Population trends of albatrosses and petrels at sub-Antarctic Marion Island

We report on the population changes of five species of Procellariiform seabirds breeding at Marion Island: wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans), grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma), northern giant petrel (Macronectes halli), southern giant petrel (M. giganteus), and white-chinned petr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar biology 2002-02, Vol.25 (2), p.81-89
Main Authors: NEL, Deon C, RYAN, Peter G, CRAWFORD, Robert J. M, COOPER, John, HUYSER, Onno A. W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal populations
Animal reproduction
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Aquatic birds
Aves
Biological and medical sciences
Birds
Commercial fishing
Demecology
Diomedea exulans
Dissostichus eleginoides
Endangered & extinct species
Fish populations
Fishing
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Macronectes halli
Marine
Nesting
Procellaria
Procellariidae
Procellariiformes
Thalassarche chrysostoma
Thunnus
Vertebrata
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Summary:We report on the population changes of five species of Procellariiform seabirds breeding at Marion Island: wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans), grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma), northern giant petrel (Macronectes halli), southern giant petrel (M. giganteus), and white-chinned petrel (Procellaria aequinoctalis). The four large surface-nesting species (wandering albatross, grey-headed albatross and the northern and southern giant petrel) show similar population trends over the last 16-18 years. All were stable or decreasing during the 1980s, followed by a recovery period during the early to mid-1990s. Recently, all species have once again stabilized or decreased in numbers. Population trends of wandering albatross at Marion Island were strongly correlated with other Indian Ocean populations, but were different from the Atlantic Ocean population. These similarities suggest a common cause and can be explained by changes in tuna (Thunnus spp.) longline fishing effort in the southern Indian Ocean. A recent increase in tuna longlining, as well as recent large-scale Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) longline fishing for Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) close to Marion Island, could be contributing to the recent decreases in some of these species. Adoption of mitigation measures and an effective means of dealing with IUU longline fishing seem necessary to reduce the potential impacts of longline fishing on populations of albatross and petrel.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:0722-4060
1432-2056
DOI:10.1007/s003000100315