Aleks Terauds “down south”, photograph from the Australian Antarctic Division

The 2024 Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Medal for International Scientific Coordination has been awarded to Dr Aleks Terauds of the Australian Antarctic Division where he leads the Marine Conservation and Management Program.  Aleks commenced his research career studying the albatrosses of Macquarie Island, for which he received his PhD in 2002 from the University of Tasmania.  His research into albatrosses and their conservation has resulted in a suite of scientific papers.  Remarkably, he has also produced no less than four popular books, all lavishly illustrated, on Southern Ocean albatrosses and the sub-Antarctic islands where they breed.  Aleks describes his current research as being largely applied, with a strong focus on improving and delivering environmental protection and achieving conservation outcomes in Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and the sub-Antarctic.

Albatross - Elusive Mariners of the Southern Ocean by Aleks Terauds and Fiona Stewart

Aleks’ medal citation follows:

“Dr Aleks Terauds has provided an exemplary personal contribution to advancing SCAR’s objectives regarding international research activities.  As the Chief Officer of the Standing Committee on the Antarctic Treaty System (SCATS) from 2014-2019, his service to the SCAR community produced substantial outcomes for Antarctic biodiversity and the environment, following his role as Chief Officer of Ant-Eco and informing his role as Chief Officer of Ant-ICON.

Dr Terauds has coordinated multiple international workshops and was recognised for his extraordinary mentorship with the 2018 APECS International Mentorship Award.  His ability to bridge the divides between science, management and international policy is commendable and brings about meaningful results at local and international scales.”

The presentation will be made at the SCAR Medals Award Ceremony at the SCAR 2024 Open Science Conference “Antarctic Science: Crossroads for a New Hope” on 23 August 2024.

Watch a video of Aleks Terauds talking about his research.

Aleks Terauds collects soil invertebrate samples in good (but still cold) weather on the top of Edinburgh Peak, the highest point at 910 m on Gough Island in 2013, photograph by John Cooper

On a personal note, I have hiked over much of both Gough and Marion with Aleks, acting as a guide and helping him with his research.  Our hikes included summitting both islands in rare good weather together – good memories!  I also enjoyed being a co-author and editor of one of his popular books, that on the Prince Edward Islands.

Marion & Prince Edward.  Africa’s Southern Islands by Aleks Terauds, John Cooper, Steven Chown and Peter Ryan

Selected Publications by Aleks Terauds on ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels and their breeding localities

Cleeland, J.B., Alderman R., Bindoff, A., Lea, M.A., McMahon, C.R., Phillips, R.A., Raymond, B., Sumner, M.D., Terauds, A., Wotherspoon, S.J. & Hindell, M.A. 2019.  Factors influencing the habitat use of sympatric albatrosses from Macquarie Island, Australia.  Marine Ecology Progress Series 609: 221-237.

Cleeland, J.B., Pardo, D., Raymond, B., Terauds, A., Alderman, R., McMahon, C.R., Phillips, R.A., Lea, M.-A., & Hindell, M.A., 2020.  Introduced species and extreme weather as key drivers of reproductive output in three sympatric albatrosses.  Scientific Reports 10, 8199.

Russ, R. & Terauds, A. 2009.  Galapagos of the Antarctic.  Wild Islands South of New Zealand.  Christchurch: Heritage Expeditions.  224 pp.

Terauds, A. 2002.  Population Biology and Ecology of Albatrosses on Macquarie Island: Implications for Conservation Status.  Doctor of Philosophy, University of Tasmania.  304 pp.

Terauds, A., Cooper, J., Chown, S.L. & Ryan, P. 2010.  Marion & Prince Edward.  Africa’s Southern Islands.  Stellenbosch: SUN PReSS.  176 pp.

Terauds, A. & Gales, R. 2006.  Provisioning strategies and growth patterns of Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria palpebrata on Macquarie Island.  Polar Biology 29: 917-926.

Terauds, A., Gales, R., & Alderman, R. 2005.  Trends in numbers and survival of Black-browed (Thalassarche melanophrys) and Grey-headed (T. chrysostoma) Albatrosses breeding on Macquarie Island.  Emu - Austral Ornithology 105: 159-167.

Terauds, A., Gales, R., Baker, G.B. & Alderman R. 2006.  Foraging areas of Black-browed and Grey-headed Albatrosses from Macquarie Island in relation to Marine Protected Areas.  Aquatic Conservation –Marine Freshwater Ecosystems 16: 133-146.

