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France, a Party to ACAP, has produced an action plan for the Critically Endangered Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis, endemic to the island of Amsterdam in the southern Indian Ocean.

The action plan is to be discussed and endorsement sought for it at the Sixth Meeting of ACAP'S Advisory Committee, to be held later this month in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Edited extracts from the action plan follow:

Between 1984 and 2007, the total Amsterdam Albatross population has increased with a mean rate up to 5%, with slight decrease during the last years.  The total number of individuals is estimated between 160 and 170 individuals, among which 80-90 mature individuals.

A long-term strategy for this long-lived species should aim at improving the conservation status of the Amsterdam Albatross with its distribution area (Indian Ocean).  In order to carry out this strategy, actions are planned within the framework of the following themes:

Maintain long-term monitoring of the species, notably through the survey of breeders on Amsterdam and individual surveys, so as to get reliable indicators of the population trend.

Acquire and complete knowledge on the species' ecology, and more specifically on its diet, using methods that do not imply energy loss for the chicks.

Fulfil the at-sea distribution survey of individuals in order to complete knowledge on demographic classes of the population and obtain multi-year datasets of this distribution.

Delineate in the total species distribution area sites of specific attractiveness for the birds, and hence evaluate the relevance of the Important Bird Area approach of BirdLife International to this Critically Endangered species.

The main goal of the action plan is to improve both the conservation state and status of the Amsterdam Albatross in order to maintain its population in the long-term.  In this way, the plan aims at maintaining both the current increasing rate of the total population (5%) and the adult survival rate above 0.95 (below these thresholds, the population would decrease).

Reference:

France 2011.  National Plan of Actions for the Conservation of the Amsterdam Albatross Diomedea amsterdamensis in France.   Sixth Meeting of Advisory Committee, Guayaquil, Ecuador, 29 August - 2 September 2011.  AC6 Inf 6.  26 pp.

Click here to access the ACAP Species Assessment for the Amsterdam Albatross.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 3 August 2011