Areas of importance to the Antipodean Albatross in The Tasman Sea

Contact person: Ben Lascelles, BirdLife International
Created Oct 17, 2010 09:58 AM — Last modified Oct 17, 2010 11:38 PM

Contributors: Lincoln Fishpool, BirdLife International

Current State of this Report:

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Brief Description: Satellite tracking data have been used to identify sites of special importance for the Antipodean Albatross in the Tasman Sea during different life-history stages.

Oceanic region(s):
South Pacific

Does this area cross into an EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone)?
Yes

Site Location
Not specified

EBSA Criteria

1. Uniqueness or rarity: Area contains either unique (the only one of its kind), rare (occurs only in few locations) or endemic species, populations or communities, and/or unique, rare or distinct, habitats or ecosystems; and/or unique or unusual geomorphological or oceanographic features:
Low

2. Special importance for life history stages of species: Areas that are required for a population to survive and thrive:
High

3. Importance for threatened, endangered or declining species and/or habitats: Area containing habitat for the survival and recovery of endangered, threatened, declining species or area with significant assemblages of such species:
High

4. Vulnerability, Fragility, Sensitivity, or Slow recovery: Areas that contain a relatively high proportion of sensitive habitats, biotopes or species that are functionally fragile (highly susceptible to degradation or depletion by human activity or by natural events) or with slow recovery:
Low

5. Biological productivity: Area containing species, populations or communities with comparatively higher natural biological productivity:
Some

6. Biological diversity: Area contains comparatively higher diversity of ecosystems, habitats, communities, or species, or has higher genetic diversity:
Some

7. Naturalness: Area with a comparatively higher degree of naturalness as a result of the lack of or low level of human-induced disturbance or degradation:
Some

Information relevant to other international criteria

Dependency: An area where ecological processes are highly dependent on biotically structured systems (e.g., coral reefs, kelp forests, mangrove forests, seagrassbeds). Such ecosystems often have high diversity, which is dependent on the structuring organisms. Dependency also embraces the migratory routes of fish, reptiles, birds, mammals, and invertebrates.:

Representativeness: An area that is an outstanding and illustrative example of specific biodiversity, ecosystems, ecological or physiographic processes:
Don't know

Biogeographic importance: An area that either contains rare biogeographic qualities or is representative of a biogeographic “type” or types, or contains unique or unusual biological, chemical, physical, or geological features. :

Structural complexity: An area that is characterized by complex physical structures created by significant concentrations of biotic and abiotic features.:

Natural Beauty: An area that contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance.:

Earth’s geological history: An area with outstanding examples representing major stages of Earth’s history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features.:

Name:

Description / Notes:

CustomCriterion_value:

Detailed Description

The selection of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) is achieved through the application of quantitative ornithological criteria (Fishpool & Evans 2001) grounded in up-to-date knowledge of the sizes and trends of bird populations. The criteria ensure that the sites selected as IBAs have true significance for the international conservation of bird populations, and provide a common currency that all IBAs adhere to, thus creating consistency among, and enabling comparability between, sites at sub-regional, regional and global levels. The BirdLife IBA Programme allows for the identification of sites during any part of a species’ life-cycle, and has already identified a variety of sites during the breeding, migration and non breeding periods. In this respect IBA criteria and EBSA criteria have considerable overlap, therefore the data and methodology used to identify IBAs can be used to inform identification of EBSAs.

Diomedea antipodensis is one of the largest seabirds on earth, and a member of the great albatross (Diomedea spp.) group. It is endemic to New Zealand, breeding on Antipodes Island (4,635-5,737 pairs), the Auckland Islands group (5,800 pairs on Adams, Disappointment and Auckland), Campbell Island (c.10 pairs), and Pitt Island in the Chatham Islands (one pair since 2004). In 1998, it was estimated that there were approximately 39,000 mature individuals; more recent estimates put this at 25,260 mature individuals. Declines in adult survival, productivity and recruitment are largely due to bycatch in longline tuna fisheries. It is currently listed as Vulnerable by IUCN (BirdLife International, 2009a).

Data from satellite tracking (see figure 2) indicate that birds from the Auckland Islands (subspecies D. a. gibsoni) forage mostly west of New Zealand over the Tasman Sea and south of Australia. Those from the Antipodes Islands (D. a. antipodensis) forage east of New Zealand in the South Pacific, as far as the coast of Chile, and have a larger overall range. The tracking data also show that during different life-history stages birds utilize different areas. To afford full protection to this species it is therefore essential to identify areas important for each life-history stage both within territorial waters and on the high seas, i.e. a network of sites.

Relevant Documents and Publications

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Images and Audio/Visual Media

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Relevant Datasets

Global Procellariiform Tracking Database

Link: http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/species/seabirds/

The Global Procellariiform Database holds tracking data information provided by 57 scientists from 11 countries on 28 species of albatross and petrels. Up to the end of 2008 it held 3,764 tracks obtained from Platform Transmitter Terminal (PTT) & Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) totaling 957,148 hours at sea, as well as 721 tracks obtained from Geolocators (GLS) totaling 61,832 days.

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Areas of importance to the Antipodean Albatross in The Tasman Sea

EBSA Criteria

Information relevant to other international criteria

Detailed Description

Relevant Documents and Publications

Images and Audio/Visual Media

Relevant Datasets

Global Procellariiform Tracking Database

Spatial Data

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