The garnija, the Yelkouan Shearwater which breeds in Malta, has had its standing notched up from Least Concern status to Near Threatened in a BirdLife International and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species of birds.
The 2008 IUCN Red List makes grim reading with 1,226 species of bird now threatened, and eight species newly uplisted to Critically Endangered, the highest threat category. Of the 26 species that changed category owing to changes in their population size, rate of decline or range size, 24 were uplisted to a higher level of threat.
Recent research in Malta, such as that carried out by ornithologist John J. Borg from Heritage Malta, has highlighted the fact that breeding populations of the garnija have declined significantly in recent years.
In Malta, which has around 10 per cent of the world’s population of this species, the EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater project is now in its second year and is carrying out a series of initiatives to protect the Maltese breeding populations. The Yelkouan Shearwater is facing a whole range of threats locally, including predation by rats, accidental by-catch, light pollution, illegal hunting (particularly at sea) and urban development.
“The IUCN Red List is a very important piece of work,” said Dr André Raine, BirdLife Malta’s conservation manager, “and these recent upgrades should be a warning sign also to the Maltese government that they need to take action to protect bird populations. The EU Birds Directive is one of the most effective pieces of conservation legislation designed to conserve Europe’s birds. However the government is yet to fully implement the Birds Directive into local law, and this includes giving full legal protection to all Important Bird Areas with Special Protection Area (SPA) status.”
Last year the European Commission sent a first warning letter to Malta for insufficient Special Protected Area designation in the Maltese islands. Of the 11 Internationally Important Bird Areas identified by BirdLife Malta and BirdLife International, the government has so far fully designated only four of these areas as Special Protection Areas (SPA), as required by the Birds Directive. Of the remaining IBAs six, including Ta’ Cenc, are partially covered by SPAs, and one is not covered at all by SPA boundaries.
“These areas are not only important for Yelkouan Shearwaters but also for a number of other bird species that are threatened at either the national or international level. Full designation of protected areas is therefore critical to protecting these species in Malta. If this is not taken seriously, then the situation regarding the Yelkouan Shearwater may become even more bleak in the next IUCN Red List,” according to Dr Raine.