Pelagic seabirds are amongst the most threatened group of birds. However, because of their highly dispersed and mobile ecology, their distributions and behaviour at-sea are not well understood. BirdLife has been using the database to help prioritise sites at sea and guide conservation efforts to tackle threats, particular related to bycatch issues. The database was initially created in 2004 when scientists were brought together at a workshop to map albatross distributions in relation to fishing effort, and resulted in the landmark Tracking Ocean Wanders publication which presented the results of the workshop and analysis (http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/species/seabirds/tracking_ocean_wanderers.pdf).
Since this time BirdLife has been providing analyses to a range of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) to highlight areas of highest interaction. This has helped to achieve agreement within the RFMOs on the need to implement bycatch mitigation measures. Where mitigation measures have been successfully implemented the results have been significant and rapid. For example BirdLife’s Albatross Task Force has worked with fishers to achieve a 90% reduction in seabird bycatch in the Chilean swordfish fishery and a 85% reduction in seabird bycatch in the South Africa trawl fishery with similar results emerging in Brazil and Namibia.
The database has also proved vital in prioritising sites that would qualify as Ecologically or Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) under the Convention on Biological Diversity. These areas can be identified in both Exclusive Economic Zones and international waters. Some sites will provide input to plans for Marine Protected Areas while all will require best practice management of a range of human activities if impacts on seabirds (and associated marine biota) are to be minimised.
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