Terauds, A., Gales, R., Baker, G.B. & Alderman, R. 2006.  Population and survival trends of Wandering Albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) breeding on Macquarie Island.  Emu - Austral Ornithology 106: 211-218.

Terauds, A. & Stewart, F. 2005.  Albatross - Elusive Mariners of the Southern Ocean.  Sydney: New Holland Publishers.  175 pp.

Terauds, A. & Stewart, F. 2008.  Subantarctic Wilderness Macquarie Island.  Crows Nest, Australia: Jacana Books.  176 pp.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 06 August 2024

Participants of ACAP's Seabird Bycatch Workshop

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) kicked off its two-weeks of meetings today in Lima, Peru, with a workshop aimed at addressing the ongoing challenges related to seabird bycatch data and reporting. 

Among the workshop's primary objectives was the review of the current ACAP seabird bycatch-related indicators and associated data reporting. Participants aimed to identify ways to refine these indicators, ensuring they are both practical and useful for reporting. The workshop also explored alternative data sources and approaches to enhance the accuracy and comprehensiveness of bycatch-related reporting to ACAP.

The workshop today builds on previous efforts, including recommendations from the Eleventh Meeting of the Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG11) and the prioritisation framework developed by ACAP to monitor and report progress on priority conservation actions. 

The outcomes of this workshop will be presented to the Twelfth Meeting of ACAP’s Seabird Bycatch Working Group (SBWG12), with potential recommendations for further consideration by ACAP’s Advisory Committee.

SBWG12 and the Eighth Meeting of ACAP’s Population and Conservation Status Working Group (PaCSWG8) are taking place over the week, along with a joint SBWG/PaCSWG meeting to discuss cross-cutting issues. 

Following the Working Group meetings, the Fourteenth Meeting of ACAP’s Advisory Committee (AC14) will be held from Monday 12 August to Friday 16 August. A Heads of Delegation meeting will be convened on Sunday 11 August.

Documents and Information Papers for the ACAP Working Group meetings and AC14 can be found at the links in Upcoming Meetings and Events page at the ACAP website. Note, however, that some documents are password-protected so only their abstracts are publicly available.  

5 August 2024

Short-tailed Albatross pair, artwork by Lucimara Wesolowicz‎, Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature for ACAP

A 60-day period opened on 16 July to comment on bycatch reporting for the Vulnerable Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus in the Hawaiian longline fishery.

“This request is for an extension of a currently approved information collection.  Federal regulations at https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-50/chapter-VI/part-665/subpart-F/section-665.815 require that the operator of a vessel with a Hawaii longline limited access permit notify NMFS in the event an endangered short-tailed albatross is hooked or entangled during fishing operations. Following the retrieval of the albatross from the ocean, the vessel operator must record the condition of the bird on a recovery data form. A veterinarian will use the information to provide advice to the vessel operator for caring for the bird. If the albatross is dead, the vessel operator must attach an identification tag to the carcass to assist U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologists in follow-up studies on the specimen. This collection is one of the terms and conditions contained in the Endangered Species Act Section 7 biological opinion issued by USFWS and is intended to maximize the probability of the long-term survival of short-tailed albatross accidentally taken by longline gear.  To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed information collection must be received on or before September 16, 2024.”

Read more about the request for comment here and here.

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, 02 August 2024

NOTE: The following article is republished from the website of the Mouse-Free Marion Project with permission on Marine Protected Areas Day.

Devastating wounds on a Wandering Albatross chick on Marion Island caused by House Mice, photographs by Rhiannon Gill and Vanessa Stephen

New shocking findings show the desperate need to restore Marion Island to its former status as a breeding refuge for its threatened seabirds by eradicating the introduced House Mice.

On 06 July 2024, researchers working on Marion Island, South Africa’s remote sub-Antarctic territory, discovered a severely wounded chick – the latest victim in an accelerating series of ferocious fatal attacks.  They found the four-month-old Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans chick with bloody wounds on its neck that by the next day had led to its death.  These injuries were characteristic of many that have been inflicted by House Mice accidentally introduced by sealers in the early 1800s, which are now eating the island’s threatened seabirds alive.

