--- title: "Malta reports on its EU LIFE project on Yelkouan Shearwaters" --- # Malta reports on its EU LIFE project on Yelkouan Shearwaters The [Near Threatened](http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3937) Yelkouan Shearwater *Puffinus yelkouan* of the Mediterranean is one of nine potential candidate shearwaters that have been identified for listing within the Albatross and Petrel Agreement. The EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project managed by [BirdLife Malta](http://www.birdlifemalta.org/) over the period 2006-2010 has recently published its final report (Borg *et al.* 2010), available for down-loading at [http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/uploads/items/154.pdf](http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/uploads/items/154.pdf). The report summarizes activities conducted over the four years which include drafting a management plan, initiating rat eradication, controlling disturbance and exploitation, running an awareness campaign, monitoring breeding and conducting at-sea tracking. ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Shearwaters/Yelkouan/Yelkouan_Shearwater_Matthew_ Borg_Cardona.JPG "Yelkouan Shearwater. Photograph by Matthew Borg Cardona") As well as Malta, France has also been active in conducting conservation-oriented research on Yelkouan Shearwaters ([click here](https://www.acap.aq/latest-news/the-yelkouan-shearwater-of-the-mediterranean-gets-relief-from-feral-cats-on-frances-port-cros-island) and view publications of the last decade listed below). **Selected publications on Yelkouan Shearwaters, 2000-2010** Bonnaud, E., Bourgeois, K., Vidal, E., Kayser, Y., Tranchant, Y. & Legrand, J. 2007.  Feeding ecology of a feral cat population on a small Mediterranean island.  [*Journal of Mammalogy* 88: 1074-1081](http://www.asmjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1644/06-MAMM-A-031R2.1). Bonnaud, E., Bourgeois, K., Vidal, E., Legrand, J. & Le Corre, M. 2009.  How can Yelkouan Shearwater survive feral cat predation?  An unexpected population structure as a solution?  [*Population Ecology* 51: 261-270](http://www.springerlink.com/content/y10m53225r513p2u/). Bonnaud, E., Zarzoso-Lacoste, D., Bourgeois, K., Ruffino, L., Legrand, J. & Vidal, E. 2010.  Top-predator control on islands boosts endemic prey but not mesopredator.  *Animal Conservation*.  [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2010.00376.x](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2010.00376.x/abstract).  [Borg, J.J. & J. Sultana. 2002.  Status and distribution of the breeding Procellariiformes in Malta.  *il-Merill*30: 10-15.](http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/uploads/items/32.pdf) Borg, J.J., Raine, H., Raine, A.F. & Barbara, N. 2010.  *Protecting Malta's wind chaser: the EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project*.  Malta: EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project.  30 pp. [http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/uploads/items/154.pdf](http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/uploads/items/154.pdf) [Borg, J.J., J. Sultana, & C. Coleiro. 2002.  Pre-breeding movements and early nest visits by the Levantine Shearwater *Puffinus yelkouan* in Malta.  *il-Merill* 30: 20-23.](http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/uploads/items/31.pdf) Bourgeois, K. 2006.  Ecologie, biologie et conservation d'un oiseau marin endémique de Méditerranée *Puffinus yelkouan*.  PhD thesis, Université Aix-Marseille 3. Bourgeois, K. & Vidal, E. 2007.  Yelkouan Shearwater nest cavity selection and breeding success. *Comptes Rendus Biologies* 330: 205-214. Bourgeois, K. & Vidal, E. 2008.  The endemic Mediterranean Yelkouan Shearwater *Puffinus yelkouan*: distribution, threats and a plea for more data.  [*Oryx* 42: 187-194](http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1832764). Bourgeois, K., Dromzée, S., Vidal, E. & Legrand, J. 2008.  Yelkouan Shearwater *Puffinus yelkouan* presence and behaviour at colonies: not only a moonlight question.  [*Comptes Rendus Biologies* 331: 88-97](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6X1F-4N0GDWK-1&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2007&_rdoc=4&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_origin=browse&_zone=rslt_list_item&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%237241%232007%23996699996%23649282%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=7241&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=13&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0eb49e8f9ce6af23fdaa2d19dd98c29f&searchtype=a). Bourgeois, K., Vidal, E., Comor, V., Legrand, J. & Dromzee, S. 2008.  Colony-site selection drives management priorities for Yelkouan Shearwater populations.  [*Journal of Wildlife Management* 72: 1188-1193](http://www.wildlifejournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.2193%2F2007-052). Brooke M. [deL.] 2004.  Albatrosses and petrels across the World.  Oxford: Oxford University Press. Conéjéro, S & Beaubrun, P. 2000.  Cory's Shearwater *Calonectris diomedea* and Levantine Shearwater *Puffinus yelkouan* (Procellariidae) in the Gulf of Lion during July 1994.  In: Yésou, P. & Sultana, J. 2000.  *Monitoring and Conservation of Birds, Mammals and Sea Turtles of the Mediterranean and Black Seas*.  *Proceedings of the 5th Medmaravis Symposium Gozo, Malta*.  Malta: Environment Protection Department.  pp.  104-105. [http://www.medmaravis.org/Monitoring.html](http://www.medmaravis.org/Monitoring.html) Cooper, J., Baccetti, N., Belda, E.J., Borg, J.J., Oro, D., Papaconstantinou, C & Sánchez, A. 2003.  Seabird mortality from longline fishing in the Mediterranean and Macaronesian waters: a review and a way forward.  [*Scientia Marina* 67, Supplement 2: 57-64](http://www.icm.csic.es/scimar/index.php/secId/7/IdNum/71/). [Dimech, M., Darmanin, M,. Caruana, R. & Raine, H. 2008.  Preliminary data on seabird by-catch in Maltese waters (central Mediterranean)](http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/uploads/items/124.pdf).  International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas Standard Committee on Research and Statistics. SCRS/2008/027.  7 pp.  Heidrich, P., Amengual, J., Ristow, D. & Wink, M. 2000.  Phylogenetic relationships among the Procellariiformes based on nucleotide sequences, with special consideration of the Mediterranean and North Atlantic shearwaters.  In: Yésou, P. & Sultana, J. 2000.  *Monitoring and Conservation of Birds, Mammals and Sea Turtles of the Mediterranean and Black Seas*.  *Proceedings of the 5th Medmaravis Symposium Gozo, Malta*.  Malta: Environment Protection Department.  pp. 159-175. [http://www.medmaravis.org/Monitoring.html](http://www.medmaravis.org/Monitoring.html) To learn more about French and Maltese efforts to conserve the Yelkouan Shearwater visit: [http://www.puffin-hyeres.org/](http://www.puffin-hyeres.org/english.htm) [http://www.birdlifemalta.org/conservation/LIFE_project/](http://www.birdlifemalta.org/conservation/LIFE_project/) [http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/](http://www.lifeshearwaterproject.org.mt/) With thanks to Nicholas Barbara, Conservation & Policy Officer, BirdLife Malta and Elsa Bonnaud, Island Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Canary Islands for information. *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 15 December 2010*