Last month, four of us from the BirdLife International Marine Programme attended the 16th International Seabird Group Conference in Coimbra, Portugal: Ana Carneiro (Marine Science Manager), Antonio Vulcano (Marine Officer), Yann Rouxel (Bycatch Programme Manager) and myself.
The ECOTOP group at the University of Coimbra did a fantastic job organising the event with The Seabird Group. We saw so much exciting new research and beautiful seabird tracks. We were also very happy to catch up with users and collaborators of the Seabird Tracking Database, including from our BirdLife Partners SPEA (Portugal), SEO (Spain), BIOM (Croatia), HOS (Greece), BirdLife Malta and RSPB (UK). We hope to see more of the seabird tracks showcased at the conference uploaded soon, so they can be requested for conservation and scientific projects and start new collaborations!
Seabird Tracking Database Review
We presented a poster about our recent review of the Seabird Tracking Database to celebrate 20 years of conservation successes, assess the current status, and identify gaps and opportunities for the future. Watch out for announcements about the full review coming soon!
Click to zoom in!
Offshore Wind Sensitivity Mapping Workshop
Offshore wind energy development is a vital tool for addressing the climate crisis, but also an emerging threat to seabird populations if sited poorly. Our workshop investigated how we can avoid the worst impacts by mapping bird sensitivity.
Antonio presented information on the rapid development of offshore wind energy structures in Europe. I explained the methods that the BirdLife International team have used to map bird sensitivity in countries with very different bird communities, habitats and data availability: India, Poland, Italy, Egypt and Keyna. Tracking data was only used extensively in Italy for breeding seabirds, and in Italy and Egypt for migrating terrestrial birds. We aligned the methods for modelling distributions from tracking data and colony sizes to those as detailed in the Marine Megafauna Conservation Toolkit to identify IBAs and KBAs.
We had some excellent invited speakers who gave a range of perspectives, starting with Ricardo Tomé, who explained biodiversity sensitivity mapping can inform offshore wind planning in emerging markets, e.g. in the Philippines. Maria Dias presented the sensitivity maps produced in a project led by SPEA using the excellent atlas of the seabirds of Portugal. Volker Dierschke showed the work being done with species distribution modelling from transect counts in Germany. Martin Austad explained the process for BirdLife Malta, which included at-sea survey data and tracking. Finally, we had a productive discussion session focussing firstly on data, methods and tools, and secondly on policy and stakeholder engagement.
Screeshot from AVISTEP, the Avian Sensitivity Tool for Energy Planning
Policy Workshop
Seabird conservation requires not only scientific research but also effective policies to protect many of these globally threatened species. The workshop aimed to shed light on the different policy mechanisms and frameworks that support seabird conservation, while sharing personal experiences from five researchers (including Ana and Yann) about the challenges associated with the integration of science into policy.
Richard Phillips presented on the roles of the Agreement on Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) and the Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources (CCAMLR) in conserving albatrosses, petrels and other seabirds. Ana discussed the opportunities and challenges of using tracking data for the conservation of the high seas, using the NACES MPA as a study case. Francis Daunt presented on risk assessment and minimisation of the impact of offshore wind farms on UK seabirds, while also showing ways on how researchers can influence policy. Pep Arcos focused on the work to conserve Balearic shearwaters and address bycatch in Mediterranean fisheries. Yann shared insights on how certification schemes, retainer audits, and supply-chain leverage can improve fisheries sustainability and reduce seabird bycatch. The presentations were followed by small group discussions.
