The Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan is endemic to the Mediterranean and Black Seas, breeding from France and Algeria east to Greece and Bulgaria; breeding is also suspected in Turkey, but still not proven.  It is currently listed as Vulnerable, because when last assessed it was considered to be undergoing a rapid population decline.

"Globally, it has an extremely large range (c. 3 million km2), and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criteria (B and D2).  Its population size is also moderately large (with 39 000 – 62 000 mature individuals in Europe alone and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criteria (C and D1).  Therefore, the only potentially relevant criterion is A, which relates to reductions in population size.  Until recently, the population was thought to be declining rapidly at a rate which, if continued over three generations (54 years, based on a generation length estimated by BirdLife to be 18 years), may have resulted in an overall population decline of >30% (the threshold for listing as Vulnerable under criterion A).

New data collated from across Europe for the European Red List of Birds suggest that the species is no longer declining.  A combination of official data reported by 27 EU Member States to the European Commission under Article 12 of the EU Birds Directive and comparable data from other European countries, provided by BirdLife Partners and other leading national ornithologists, suggest that the European breeding population is now increasing overall, with stable or increasing trends in those countries with the largest populations (Italy, Greece and Malta, which together hold c. 95% of the European breeding population).  Consequently, the species is now classified as Least Concern at European level.

Europe holds >95% of the global breeding population and range, with the remainder in NW Africa, so the species’ status in Europe effectively determines its global status.  Despite the threats perceived to be facing the species when last assessed (see current global factsheet for details), its population has not continued to decline overall.  Furthermore, the increasing numbers reported from the breeding colonies correspond well with those counted moving through the Bosphorus in February (the non-breeding season), which have risen from 73 000 in 2012 to 90 000 in 2014.  These increases may in part reflect recent investments in conservation projects to improve the species’ prospects, e.g. in Italy and Malta.

As the species is no longer declining, and seems unlikely to decline sufficiently rapidly in the near future to be listed as Near Threatened, it should be reclassified as globally Least Concern.  Comments on this proposal are welcome.”

Yelkouan Shearwater

Information taken from BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forum for Seabirds, which also includes expert commentary on the proposal.

References:

BirdLife International 2015.  European Red List of Birds.  Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Carboneras, C., Jutglar, F. & Kirwan, G.M. 2014).  Yelkouan Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan).  In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (Eds).  Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive.  Barcelona: Lynx Edicions.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 30 July 2015

The final report of ACAP’s Fifth Session of the Meeting of Parties held in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain over 4–8 May 2015 (click here) has now been published in the Agreement’s three official languages: English, French and Spanish.

The Pink-footed Shearwater was listed as an ACAP species at MoP5, photograph by Peter Hodum

The 29 documents considered at the meeting can be accessed here in English.  They are also available in French and Spanish.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 29 July 2015

Despite its small body mass (c. 700 g), with an estimated population size of 23 million individuals, the Short-tailed Shearwater Puffinus tenuirostris represents not only the most abundant bird species in Australia but the most significant avian marine predator biomass in the region, consuming in the order of 250 000 tonnes of krill, fish and squid during each summer breeding season. Its breeding distribution is restricted to south-eastern Australia, an oceanic region that is currently one of the fastest warming in the world and where currents are predicted to alter due to climate change, potentially resulting in considerable alterations in the marine ecosystem, the species’ prey populations and its impact on its terrestrial nesting habitats. Indeed, recent surveys at several colonies suggest there has been a >30% decrease in the number of breeding birds over the last 20 years, an alarming decrease with significant implications for the species’ population.  However, the initial estimates of the species’ population size were based on extrapolations from surveys of a limited number of sites such that it is impossible to ascertain the exact extent of the species’ decline.  Furthermore, knowledge of the Short-tailed Shearwater’s population dynamics, and the factors affecting it, is greatly lacking due to it nesting in burrows on dozens of offshore islands making assessing trends in abundance logistically difficult and prohibitively expensive.  The aims of this study, therefore, are to: 1) develop an efficient, cost-effective system for the annual monitoring of Short-tailed Shearwater breeding populations; 2) develop predictive nesting habitat area-use models; 3) provide the first accurate range-wide distribution and abundance estimate of Short-tailed Shearwaters.

The project, a collaboration between Deakin University (Assoc. Prof. John Arnould) and Institute of Marine and Antarctic Science, University of Tasmania (Prof. Mark Hindell) will use a combination of field surveys, automated digital image analysis with time lapse photography, and remote-sensing GIS techniques to achieve its aims.  Deadline for non-Australian applicants is 31 July 2015 and for Australian candidates is 31 October.

Short-tailed Shearwater at sea, photograph by Kirk Zufelt

Click here for more information.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 28 July 2015

The North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database (NPPSD) is an online resource compiling the results of 40 years of surveys by Canadian, Japanese, Russian and USA biologists.  It documents the abundance and distribution of over 17 million individuals of 160 seabird species (and of 235 545 marine mammal records) over 27 million square kilometres of the North Pacific by including more than 350 000 survey transects undertaken between between 1973 and 2012.  The area covered includes more than 80% of U.S. continental shelf waters, the most productive U.S. commercial fisheries, all Pacific U.S. marine sanctuaries, and many offshore oil wells and lease areas (click here).

“The database offers a powerful tool for analysis of climate change effects on marine ecosystems of the Arctic and North Pacific, and for monitoring the impact of fisheries, vessel traffic and oil development on marine bird communities over a vast region.  It also creates an unprecedented opportunity to study the biogeography and marine ecology of dozens of species of seabirds and marine mammals throughout their range.

Coverage of the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database

Scientists and observers conducted surveys ranging from the Channel Islands of southern California westward to the coast of South Korea, and from the Hawaiian Islands northward to the North Pole.  The majority of data collection occurred over the U.S. continental shelves stretching from California to Arctic Alaska, where concerns over the possible impact of human activities at sea have long fueled wildlife research and monitoring efforts.

Recent analyses using NPPSD data included  a risk analysis of shipping traffic on seabirds in the heavily traveled Aleutian Islands conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and a study commissioned by the National Audubon Society to identify Important Bird Areas from California to Alaska."

Black-footed Albatross, photograph by Vicki Miller 

Click here to access the database.

Reference:

Drew, G.S., Piatt, J.F. & Renner, M. 2015.  User’s Guide to the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database 2.0.  Open-File Report 2015-1123.  Reston: U.S. Geological Survey.  52 pp.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 27 July 2015