Inaugural Oceania Seabirds Symposium 2025 Underway

The inaugural Oceania Seabird Symposium got underway at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, bringing experts from across the Pacific region and the world to learn more about protecting Oceania seabirds.

The four-day symposium organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) runs from 14-17 April. Karen Baird, SPREP Threatened and Migratory Species Adviser, says the event is an invaluable opportunity to bring Western science, traditional culture, and knowledge together.

Keynote speakers will cover topics that include traditional knowledge and valuing relationships with Oceania seabirds, improving conservation, threats to seabirds, seabird bycatch in fisheries and the health of the ocean environment.

“This is so important because there’s so much to do. You heard already from a session this afternoon with discussions around traditional knowledge and culture about seabirds, says Baird.

“We’re really just starting out in some ways across the Pacific. This is a great opportunity to ensure we work together, bringing Western science and traditional culture and knowledge together, to protect seabirds much more effectively than if we were to try and do that separately.”

Pro Vice-Chancellor Pacific Professor Jemaima Tiatia-Siau and SPREP Deputy Director General Easter Catherine Chu Shing opened the symposium.

“Our goal is to conserve seabirds and their habitats, recognising the traditions and aspirations of the peoples of the Pacific Ocean and islands," says Ms Chu Shing.

Professor Tiatia-Siau spoke of the significance of hosting an event dedicated to one of the guardians of our oceans—our seabirds.

“It is an honour to give an opening address at this important gathering, dedicated to one of the guardians of our oceans.

“Across the vast Pacific, seabirds have long been more than just creatures of the sea and sky. They are carriers of ancestral knowledge, navigators of weather and ocean currents, and messengers that connect our islands to one another and to the wider world… we have employed the frigatebird, or manumanu ne caqi in na vosa vaka Viti (the Fijian language), as the metaphor to ground our university’s inaugural Pacific strategy entitled - Ala o le Moana (or pathways through the ocean)…

“Seabirds are part of our identity as peoples of the Pacific,” says Professor Tiatia-Siau.

Associate Professor Brendon Dunphy from the University of Auckland’s School of Biological Sciences says the symposium is timely, given the need for greater investment and research across the Pacific region. Ninety percent of Aotearoa New Zealand’s seabird species are under threat, warmer oceans and reduced food sources, and fishing nets and lines are all having an impact. 

“This is a very important symposium because it’s bringing together scientists. We’re in the seabird capital of the world. Seabirds are just messengers of what’s going on over the horizon and out at sea. They tell us about tuna stocks, fisheries, and all these impacts.

“They live on land and feed out at sea. They bridge the important gap between land and sea; they integrate so many different stresses.”

Associate Professor Dunphy says just by observing seabirds, there was so much information that could be gained.

“Simply by looking at seabirds, from looking at their feathers, how they live, their chicks, there is so much we can gain from it. We see the Pacific as an area needing a lot of work. We need to put in a lot of research and investment, as there is so much change happening.”

Esteemed Tohunga Tohorā (whale expert) Dr Ramari Stewart (Ngāti Awa) received an Honorary Doctor of Science from Waipapa Taumata Rau three years ago and was a keynote speaker on day one; she talked about the importance of relationships, seabirds and people.

Renowned internationally for her commitment to mātauranga Māori (Indigenous knowledge) and science practices surrounding whales, she has extensive knowledge of the ngahere (forest) and the moana (ocean) as well as being a leading practitioner of rongoa (Māori medicine) and a trained nurse.

Stewart told the audience about passing on stories and walking backwards into the future, of the need for stories to be perfect when passed on from one generation to the next, to avoid crucial information being lost.

“Because stories are passed from one generation to another, it’s so important when they’re retold by the next generation, they need to be perfect… there is a whole lot of the tale that gets dropped out. Those details are so important.”

As well as an esteemed programme of keynote experts still to present, the four-day symposium will also include a number of workshops around seabird identification, colony surveying and monitoring, restoration, and a necropsy (autopsy of seabirds) workshop.

Symposium guests also have the opportunity to attend a number of field trips: a boat trip for seabird watching to the Poor Knights Islands and beyond, Tawharanui Open Sanctuary – a model for seabird restoration, Motuora Island, restoration island, and also a visit to Auckland’s west coast, working to save remnant colonies in Te Henga (Bethells Beach) and Muriwai.