74Wildlife Conservation Plan for Seabirds

74 Wildlife Conservation Plan for Seabirds

Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes)Image unavailable in extracted text

TABLE Species information for the Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes)

The Flesh-footed Shearwater (Ardenna carneipes) is a large, bulky all-dark shearwater, superficially like Black Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni). The bill is more robust than other Ardenna spp., and more bulky than other dark shearwater species. The Flesh-footed Shearwater mainly occurs in the subtropics over continental shelves and slopes, and occasionally in inshore waters. Individuals pass through the tropics and over deeper waters when on migration to the North Pacific and Indian Oceans (Brooke 2004). The species breeds on St Paul Island (French Southern Territories), Lord Howe and Phillip Island, islands off south-west mainland Australia, South Australia (at two colonies), and islands off North and South Islands (New Zealand). Pairs breed on islands in burrows on sloping ground in coastal forest, scrubland, or grassland (Powell et al. 2007). Nests consist of enlarged chambers at the end of burrows (1-3 metres in length), with the entrance often covered by plant material (Waugh et al. 2014). In the non-breeding season, it ranges north through the western Pacific Ocean to the seas off Japan, Russia and the Korean Peninsula, with small numbers reaching North America, and north through the Indian Ocean and west to the southern tip of Africa (del Hoyo et al. 1992, Rayner et al. 2011, Reid et al. 2013a, Bond and Lavers 2015).

Brooke (2004) estimated the global population to number >650,000 individuals, but this has recently been revised downward following the identification of errors in the historical literature, and recent population surveys. Overall, the current global population is smaller than previously thought, comprising only around 74,000 breeding pairs (Lavers 2015). In Australia, the population on Lord Howe Island had been estimated at between 20,000-40,000 breeding pairs in 1978 (Fullagar and Disney 1981) and 17,462 breeding pairs in 2003 (Priddel et al. 2003). In 2009, the population was estimated at 16,267 pairs (95%-confidence interval 11,649–21,250), representing a decrease in the number of pairs of 6.8 per cent since 2003, equalling a decline of approximately 1.3 per cent per annum (Reid et al. 2013b). Recent estimates suggest the population is 22,654 breeding pairs (95%-confidence interval: 8,159–37,909) (Lavers et al. 2018).

In New Zealand, Robertson and Bell (1984) estimated the breeding population at 50,000-100,000 pairs in 1983, while Taylor (2000) considered the population to be at 25,000-50,000 pairs. Recent surveys suggest the population is closer to 10,000-15,000 pairs (Baker et al. 2010, Waugh et al. 2013). Despite the historical records and the current lack of data across all populations to assess the global population, there is enough evidence to suggest that the population has been affected by the fisheries operating in Australia (Tuck et al. 2003, Baker and Wise 2005, Tuck and Wilcox 2008, Richard and Abraham 2013) and the population on Lord Howe and Lady Alice Island (New Zealand) is decreasing (Tuck et al. 2003, Reid et al. 2013b, Waugh et al. 2013, Barbraud et al. 2014).