Newsletter / Blog
2012-03-09 New survey reveals worrying declines in the world’s seabirds.
Cape Town, 9 March 2012. The status of the world’s
seabirds has deteriorated rapidly over recent decades and several species and
many populations are now perilously close to extinction. These are the findings
of a major new review published this week in the scientific journal Bird
Conservation International.
The review—based
on BirdLife International’s data and assessment for the IUCN Red List—reveals
that seabirds are now more threatened than any other group of birds. Of the 346
seabird species, 97 (28%) are globally threatened and a further 10% are close
to being so. Nearly half of all seabird species are known or suspected to be
experiencing population decreases. The albatross family is especially imperiled
with 17 of the 22 species currently threatened with extinction.
“Seabirds are a
diverse group of worldwide distribution and as top predators they also provide
a valuable indicator of wider marine health”, said Professor John Croxall,
Chair of BirdLife’s Global Seabird Programme, and the paper’s lead author.
Human activities
lie behind these decreases. At sea, commercial fisheries have degraded fish
stocks and caused the deaths of innumerable seabirds through accidental
bycatch, whilst on land the introduction of invasive species has extirpated
many breeding colonies.
There may still
be time to reverse these declines and the review is clear on the actions that
need to be taken. The sites where seabird congregate—both onshore breeding
colonies and offshore feeding grounds must be protected. BirdLife has already
identified many Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for seabirds on land and is about
to publish the first inventory of marine IBAs in the high seas. It is hoped
that these will help develop a global network of Marine Protected Areas and
assist the implementation of new approaches to the management and protection of
marine systems.
Invasive species,
especially introduced rodents, must be removed from major seabird colonies.
Several successful restoration projects have already taken place. For example, South Africa successfully removed cats from Marion Island
which, at 294 km2, remains the largest island globally that has been
successfully cleared of cats. The paper details priority sites for new
eradication efforts.
Closer to home,
of the 11 albatross species that regularly occur in South Africa, 10 are
threatened with extinction, including the Critically Endangered Tristan
Albatross, which breeds only at the remote Gough Island in the South Atlantic.
However, South Africa
continues to lead global efforts to reduce seabird bycatch in fisheries. Dr
Ross Wanless, Seabird Division Manager at BirdLife South Africa, noted “the
hake trawl fishery and tuna and swordfish longliners have worked with BirdLife
South Africa’s Albatross Task Force for 6
years. Over this time they have tested and refined measures and technologies to
prevent seabird deaths. As a result, national bycatch rates are greatly
reduced. The tuna longliners, for example, have reduced seabird deaths by
around 80% since 2006”.
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