1. Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels
Gary Allport
BirdLife International

2. Red List Indices for selected species-groups
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
0.00
Pigeons
Waterbirds
Parrots
Raptors
Gamebirds
Seabirds
-0.02
Better
-0.04
-0.06
Red List Index
-0.08
-0.10
-0.12
Worse
Seabirds have deteriorated dramatically compared to other groups
Some species-groups have been impacted particularly seriously by human activities and have an exceptionally high proportion of species listed as globally threatened (see p. 14, box 1). Breaking down the Red List Index for birds (see box 1) by particular species-groups shows that seabirds have deteriorated particularly severely since the first global assessment of the status of all birds in 1988 (see figure). This is closely linked to the expansion of commerical longline fisheries, which causes incidental mortality of albatrosses and other seabirds (see p. 11, box 3 and p. 43, box 4)1,2.
SOURCES 1. Butchart et al. (submitted) Measuring trends in the status of global biodiversity: Red List indicators for birds. 2. Analysis of data held in BirdLife’s World Bird Database. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Methodology developed in conjunction with the IUCN Red List programme.
-0.14
-0.16
STATE OF THE WORLD’S BIRDS 2004
Indicators for our changing world

3. Life History Makes Populations Vulnerable
Low Productivity
Single Egg
Low Breeding Frequency
Delayed Sexual Maturity

4. Summary of Seabird Declines
Of 21 species of albatross:
20 are threatened with extinction
1 is near threatened (IUCN Red List)
Five large petrels also threatened
Primary threat to most species is fisheries bycatch, especially by longline but also trawl fisheries
> 1 billion hooks set per year; kill more than 300,000 seabirds, including 100,000 albatrosses
Albatross and Procellaria petrels most at threat in Southern Ocean – where albatross and petrel populations and longline effort are concentrated

5. Threatened seabird distribution

6. Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels
Highly migratory species such as albatrosses and petrels cannot be conserved by one country acting independently of other nations which share the same species populations
Countries which share populations of threatened seabirds have sought to take actions on an international level to complement policy and actions taken within their own jurisdictions

7. Entry into the agreement allows members to implement complementary action plans to :
protect critical habitat
control non-native species detrimental to albatrosses and petrels
introduce measures to reduce the incidental catch of seabirds in long-line fisheries
support research into the effective conservation of albatrosses and petrels

8. Overlap of the combined density grid of breeding albatrosses and petrels with total pelagic effort (blue) and demersal effort (green) for Fisheries data from Tuck et al. (2003)

10. Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels
Signatories - Spain, UK, New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Chile Ecuador, Argentina, South Africa and Norway
Currently protects all southern hemisphere albatross species and seven species of southern hemisphere petrels
Northern hemisphere species may benefit from incorporation into the Agreement

11. US Commission on Ocean Policy
“It is in America’s interests to work with the international community to preserve the productivity and health of the oceans and to secure cooperation among nations everywhere in managing marine assets wisely.”
Final Report of the US Commission on Ocean Policy, September 2004

12. US leadership
Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act promotes the science-based fishery management techniques successfully developed in the North Pacific
ACAP can act as a vehicle for U.S. to demonstrate leadership by promoting world-wide use of successful seabird bycatch mitigation measures developed domestically

13. Summary Clear shared resource
Needs international agreement to be effective
Adds value to existing frameworks, such as bycatch committee works of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations