Seabirds beached counts as a conservation tool

TAMINI L. L., DELLACASA, R., PEREZ COMESAÑA, J. E. Y T. CHALDE

Congreso; XXI Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology: One World, One Conservation, One Partnership; 2007

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Seabirds, especially Procellariiformes, are very vulnerable to fisheries activities by incidental capture. Researches about the impact of fisheries on seabirds are generally focused in onboard observations. These kinds of programme are difficult to carry out with artisanal or small-scale fisheries. By recording the number of seabirds beached and relating these observations with fishery data, it is possible to know the tendency of the fisheries impact on seabirds. Moreover, this information taken along years can be use for understands the natural mortality of seabirds and recognize unusual events (human or no-human related). A research conducted in 6 km of north coast of Argentina (38°33’S 58°37’W) 22 year ago, recognized 14 species beached of which, two prominent species of penguins were never recorded in 10 years of onboard observations in the zone (1996-2005), and in a three years onboard program (2003-2005), focused on seabirds we only recorded 8 of that 14 species. Moreover, in 24 long walks in this same area conducted during one year; only four species of pelagic seabirds beached were recorded. This depletion in species richness may be explained by changes in the distribution of seabird’s populations. We create, within a two-year project, a strong and coordinated network of volunteers for enhance the observation program to confirm the tendency observed.