The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels: Rationale, history, progress and the way forward

Abstract

The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) is a newly-constituted international treaty that as yet may be little known to marine ornithologists around the world. We outline the rationale for the existence of the Agreement, the history of its development, the progress it has achieved to date and its future plans. It is hoped that the aims and objectives of ACAP will be fostered by creating a general awareness of it within the global seabird research community, leading to an improved conservation status for those procellariiform species that it lists.