Advisory Committee Report to the Fifth Meeting of Parties

FAVERO M & M TASKER

Punta del Este

Encuentro; Eighth Meeting of the Advisory Committee; 2014

Acuerdo sobre la Conservación de Albatros y Petreles

This report to the Fifth Meeting of the Parties has been drafted as a document in progress for the Advisory Committee by the Chair and Vice-Chair with the assistance of the Agreement?s Secretariat. The final version will be prepared after the conclusion of the Seventh Meeting of the Advisory Committee in order to reflect inputs from the Advisory Committee, and actions and decisions taken during this meeting. The Advisory Committee and its Working Groups made excellent progress during the last triennium. The Agreement succeed in providing expert advice to Parties, Range States and a range of Organisations on actions that can be taken to address threats to albatrosses and petrels, both at sea and on land. A substantial proportion of this information is readily accessible through the ACAP website, including the conservation guidelines for the eradication of predators, and for biosecurity and quarantine, best practice advice for bycatch mitigation measures in longline and trawl fisheries, mitigation fact sheets developed in conjunction with BirdLife International, de-hooking guide, and the review of diseases and pathogens, among others. Now that effective mitigation measures have been identified for the key fishing activities known to result in the incidental catch of ACAP species, the challenge ahead is to have these mitigation measures used in those fisheries where seabird bycatch is occurring. Another key challenge is to obtain the fisheries data required to improve our understanding and management of seabird bycatch. In this context we have yet to develop an appropriate methodology for the use of this data. As in the past triennium, one of the most challenging difficulties will be the increasing size and complexity of the Agreement?s agenda and the asymmetry with the growth of capacity. Such increased workload could be alleviated by the incorporation or engagement of new people to undertake particular actions