A study by scientists from the RSPB and BirdLife International has found that seabirds, including albatrosses and penguins, are in more trouble than any other group of birds.
The scientists have studied the fortunes of all 346 species of seabird inhabiting all the world’s oceans.
The findings show the status of seabirds has deteriorated rapidly in recent decades and several species are now perilously close to extinction. Nearly half of all seabird species are known or suspected to be experiencing population declines.
Ninety-seven seabird species, including 17 albatrosses and 11 penguins, are facing extinction and a further 35 species are nearing this threshold. The report is published in the scientific journal Bird Conservation International.
Spending most of their time away from land, seabirds only need to come ashore to nest and lay their eggs. But even though these birds spend most of their lives away from large numbers of people, their relative isolation doesn’t shield them from facing extinction.
Dr Ben Sullivan is a seabird scientist with the RSPB and BirdLife International. He is also one of the paper’s authors. He said: “At sea, hundreds of thousands of seabirds are dying as they get caught as a byproduct of the fishing industry.”
The global assessment shows that New Zealand, with 33 species of seabird nesting nowhere else, is a priority for protecting threatened species, but with eight species of seabird unique to the UK’s overseas territories, the UK is second in the world priority list, ahead of the Galapagos, Australia, Mexico and Japan.
The RSPB and BirdLife International are involved with many conservation programmes designed to give seabirds the greatest chance of survival. At sea, BirdLife International is working with eight countries (two in Africa and six in South America) to reduce the estimated 300,000 seabirds dying annually in the global longline fishery alone.
The RSPB and BirdLife International are lobbying for the creation of a global network of marine protected areas around the sites most important for birds. This network should include UK waters, which provide a home for around 30 species of bird, including the Balearic shearwater: a dove-sized relative of the albatross, which visits the coasts of the South West regularly.
