The biggest seabird census in 20 years shows that many of the UK’s most iconic species are in real trouble. But our politicians can help turn things around for our seabirds - here's how.
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The biggest seabird census in 20 years is out and shows that many of the UK’s most iconic species such as the Puffin, Kittiwake and Common Gull are in real trouble. Almost half of the breeding seabird species have declined across the UK and two thirds of the species breeding in Scotland, the UK’s seabird stronghold.
Scotland holds 75% of the population of Puffins in Britain and Ireland and they were already classed as vulnerable to extinction. The findings show things aren’t improving - they’ve declined by at least 21% in Scotland in the last two decades.
But the census, called Seabirds Count, also shows that when we take action, seabird numbers can recover. We already know the solutions. What we need now is to see them put in place on a much bigger scale. To do this, we need politicians to act.
In response to Seabirds Count, we’re calling for elected representatives across the UK to take a number of actions.
If we’re going to see our seabirds recover, we need governments to deliver crystal-clear plans which deal with the existing as well as emerging threats our seabirds face. We want to see Seabird Conservation Strategies created by 2024 which have clear targets and set out who is responsible for delivering the actions within an agreed timescale. Crucially, each action in each strategy needs to be fully funded and resourced.
An abundance of prey species, particularly sandeels, are essential for many seabirds, including Puffin and Kittiwake. These small fish have been struggling in UK waters, because of climate change but also fisheries. For decades, we’ve campaigned for a closure of sandeel fisheries within UK seas, and we’re getting close. We now need governments to take those final steps.
Every year thousands of seabirds are incidentally killed or caught in fishing gear, known as bycatch. The good news is there are easy and simple solutions which can stop it happening. We urgently need to see these effective measures alongside monitoring of fishing activity (for example remote electronic monitoring with cameras) to achieve sustainable fisheries.
Seabirds need safe places to breed and raise their chicks. In the UK many of these are on islands and if invasive predators are introduced it can be devastating news for entire seabird colonies.
We need to see governments develop and fund better biosecurity for our islands to prevent, detect and respond rapidly to threats. Where there are already invasive species we need a programme of removal, especially from priority seabird islands.
We know offshore energy can play a vital part in us becoming less reliant on fossil fuels, but this must be planned with nature in mind. We need governments to take a bird’s eye view – by adopting a Nature Positive Planning approach to offshore developments, that places action for nature at the forefront of decision making. If we don’t tackle the nature and climate crisis as one, we’ll fail at both.
The UK Government set a target of protecting 30% of our land and seas by 2030. At the moment this isn’t happening. Without effective management measures and monitoring in place throughout the UK’s network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) these sites do little towards delivering protection.
For the last two summers many seabirds have been hit by the worst ever outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or avian flu. It’s still a major threat to wildlife and we need to see governments deliver a comprehensive national response for each country in the UK. These need to include effective monitoring, surveillance, research and reporting systems as well as increasing awareness that it remains a major additional threat to wildlife.
