Conserving Southern Ocean seabirds | FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology

Seabirds are among the most threatened groups of birds because they face challenges both at their breeding sites and at sea. Almost one-third of all seabirds are on the global Red List, and they comprise nearly half of all threatened birds in South Africa. The Fitz’s Seabird Research Programme assesses the severity of threats faced by seabirds, and attempts to provide practical management solutions to reduce these threats. Southern Ocean species are mainly threatened at sea by fishing mortality and climate change, and by invasive species on land. Monitoring seabirds provides a window into the health of the Southern Ocean.

Most fieldwork takes place through the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) at the Prince Edward Islands, Tristan da Cunha, Gough Islands and Antarctica. Fitztitute seabird research on Marion Island, the larger of the two Prince Edward Islands, commenced in the 1970s. John Cooper initiated a series of seabird study colonies in the early 1980s, but servicing these studies through a succession of three-year research projects has become increasingly challenging. Fortunately, the long-term monitoring of albatrosses and petrels at Marion Island was taken over in 2024 by SAPRI, the South African Polar Research Infrastructure. Peter Ryan and Maëlle Connan (NMU) assisted with the transition. Monitoring at Gough Island was taken over by the RSPB some years ago, but it seems likely that the RSPB will not send a team to Gough in 2025, so we are exploring other options to continue the long-term studies in this island.

Susie Cunningham and Peter Ryan were awarded a three-year research grant through the South African National Antarctic Programme for 2024-2026 to assess the impacts of climate change on surface-nesting seabirds at Marion Island

Activities in 2024

The SANAP project on avian scavengers at Marion Island led by Maëlle Connan and Peter Ryan ended field work in May 2024. Immediately prior to the annual relief voyage, the two field workers, Michelle Risi and Chris Jones, initiated a survey of mouse attacks on breeding Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans on Marion Island, which continued into the takeover period. Overall, 1% of adults had mouse-inflicted wounds, providing yet more impetus to the need to eradicate introduced House Mice Mus musculus from the island. A note reporting these findings has been submitted for publication. A complete survey of mouse attacks on mollymawk chicks also was conducted for the first time in several years.
In April, Vanessa Stephen started the first year of observations for the new SANAP project assessing the impacts of climate change on surface-nesting seabirds at Marion Island. She deployed numerous temperature loggers around the island and used cameras and direct observations to record behavioural responses to extreme temperature events. Paired ambient and environmental temperature loggers also were deployed at different elevations on Gough and Inaccessible Islands to provide comparative data from the northernmost breeding sites for several key seabird genera.
Plans to assess water turnover in giant petrel chicks on Marion Island had to be shelved when a suspected outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) occurred in October 2024. Vanessa worked tirelessly with the SAPRI field assistant, Rhiannon Gill, to document the impact of this event on seabird populations.
PhD student Kim Stevens made steady progress towards her PhD on Grey-headed Albatrosses Thalassarche chrysostoma. She published her first paper, reporting the steady growth of the Marion Island population, in Antarctic Science.
PhD student Danielle Keys (NMU), supervised by Pierre Pistorius, Chris Oosthuizen and Peter Ryan, completed her research on the interaction between foraging behaviour and demographic responses in Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans at Marion Island. Her thesis was submitted in January 2025.
Theresa Burg’s MSc student, Dilini Abeyrama, published a paper on the phylogeography of Sooty Albatrosses Phoebetria fusca in Conservation Genetics.
Peter Ryan led visits to two Emperor Penguin Aptenodytes forsteri colonies in central Dronning Maud Land, including the Lazarev colony, which was first detected in 1959 from a Russian plane, but had not been visited directly. He discovered an unusual mortality event among Emperor Penguins at the Astrid colony, but subsequent sampling confirmed that this was not due to HPAI. A paper summarising the status of Emperor Penguins in the region is being prepared.
Peter’s paper on the seabirds of the Schirmacher Oasis was published in Marine Ornithology. However, in November 2024 he discovered a colony of some 60 pairs of Adelie Penguins Pygoscelis adeliae at the Oasis, more than 100 km from the ice shelf edge. They laid eggs and even hatched some chicks, but subsequent observations by researchers from the Novolazarevskaya Station confirmed that no chicks were raised.

