CONSERVATION AROUND THE WORLD

AFRICAN CONVENTION FOR CONSERVATION

The African Convention .for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, of which a copy has recently been received from the Chairman of the IUCN Commission on Ecology, was approved and signed in Algiers in September 1968 by 38 member states of the Organization for African Unity (OAU) at its Confer- ence of Heads of States and Governments. The agree- ment, which replaces the London Convention of 1933, has yet to be ratified by each State and will come into operation when once the first four instruments of ratification have been deposited with the OAU. IUCN participated in the preparation of the draft convention at the request of the OAU in 1965, and the work was partly financed by the WWF German Appeal.

In essence, the new African agreement aims to 'ensure the conservation, utilization, and development of soil, water, flora, and faunal resources in accordance with scientific principles and with due regard to the best interests of the people.' Thus the preservation of the flora and fauna of coastal areas, for example, forms as much a part of the agreement as does wildlife management, which plays an increasingly important role in many African countries.

The Convention also urges the extension and estab- lishment of conservation areas as a means of protecting representative ecosystems, encouraging the conserva- tion of species, and providing a tool for conservation education, which, the agreement states, is necessary to ensure that people 'appreciate their close dependence on natural resources and that they understand the need, and rules for, the rational utilization of these resources.'

It is hoped to publish a detailed account of the Convention in a future issue of Biological Conserva- tion.

CONSERVATION OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

OF AUSTRALIA

Main source: IUCN BUt.LETIN,

During the last twelve months there has been a great deal of interest in the problem of conserving A ustralia's Great Barrier Reef, traditionally regarded as part of Queensland, and generally administered under the Laws of the State of Queensland. Most Australians regard the Great Barrier Reef as a natural wonder of great scientific interest, and also as an ideal recreational area. It is, of course, a very large reef system extending from about the Tropic of Capricorn in the south, almost to the Gulf of Papua in the north. For geo- graphical reasons, most interest has been taken in the southern portion of the Reef extending to about the latitude of Cairns, though fishing interests have traditionally worked over most of its length.

The matter first came to public notice late in 1967 when an application to mine so-called 'dead' coral from a reef about 17 miles off Innisfail was made to the Department of Mines in Queensland. Sensing that this could well be the beginning of large-scale mining activity, conservation societies in Queensland opposed the application in a Mining Warden's Court hearing and the Mining Warden subsequently recommended that no lease be granted. This decision was eventually upheld by the Queensland Minister for Mines. At the present time the stated policy of the Queensland Government is not to allow mining for coral debris, but a recent report by Dr H. S. Ladd of the US Geological Survey, who made a brief survey of the Reef at the request of the Queensland Government, suggested that mining would be permissible in certain areas.

The matter has been complicated by a reconsidera- tion of the Laws relating to Territorial Waters and the rights to exploit the resources of the Continental Shelf. This reconsideration has been prompted by recent incursions of foreign fishing vessels into Great Barrier Reef waters, and by the action of the Queensland

1110 Morges, Government in granting authorities, under recent Switzerlaml. legislation, to prospect for oil over large sections of the

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Great Barrier Reef. The current view is that, although the waters immediately adjacent to the Coast of Queensland and surrounding each of the off-shore islands are Territorial waters, the remainder of the Reef which does not constitute dry land is in Inter- national waters.

These developments have caused considerable alarm amongst conservationists and have led the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Conservation Foundation, held last October in Canberra, to pass a motion calling upon the Commonwealth Government to act quickly to assert Australia's claims to ownership of the land and waters of the Great Barrier Reef, and to impose restraints on any developments until a proper scientific survey, conducted from all relevant points of view, has been carried out. It was, therefore, gratifying to read a recent announcement by the Commonwealth Government that it did propose to introduce legislation establishing Australia's rights to the living resources of the Continental shelf in this area--including the living corals which are by far the most important component of the Great Barrier Reef. Many groups are now actively supporting the institu- tion of a proper survey, and it is hoped that the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments will agree to conduct such a survey in association with leading scientific organizations--such as The Australian Academy of Science, The Great Barrier Reef Committee, and the Australian Conservation Foundation.

AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FOUNDATION, P.O. Box 804, Canberra City, ACT., 2601, Australia.

PEREGRINE FALCON SURVEYS IN

COASTAL BRITISH COLUMBIA

Because of its concern for the world-wide status of Peregrine Falcons and its desire to allow recreational use of any population surplus existing in the Province, the British Columbia Government has conducted surveys of Peale's Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus pealei) in the Queen Charlotte Islands (Q.C.I.) in each of the years 1965 through 1968. Although of sporadic occurrence elsewhere in the Province, the Peregrine nests in relative abundance in the Q.C.I. ; consequently the attention of falconers has been centred there.

The Fish and Wildlife Branch surveys have involved a search of seaside cliffs for active eyries, using patrol boats of the Federal Department of Fisheries or

Biological Conservation

chartered fishing boats. Whenever a suitable nesting cliff was found, a gun was fired into the air to frighten any falcons in the vicinity from their nest or perch. The surveys were carried out in early June, when most young are hatched; thus they are not believed to have interfered with incubation or resulted in nest-desertion. A few nest-sites have undoubtedly been missed, because some cliffs cannot be closely approached by boat, or are hidden from view. Many accessible eyries have been climbed to, in order to determine the number of eggs or young present. Information has also been obtained from falconry permittees who travelled to the Q.C.I. to collect nestling Peregrines.

Of 158 peregrine observations made during the years 1965 through 1968, 76 per cent were of adult pairs, 20 per cent were lone adults, and 4 per cent were immature falcons. It is possible that some of the lone adults were actually members of a pair of which the other bird was not seen. The small number of one- year-old birds suggests that there is either a heavy first-year mortality in those birds or else that most immature Peregrines leave the breeding areas after fledging and do not return until they become adult. Population status has been based on the number of sites where adult pairs were observed. Thus sites where no young were found, but which had possibly been robbed of eggs or young at an earlier date, were included, as were sites where it was not possible to get ashore or to climb the cliff. On this basis there appear to be at least 46 adult pairs of Peregrines in the Q.C.I.

There is evidence that the number of active eyries has declined significantly in at least one part of the Queen Charlotte Islands where former breeding densities were very high. Beebe (1960) recorded 12 nest-sites at Langara Island in 1952, and three addi- tional nests have been found on this island in subse- quent years in localities which Beebe did not search. As only seven active eyries could be located at Langara in each of the years 1966 and 1967, and only five in 1968, it is apparent that there has been a significant decline in peregrine breeding densities there. However, observations of the relationship of nesting densities to available habitats suggest that no major decline has taken place elsewhere in the Queen Charlottes.

During the years of our surveys, populations appear to have been quite stable. In the most intensively surveyed area, the east coast of Moresby Island, 19 breeding pairs were located in 1965 and 21 in 1968.

Reproductive success of Queen Charlotte Island Peregrines is based on the numbers of nestlings ob- served in eyries. As some mortality can be expected both before and after eyries were visited in June, figures for clutch size represent neither true clutch size nor fledging success but indicate survival to a fairly advanced nesting stage. The average number of