Marion Island is home to one quarter of all the world’s Wandering Albatrosses and is a critical breeding site for this species, categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This incident, although far from the first, is one of the worst that has been photographed on Marion Island so far.  It is a visible and distressing reminder of the often-unseen damage that mice have been causing for decades on this remote island.  The island is currently in the middle of the Austral winter, when mouse predation peaks.  This attack is just one of many likely to be recorded in the next two months, as they have been now for many years.

The wounded Wandering Albatross chick was photographed by seabird researchers, Rhiannon Gill, South African Polar Research Infrastructure and Vanessa Stephen, FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, who are spending a year on the island as part of long-term monitoring work on Wandering Albatross colonies.

Whilst this may seem a desperate situation, there is hope on the horizon.  The Mouse Free Marion (MFM) Project is aiming to halt suffering such as this and reverse the ecological damage caused by mice by undertaking one of the world’s largest invasive rodent eradication projects.  This ambitious project is a conservation partnership between the South African government’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and BirdLife South Africa (BLSA).  BLSA established the MFM Non-Profit Company to facilitate the implementation of the project.  Fundraising is well underway to support this intervention, but more help is urgently needed.

Within a day of the attack, the chick had succumbed to its wounds, with its body scavenged by other seabirds, photograph by Vanessa Stephen

Mouse-Free Marion Project Manager, Dr Anton Wolfaardt, says “These images offer a stark yet vital reminder of what’s at stake.  The threat posed by mice is clear, the imperative to address it from a conservation perspective undeniable.  Action is also necessary on animal welfare grounds, to stop the suffering and deaths of numerous defenceless seabirds, including this Wandering Albatross chick, caused by mice.  “We need to clear 30 000 hectares - the equivalent of over 42 000 football pitches – of mice, and we need your help to do it.  If you want to support either our ‘Sponsor a Hectare’ campaign or if you are able to provide more generous funding towards our work, we can progress what we are doing faster and stop these attacks on seabirds.”

Rhiannon and Vanessa found the chick with bloody wounds at Macaroni Bay on the island’s eastern coast, in one of three long-term Wandering Albatross colonies that have been routinely monitored since the early 1980s.  The nature of the wounds aligns with directly observed mouse attacks, and with attacks on chicks photographed at night. The chick was seen the week before the attack, in good health and with both its parents, demonstrating the speed at which mouse predation can result in death.

 
The chick (at back) with its parents days before the mouse attack; photograph by Rhiannon Gill

Wandering Albatrosses generally breed only once every two years and raise a single chick.  Very few researchers have witnessed albatrosses returning to their nest after foraging flights hundreds of kilometres long, to discover a corpse rather than a living and hungry chick.  Those who have, saw parents reaching out again and again to touch or nudge the chick gently with their huge bills, staying at the nest together for a long time.  The loss experienced by these magnificent birds is deeply evident.   Every individual death is significant for the resilience of their global breeding population.  Should we do nothing, experts predict that the mice may cause the local extinction of 19 of Marion Island’s 29 bird species, including the iconic Wandering Albatross.

House Mice, inadvertently introduced by sealers to Marion Island in the early 19th century, have been recorded preying on both seabird chicks and adults.  More recently, mouse attacks on adult Wandering Albatrosses, first recorded in April 2023, are spreading across the island this winter.  Climate change is favouring mice as the island becomes warmer and drier, the mouse breeding season lengthens, and their summer populations increase. Predation incidents have increased in winter, when mice have fewer alternative foods such as invertebrates and plant seeds.

The mouse eradication plan for Marion Island builds on over six decades of practical experience, and scientific research from more than 700 island rodent eradications that have succeeded, and the few that have not.  At 30 000 hectares, the Marion Island mouse eradication will be larger than any previous mouse eradication effort undertaken. A fleet of helicopters guided by Global Positioning Systems and equipped with bait application buckets will spread a specially formulated rodenticide bait across the entire island to ensure that every mouse territory is treated with bait: the only method that has proven successful at eradicating rodents from large islands.

However, to pull off this critically important and historic conservation intervention, the Mouse-Free Marion Project requires support in the form of direct donations, or hectares sponsored.  To find out more, make a donation, or to sponsor a hectare, please visit www.mousefreemarion.org or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

With thanks to Rhiannon Gill and Vanessa Stephen

The Mouse-Free Marion Project team, 31 July 2024; republished by ACAP Latest News on 01 August 2024