The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) is a legally binding international treaty signed in 2001 and entered into force on 1 February 2004 when South Africa ratified as the fifth Party to the Agreement.
It was created in order to halt the drastic decline of seabird populations in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly albatrosses and petrels procellariids. The population of Black-browed Albatrosses, one of the world's abundant albatross species, has declined by more than 40 percent in the last 30 years.
Albatrosses and petrels are threatened by introduced species on their breeding islands, pollution, and being taken as bycatch by longline fisheries (which kills more than 300,000 seabirds a year, as well as by trawl and gillnet fisheries. The Agreement requires that measures be taken by signatory governments (Parties) to reduce bycatch (by the use of mitigation measures), protection of breeding colonies and control and removal of introduced species from breeding islands.
Currently ACAP protects all the World's albatross species and seven southern-hemisphere petrel species. The Agreement marks the increasing international commitment to protect albatrosses and petrels, and is a considerable step forward in the fight to protect these charismatic seabirds.
Read more about Agreement On The Conservation Of Albatrosses And Petrels: Organization, Albatrosses and Petrels, Provisions, Species Covered By The Agreement, Member States
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