Species: Albatrosses
World Albatross Day!
We celebrate World Albatross Day on June 19th to mark the date the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) was signed in 2001. This year’s theme is plastic pollution and
Progressing delineations of key biodiversity areas for seabirds, and their application to management of coastal seas
Decision-making products that support effective marine spatial planning are essential for guiding efforts that enable conservation of biodiversity facing increasing pressures. Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) are a product recently agreed upon by an international network of organizations for identifying globally important areas. Utilizing the KBA framework, and by developing a conservative protocol to identify sites, we identify globally importants places for breeding seabirds throughout the coastal seas of a national territory. We inform marine spatial planning by evaluating potential activities that may impact species and how a proposed network of Marine Management Areas (MMAs) overlap with important sites.
Fine-scale associations between wandering albatrosses and fisheries in the southwest Atlantic Ocean
Since the 1970s, South Georgia’s wandering albatrosses have declined catastrophically due to fisheries bycatch. Bycatch risk was highest at the Patagonian Shelf break, visited during incubation and post-guard chick-rearing periods. The greatest overlap was with South Korean vessels, and demersal longliners from various nations. Seabird bycatch rates are highly variable across fishing fleets. Urgent need for engagement with stakeholders to ensure implementation of bycatch mitigation and monitoring of compliance.
Integrating immersion with GPS data improves behavioural classification for wandering albatrosses and shows scavenging behind fishing vessels mirrors natural foraging
Integrating immersion with GPS data improves behavioural classification for wandering albatrosses and shows scavenging behind fishing vessels mirrors natural foraging
Global political responsibility for the conservation of albatrosses and petrels
Migratory marine species cross political borders and enter the high seas, where the lack of an effective global management framework for biodiversity leaves them vulnerable to threats. Here, we combine 10,108 tracks from 5775 individual birds at 87 sites with data on breeding population sizes to estimate the relative year-round importance of national jurisdictions and high seas areas for 39 species of albatrosses and large petrels. Populations from every country made extensive use of the high seas, indicating the stake each country has in the management of biodiversity in international waters. We quantified the links among national populations of these threatened seabirds and the regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) which regulate fishing in the high seas. This work makes explicit the relative responsibilities that each country and RFMO has for the management of shared biodiversity, providing invaluable information for the conservation and management of migratory species in the marine realm.
High Seas – Out of sight, but on track
The high seas occupy approximately half of the planet. Yet, we know much less about this vast part of the ocean than any other area of the globe. The high seas are also poorly protected because there is no global regulatory framework for conservation or even sustainable use of natural resources in his area.
IBAs & EBSAs – Describing important at-sea areas
BirdLife has been a key stakeholder in the Convention on Biological Diversity-led process to describe Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs). We have compiled seabird tracking data and provided information on relevant marine IBAs, to guide the description of EBSAs at the Regional Workshops.
Seabird migration – Tracking ocean wanderers
All migratory seabirds have one thing in common: on their incredible journeys, they connect different areas of the ocean that may be thousands of kilometers apart.
Projected migrations of southern Indian Ocean Albatrosses as a response to climate change
Anthropogenic climate change is altering the geographical distribution and regular movements of species. Highly-mobile pelagic seabirds, such as albatrosses, are particularly threatened by human activities, such as fisheries bycatch. Predicting the impact of climate change on how these animals roam the ocean is an important step towards making informed conservation decisions. In this study, we used a mechanistic model of migratory movements to predict how the migration of albatross species that breed in the southern Indian Ocean may change between now and the end of the century.
Evaluating the effectiveness of a large multi-use MPA in protecting KBAs for marine predators
Marine protected areas can serve to regulate harvesting and conserve biodiversity. Within large multi-use MPAs, it is often unclear to what degree critical sites of biodiversity are afforded protection against commercial activities. Addressing this issue is a prerequisite if we are to appropriately assess sites against conservation targets. We evaluated whether the management regime of a large MPA conserved sites (Key Biodiversity Areas, KBAs) supporting the global persistence of top marine predators.