Highlights

Susie Cunningham and Peter Ryan obtained funding from SANAP for a three-year project on the impact of climate change on seabirds breeding at Marion Island, which commenced in 2024. Susie made her first visit to Marion in April-May 2024, and despite some boot challenges, completed two round-island walks!
Six papers on Southern Ocean seabirds and their conservation were published in 2024, and four more were in press. Two other papers on seabirds also were published: one in Ibis on the diet of Kelp Gulls Larus dominicanus in South Africa led by Katherina Reusch and one in Bird Conservation International on thermoregulation in African Penguins Spheniscus demersus.
Newi Makhado remains a member of the Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS) steering committee and the Southern Indian Ocean Sector (SOIS) Regional Working Group. He is the scientific advisor and South Africa's scientific representative in CCAMLR and ACAP, and continues to serve on the CCAMLR General Capacity Building Fund committee. Newi is also on the steering committee of the Pelagic High Seas Ocean Ecoregionalisation of the Indian Subantarctic (PHOCIS) project, which examines pelagic eco-regionalisation in subantarctic Indian oceans. He presented at the CCAMLR Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (WG-EMM) in the Netherlands.
Newi has submitted two papers to CCAMLR Science, one on seabird assemblages and dispersion in the African region of the southern ocean and the other on higher predator ecoregionalisation of the pelagic zone in the subantarctic and subtropical Indian Ocean. Another paper has been submitted to Royal Society Open Science on the juvenile dispersal of Emperor Penguins.

Key co-supporters
Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP); ACE Foundation; CNRS; European Union; RSPB; South African National Antarctic Programme; WWF Australia; DFFE.

Research team 2024
Emer. Prof. Peter Ryan (FIAO, UCT)
Dr Maëlle Connan (NMU)
A/Prof. Susie Cunningham (FIAO, UCT)
Dr Azwianewi Makhado (Oceans & Coasts, DFFE)
Prof. Pierre Pistorius (NMU)
Prof. Res Altwegg (SEEC, UCT)
Dr Theresa Burg (U. Lethbridge, Canada)
Dr Sarah Converse (Oregon)
Dr Steffen Oppel (RSPB)
Dr Richard Phillips (British Antarctic Survey)
Janine Schoombie (U. Pretoria)
Dr Stefan Schoombie (SEEC, UCT)
Dr Henri Wiemerskirch (CNRS, Chizé)
Prof. Rory Wilson (Swansea U.)

Students:
Danielle Keys (PhD, NMU); Kim Stevens (PhD, UCT)

Field assistants:
Chris Jones, Michelle Risi (Marion 2023/24); Vanessa Stephen (Marion 2024/25).

A Southern Giant Petrel chick investigating a black globe thermometer placed by the nest to record operative temperature (Photo: Vanessa Stephen).

Repeating transects from the early 1980s to investigate long-term changes, Drs Maëlle Connan and Stefan Schoombie estimated the density of burrow-nesting seabirds along transects at several locations on Prince Edward Island. Here, a quadrat was being set up on a transect line going up Platkop. All burrows in the quadrats were counted and species identified by the size and shape of the burrow entrance. Where nests were active, the occupants could sometimes be confirmed by responses to playback calls, or the use of burrow-scope cameras (Photo: Stefan Schoombie).

The team celebrates the last day of their Wandering Albatross breeding count on Marion Island which is part of the ongoing long-term monitoring of this globally vulnerable species (Photo: Eleanor Weideman).

Eleanor Weideman counting the Lesser Sheathbills, Brown Skuas and Kelp Gulls feeding in amongst King Penguins on Marion Island. Counts of these avian scavengers are being conducted along 17 km of Marion Island’s coastline every two weeks for the duration of the SANAP project and will provide valuable insights into the population dynamics and feeding ecology of the species ahead of the mouse eradication (Photo: Danielle Conry).

Northern Giant Petrel chicks were monitored regularly throughout the breeding season at the Trypot colony on Marion Island. The ongoing monitoring of seabird breeding success since the 1970s provides invaluable insight into the effects of climate change and invasive species on seabird populations in the Southern Ocean (Photo: Eleanor Weideman).

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