cameras were retrieved in a follow up trip a year later.

A Salvin’s Albatress on Toru Islet, Western Chain, Snares Islands

The Bounty Islands sit low in the ocean. The highest point of the highest island is just 73 metres above sea level.  Approaching on a yacht rolling in the ocean swells, a sensory welcome awaits.  Eager to see the specks of land, our vision is clouded with gliding Salvin’s Albatrosses in their thousands circling the granite rocks.  A cacophony of noise follows as the sound of albatrosses, Erect-crested Penguins Eudyptes sclateri and New Zealand Fur Seals Arctocephalus forsteri, and a few less-abundant bird species, noisily go about their day.  Once close enough, our air intakes are filled with the intense smell of jam-packed breeding colonies. The roar of oceanic swells crashing into the rocky islands dominates noisily as we get close enough to inspect the landing site and gauge if we can get ashore.

Albatrosses and penguins on Proclamation Island, with yacht Tiama keeping close by in 2015

Surging swells mean that the tricky part is getting from the yacht into a tender, and from the tender onto the kelp-covered rocks.  Once that is achieved, a welcoming party of fur seals awaits.  One of us must lead the group to gently persuade the fur seals out of our way, and to avoid causing a stampede of ‘furries’ madly colliding with the tightly packed Salvin’s Albatrosses and Erect-crested Penguins and crushing their eggs.  Matt embraced the role on our first trip, and we proceeded up the slippery rocks and a few tricky bits to climb with rope assist.  We felt like clumsy intruders, disturbing the established but delicate hierarchies of the island’s inhabitants.  Fur seal teeth and clappy-snappy bills are focused in our direction, but a corridor is allowed for us to access the top of Proclamation Island with minimal disturbance to the locals.  The cries of the breeding penguins are literally painful, and I prefer to use earplugs to ease the effect of their high pitched calls on my ears.  Normally a 360° view on an island is a hard-earned thing.  Not so on the Bounties, where ocean and sky are visible all around, enforcing the sense of isolation.

During the day a constant watch of the ocean conditions is maintained, and VHF radios are kept close to hear a ‘return to boat’ call from the vessel crew.  We land all the gear we need to camp on the island if we need to, but we really don’t want to have to resort to that.  Real estate is at a premium so any pitching of tents will involve shifting some unlucky residents.  The hard granite does not look a comfortable bed either, despite being more stable than our bunks back on the yacht. To minimise disturbance to the island we plan to return to the  Evohe after each workday.  On the days that there is too much swell to get on and off the island, we haul anchor, motor away to deeper water and sit with the vessel’s bow into the swell, waiting until the seas drop enough to return to the island.

Rough seas, strong winds: camping on The Snares' Toru Islet is no picnic

On the first trip with Paul Sagar and Matt Charteris we successfully deployed GPS and GLS tags.  We returned a year later to recover the GLS and cameras and deploy further satellite tags.  In both years we conducted nest-inspection transects to confirm the proportion of apparent breeders that had eggs. These data can then be used to calibrate breeding population estimates derived from aerial images (by satellite, fixed wing plane or drone).

The Bounty Islands are a vitally important breeding site for Salvin’s Albatrosses. Visiting the islands is a massive privilege, and reinforces just how little we know about this species.  The scientific research that our trips conducted justifies disturbing the wildlife on those stunning islands, and future visits must be similarly justified.

Protected in a cave on the Snares’ Western Chain, nests used for repeated seasons can grow exceptionally tall; all photographs by Matt Charteris

Photographer Matt Charteris adds:

“I worked with Salvin’s Albatrosses on Toru and Rima Islets in the Western Chain of the Snares Islands and on Proclamation Island in the Bounty Islands over the period 2008 to 2018.  In 2018, Graham Parker and Kalinka Rexer-Huber of Parker Conservation joined the team and have continued the fieldwork programme.  It is a team that makes this work successful and safe.  Landings are difficult and opportunistic. Camping is awkward.  Support of the yachts and their skippers, the weather reader at the Roaring Forties Meteorological Service and Maritime Radio allowed the data gathering to happen.  Great to be involved!”

References:

Sagar, P.M., Amey, J., Scofield, R.P. & Robertson, C.J.R. 2015.  Population trends, timing of breeding and survival of Salvin's albatrosses (Thalassarche salvini) at Proclamation Island, Bounty Islands, New Zealand.  Notornis 62: 21-29.

Sagar, P.M., Charteris, M.R., Carroll, J.W.A. & Scofield, R.P. 2011.  Population size, breeding frequency and survival of Salvin’s albatrosses (Thalassarche salvini) at the Western Chain, The Snares, New Zealand.  Notornis 58: 57-63.

Graham Parker, Parker Conservation, Dunedin, New Zealand, 13 June 2022