The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition

ASOC Secretariat 1630 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: 1-202-234-2480 Fax: 1-202-387-4823 www.asoc.org

ASOC Report Fourth Meeting of the ACAP Advisory Committee 22-25 August Cape Town, South Africa

1. General

The Fourth Meeting of the Advisory Committee (AC4) to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) was held in Cape Town, South Africa, from 22-25 August 2008. The Chair was Marco Favero and the Vice-chair was Mark Tasker.

Ten Parties were represented: Argentina, Australia, Chile, Ecuador, France, New Zealand, Peru, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom. Norway apologized for not being able to attend. One Signatory State: Brazil; and four Range States: Uruguay, Canada, Namibia and the United States of America were represented.

Observers attending the meeting were: the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR); the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) – represented by Estelle van der Merwe (ASOC-South Africa) and Rebecca Bird (WWF-New Zealand); BirdLife International; Humane Society International; and Projecto Albatross.

The meeting was opened by Dr Johan Augustyn of Marine and Coastal Management, South Africa. Dr Augustyn noted the importance of populations of albatrosses and petrels breeding in South Africa’s territory as well as the importance of South Africa’s waters as a feeding ground for many species.

The adoption by South Africa of a National Plan of Action for Reducing the Incidental Catch of Seabirds in Longline Fisheries was announced.

The Third Meeting of the Parties will be held in April 2009 in Bergen, Norway.

The Fifth Meeting of the Advisory Committee will likely be held in early 2010 in Argentina but is subject to intercessional discussion and may possibly be later in 2009.

2. Main Issues: Reports

The Committee endorsed the request by the Secretariat to enter into similar arrangements with other Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) which have expressed interest, as the one entered into by the WCPFC and the ACAP Secretariat.

It was announced by Uruguay and Brazil that their papers for accession to the Agreement have been forwarded to the Depository.

The SCAR Southern Giant Petrel Workshop was attended by Dr Flavio Quintana and he reported back that many gaps in data for some Antarctic populations had been noted by the Workshop. There was a need to ensure that reliable data was collected in future from these populations.

3. ACAP Priorities

New Zealand will continue to lead the process developing a framework to guide ACAP and Parties in setting priorities for management actions to address threats to albatrosses and petrels. Strong support was offered at AC4 to assist in the development of a paper to be submitted to the Meeting of Parties (MOP) in 2009. WWF-NZ will remain engaged in this process.

4. Report of the Status and Trends Working Group Meeting

The STWG met in Hermanus, South Africa on 17 August 2008. Considerable progress has been made since AC3. Dr Wielawa Misiak had been contracted by the ACAP Secretariat to facilitate the development and compilation of the ACAP species assessments.

Three information papers were provided on the population status and trends of the Short-tailed, Black-footed and Laysan albatrosses.

Three changes to the status of ACAP listed species noted in the 2008 update of the IUCN Red List: • Tristan albatross - uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered • Waved albatross - uplisted from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered

One successful outcome was announced: • Buller’s albatross - downlisted from Vulnerable to Near Threatened

It is important to take note of the following:

Of the 19 albatross species listed in Annex I of the Agreement:

• Four (21%) are listed as Critically Endangered • Five (26%) are listed as Endangered • Six (32%) are listed as Vulnerable • Four (21%) listed as Near Threatened

Of the 7 petrel species:

• Four (57%) are listed as Vulnerable • Three (43%) are listed as Near Threatened

The survival of these species is threatened by fisheries by-catch, invasive species and disease.

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There was a request to AC3 by the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) of the Antarctic Treaty for advice from ACAP on the Southern Giant Petrel. Dr Flavio Quintana represented ACAP at the SCAR meeting. Information on the monitoring methods will be provided to the Committee on Environment Protection to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties.

