From BirdLife:
Albatross deaths prompt action from New Zealand
01-12-2006
The New Zealand government is considering imposing a temporary ban on surface longline fishing in the Kermadec Islands after a fishing vessel was reported to have killed 51 albatrosses in a single trip.
Conservationists hope the ban will give the government time to implement mitigation techniques in the fishery, to reduce levels of seabird bycatch.
Most of the birds killed by the fishing vessel were thought to be Antipodean Albatross, a Vulnerable species that only breeds in New Zealand waters.
“I don’t want another incident like this occurring, so I am proposing immediate action under emergency provisions in the Fisheries Act.” said Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton. …
Last month, a report by CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) highlighted the positive effect that international regulation can have on reducing levels of seabird bycatch.
After a range of mitigation measures were put in place in the legal Antarctic toothfish longline fishery, seabird deaths went from several thousand in the mid-1990s to zero albatross deaths in the 2005/06 season.
This success was attributed to a number of actions put in place: closing fisheries during the breeding season, setting lines at night (because albatrosses feed by day), using line weighting and 100% observer coverage.
Albatrosses of Prince Edward and Marion islands: here.
Sooty albatross: here.
Indian yellow-nosed albatross: here.
Wandering albatross: here.
More on albatrosses here.
40% rise in New Zealand sea lion bycatch quota condemned by Forest & Bird: here.
Fishery observers in New Zealand surprised by amount of bycatch: here.
Globally threatened seabirds have been given a boost by a proposed new law in the United States. Congressman Alan Lowenthal has introduced legislation that would enable U.S. federal agencies to comply with an international agreement that aims to reduce seabird deaths by longline fishing and other threats. Conservationists have welcomed the initiative: here.
Vast reserve to protect remote Prince Edward Islands in the Southern Ocean: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Removing pests restores niche
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Massey University
The natural re-colonisation of kakariki on Raoul Island after a 150-year absence has set a unique international example for conservation management, University conservation researchers say.
The exercise could be repeated by kakariki and other vulnerable bird species on predator-free islands closer to New Zealand.
A recent study has revealed how kakariki (red-crowned parakeets) spontaneously migrated to Raoul from neighbouring islands and created a new population, says Massey conservation biologist and PhD researcher Luis Ortiz-Catedral, from the Institute of Natural Sciences at Albany.
The remote volcanic island lies about 1000km northeast of the North Island, halfway between Auckland and Tonga. It is the largest in the Kermadec Islands Marine Reserve, New Zealand’s largest marine reserve.
In April institute staff from the Ecology and Conservation Group travelled to the island with colleagues from the University of Auckland and the Department of Conservation on the Navy frigate Canterbury and stayed for a month. They were astounded to observe a flourishing population of the colourful parakeets so soon after the eradication of pests.
Between 2002 and 2004 the department carried out the world’s largest multi-species eradication project, removing cats, rats and goats from the island. Soon after that kakariki, which have not been known to breed on the island for 150 years, are thought to have flown from the nearby Herald Islets island group, about 4km away.
Mr Ortiz-Catedral and Associate Professor Dianne Brunton have published a paper describing the phenomenon and say their observations give hope for conservationists managing endangered bird species in other parts of the world because it appears birds will voluntarily move to safe breeding locations and thrive if humans remove predators first. This would remove the need for artificial and more costly translocations, which involve moving birds by helicopter or boat to new predator-free locations.
“The natural re-colonisation of parakeets on Raoul Island from a satellite source population is to our knowledge, a first for parrot conservation and the first documented population expansion and colonisation of a parrot species after removal of invasive predators,” Mr Ortiz-Catedral and Dr Brunton say in the paper, just published in Britain’s Conservation Evidence journal.
Mist nets were used to capture over 100 kakariki for data collection. The researchers estimated 44 per cent of the birds were born within the previous year and they observed breeding and nesting for the first time on the island since 1836.
Mr Ortiz-Catedral, who has coordinated two translocations of kakariki by helicopter between islands in the Hauraki Gulf and the mainland as part of his doctoral research, says what he witnessed at Raoul Island has major implications for conservation management in New Zealand’s offshore islands as well as other places world-wide where parrot species in particular are under threat.
“It’s very exciting – a lot of people are not aware of the cutting edge conservation happening around New Zealand.”
Raoul Island’s permanently manned station has been maintained since 1937, and includes government meteorological and radio stations, and a hostel for conservation staff and volunteers.
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20091706-19305-2.html
LikeLike
Pingback: Kermadec islands’ marine discoveries | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Insufficient US albatross protection | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Saving Pacific albatrosses | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: World Penguin Day today | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Leatherback turtles satellite tags research | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Leatherback turtles, new study | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Good South African albatross news | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Millions of British waters sharks caught for soup | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Turtle, shark migration from Costa Rica to Ecuador | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Saving albatrosses in Namibia | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Good albatross news from Argentina | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Saving albatrosses in Namibia update | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Florida sawfish news update | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Save albatrosses from fisheries bycatch | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Saving albatrosses in Taiwan | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Beached sperm whales’ food investigated | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Saving seabirds in Namibia | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: What albatrosses eat | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Antipodean Albatross problems | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: Costa Rican sea turtles studied with drones | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: First silky sharks seen off Saba, Caribbean | Dear Kitty. Some blog
Pingback: More birds than ever face extinction | Dear Kitty. Some blog