5. Report of the Taxonomy Working Group

The TWG’s decision-making guidelines were applied to three pairs of taxa currently listed under Annex 1: 1. Amsterdam and Wandering albatross (Diomedea amsterdamensis / exulans) 2. Black and Westland petrels (Procellaria parkinsoni /westlandica) 3. Campbell and Black-browed albatross (Thalassarche impavida / melanophrys)

The conclusion was reached that available data for these taxa do not call for an amendment to the species currently listed under Annex 1 of the Agreement.

The TWG website has been moved to the Secretariat’s web server.

6. Report of the Breeding Sites Working Group

The BSWG met in Hermanus, South Africa on 19 August 2008.

Progress has been made to re-organize the existing data for transfer to the new web- based ACAP database.

The only outstanding breeding site data is for some Southern Giant Petrel sites in Antarctica. This information should be requested from SCAR.

During the intersessional period, threat categories have been restructured and the threat criteria have been revised. The threats affecting the most breeding sites were: • Predation by cats (Felis catus) and ship rats (Rattus rattus) • Habitat destruction by reindeer (Rangifer tarangus)

The most threatened ACAP species are the Burrow-nesting Grey Petrel (Procellaria cinerea) and the White-chinned petrel (P. aequinoctialis).

The following recommendations for the future work plan were endorsed by the Advisory Committee: • Support for the continued maintenance and update of the breeding sites and status and trends databases and ACAP web portal • Approval of the revised Terms of Reference of the BSWG • Approval of the revised rules for access and use of status and trends, and breeding sites data submitted to and maintained by ACAP • Encouragement of further research on the potential impacts of introduced vertebrates at breeding sites of ACAP species where the effect is unknown

BirdLife International was invited at AC3 to provide information on breeding sites for ACAP listed species that had already been identified through the BirdLife Important Bird

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Areas (IBA) programme. BLI was also requested to indicate the potential effect that varying numerical thresholds would have on the number of sites identified. John Croxall of BLI presented a paper addressing these topics.

The Conveners of the BSWG and the STWG in collaboration with BLI will organize the undertaking of an analogous analysis to be implemented on the relevant data on breeding sites and populations in the ACAP database.

7. Seabird By-Catch Working Group

The SBWG met in Hermanus, South Africa on 19 August 2008. Excellent progress has been made since the last meeting of the group in the development of bait pods, smart hooks, safe leads, improved streamer lines and an underwater setting capsule for the pelagic longline method. Extensive training is planned for many of these devices over the next 18 months.

Four areas of the highest priority for research needs in the trawl fishery were discussed: • offal discharge management; • methods to reduce seabird entanglements during hauling; • improving the performance of good streamer lines; • the effectiveness of net binding and net weighting.

Parties were encouraged to use the materials as laid out in two tables (AC4 Doc 14 Rev 2, Annex 3 and Annex 4) to guide the development of policy and practice within the demersal longline fisheries under their jurisdiction.

Mitigation tables are to be developed intersessionally for demersal longlining methods (Australia will be the leader on this) and trawling (NZ will be the leader on this) that includes descriptions of measures, current knowledge, implementation guidance and research needs. These tables are based on a template produced for pelagic longlines.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources Secretariat (CCAMLR) was represented by Dr Keith Reid, who gave information on CCAMLR data submission and the management system used by CCAMLR. It was agreed that the CCAMLR data collection and assessment process forms a useful model for ACAP. CCAMLR’s excellent observer programme was also noted as important to its success in reducing seabird bycatch. This model is relevant to other RFMOs.

A strategy for ACAP to engage and assist RFMOs and other relevant bodies was developed intersessionally. The Advisory Committee adopted the goals and processes for engagement with RFMOs as proposed in SBWG-2 Doc 14 / AC4 Doc 56, agreed to the development of RFMO-specific engagement strategies, and agreed to support the production of the following products to facilitate RFMO engagement:

• collation of information on management measures and strategies for reducing seabird by-catch, including new information on mitigation measures; • summary of risk assessment methods and key contacts in this area; and • guidance on observer requirements for effective seabird bycatch monitoring.

It was also agreed that the SBWG should review RFMO progress and priority areas for work at AC5.

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It was suggested that ACAP engagement with each RFMO would best be achieved through nominating an RFMO Coordinator for each RFMO meeting. These would be most effective as stand-alone ACAP representatives. In the absence of a volunteer coordinator to a priority RFMO meeting, the Secretariat will attend.

8. Capacity Building

Brazil presented a document containing four project proposals for Capacity Building in South America. Two of the four were prioritized by the South American delegations. These were: to improve data collection from observer programmes in South America, and to hold the Second South American Fisheries Forum. ASOC offered the support of Southern Seabird Solutions and WWF-NZ to support the development of the second project.

The Chair proposed developing a strategy for capacity building to be presented at the next meeting of the Advisory Committee. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and New Zealand indicated their support for assisting with this initiative.

9. Advisory Committee Work Programme

The UK offered to lead in the production of conservation guidelines relating to biosecurity and quarantine measures at ACAP breeding sites. Other members of the BSWG will assist.

10. Developing Indicators to Measure the Success of ACAP

The UK offered to build on the work undertaken by New Zealand and others at AC3 to develop indicators to measure the success of Parties in implementing the Agreement. It was noted that this was of high importance. New Zealand offered to assist.

11. Listing of New Species

A resolution will be provided to the Third Meeting of the Parties in 2009 for the addition of three North Pacific Albatrosses to Annex I of the Agreement. These are the:

• Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) • Laysan Albatross (P. immutabilis) • Black-footed Albatross (P. nigripes)

Spain will circulate supporting documentation intersessionally to the Advisory Committee for the consideration of the proposed addition of the Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus) to Annex I in the future.

12. IUU Fishing and its Relevance to Seabird Conservation

Potentially large numbers of ACAP listed seabirds are killed in IUU fisheries operating in waters under national jurisdiction and on the high seas, although it is extremely difficult to accurately estimate the level and spatial distribution of IUU fishing efforts.

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There was a strong recommendation by Australia that the severity of threats of IUU fishing to ACAP listed seabird populations be highlighted by the Advisory Committee in its interactions with regional and global organizations and States. Strong and urgent actions to combat IUU fishing should be encouraged, as well as the preparation of regular estimates of the level, nature and distribution of IUU fishing and the impact on seabirds.

The US urged Parties to join the International Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Network.

13. Waved Albatross Plan

The Second Waved Albatross Plan of Action Workshop was held in Guayaquil, Ecuador, from 5-6 May 2008. The Workshop was well attended by representatives of ACAP, the governments of Ecuador and Peru, the Ecuadorian fishing community and industry, the scientific community of Ecuador and Peru, and local and international NGO’s.

The Governments of Peru and Ecuador agreed to adopt the Action Plan.

14. Impacts of Global Climate Change

Dr Henri Weimerskirch of France gave a presentation on the impacts of Global Climate Change.

It is important to understand the responses of the ACAP species to human activities and climate change. Top marine predators such as albatrosses and petrels are convenient indicators of climate variability, but the consequences of environmental variation and climate change are poorly known.

This was noted as a complex issue with both climate change and fishing having both positive and negative impacts on seabird populations. Parties generally supported further studies to be done, but the issue was not included in the Work Programme. However, it was agreed that climate change issues should be taken into consideration through the AC work programme generally. France and the UK will work to produce a compilation of climate change impacts on ACAP species.

15. Other Matters Arising

The AC approved funding for six project proposals out of a total of eleven.

The Secretariat has had no expressions of interest in secondments to the Secretariat for the 08-09 year.

The AC approved a proposal from the secretariat to increase capacity in the Secretariat by increasing the science/technical role from half time to a fulltime. Members requested a clear work programme and budget to be set for this role.

16. Fifth Meeting of the Advisory Committee

The Fifth Meeting of the Advisory Committee will be held in 2009 or 2010 in Argentina.

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