The largest seabird research project ever carried out in Malta has nearly come to an end with surprising results - almost one third of Maltese waters are crucial for the everyday lives and yearly lifecycles of protected seabirds. Five years of bird research carried out by the LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project by BirdLife Malta and its partners have now resulted in eight of such sea areas being internationally recognised as important nature sites. They are basically nature reserves at sea and the government will now be responsible to protect them accordingly. That will be an unprecedented task, as no marine areas have been protected for birds in Malta before.
A large part of the work for wildlife protection is focused on conserving particular natural areas. As it is impossible to save all sites, those natural places that are mostly used by large numbers of animals, get the priority. This simple idea also stands behind a programme called Important Bird Areas. As its name suggests, these places are the most important for birds, being their feeding, resting and nesting sites or places where they funnel through on migration. This programme is run world-wide by BirdLife International since the 70s, but only a decade ago was it adopted for areas out at seas and oceans. This is a big step forward for seabird protection, as these birds spend a great deal of their lives out in the open waters. It was also a drive for intensive seabird research in Malta. With the first seabird conservation project having started ten years ago, BirdLife Malta and its partners have worked to gain as much knowledge as possible to best protect the mysterious sea wanderers.
Seabirds are the most endangered group of birds in the world, meaning their numbers are plummeting faster than any other bird species, such as shorebirds or birds of prey. Keeping that in mind, seabird protection on our little rock is actually very important for global biodiversity. We have around 10 % of the global population of Yelkouan Shearwaters (Garnija), which is a considerable number for a species that is vulnerable to extinction in the wild. Furthermore, even tiny Filfla alone holds about a half of the world's population of Mediterranean Storm-petrel subspecies (Kanġu ta' Filfla) - they are actually genetically different from their European relatives. We also have about 5,000 pairs of Scopoli's Shearwaters (Ċiefa) breeding here, equivalent to 3 % of their declining global population. This research project focused on all seabirds breeding in our islands, except only for the Yellow-legged Gulls. They are doing fine - with increasing numbers globally there is no urgent need for conservation action.
Light, noise and rats
What makes shearwaters and petrels so vulnerable is their fidelity to life-long partners and nesting sites. They return to the same cliff burrow year after year, despite the risks this place may possess. They also lay only one egg per breeding season, and won't have another one if that egg or baby bird is eaten. Unfortunately, that is often the case. Island environments are especially vulnerable to invasive mammals. The Maltese Islands are home to many rats that can predate on eggs or chicks left alone in the nest while parents are out looking for food.
Intensive inland lighting is another obstacle for many young birds. The glow coming from street lamps and buildings at night is brighter than the horizon. Some young birds fly inland towards the specious horizon, not making it out to the sea. Excessive lighting has also resulted in an entire colony abandoning a site in Malta, as it heavily disturbs these nocturnal animals. A similar threat is noise that comes from various human activities - from industry to boat parties.
But the alarming seabird story is not just about young birds not making it. Adult mortality still raises questions about how and where they die. Seabirds live long lives and losing an adult bird means losing, say, about 25 breeding seasons. Therefore protecting the nesting sites is not enough, especially with birds that truly 'live' out at the sea. They not only spend a long time on the wing and travel long distances to feed, but even rest out at sea - these are called rafts as the birds float on the sea surface together in big groups. Ill-managed sea traffic can disturb these sensitive birds, but the biggest threat to adult seabirds however is so-called bycatch. Accidentally caught in fishing gear, an estimate of 200,000 seabirds die every year in the EU waters alone. The extent of it in Malta is not known, but ways to stop the unwanted deaths of seabirds are proved to work with fishers elsewhere.
But the first step to find a good balance between human activities and seabird needs is to know where exactly do seabirds go and where action needs to be taken. To achieve this was not an easy task for the LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project. Seabirds are hard to study - they spend a very long time out at sea, and when they do come back, they only do it in the dark of the night. During their breeding season in spring and summer, one of the parent birds can travel in the open sea for as long as three weeks. But when breeding is over they migrate away from Malta spending months without touching land.
Technology uncovers their sea routes
Before this project, there was little knowledge of shearwater and petrel routes, destinations and behaviour when out at sea. To find out where they go, the latest tracking technology was an irreplaceable tool for project researchers. This allowed following the birds for long distances on migration and short feeding trips during breeding season. The latter ranges from one-day trips few kilometres away to 20-day trips to coasts of Sicily, Libya or Tunisia just to find food for their demanding chick and themselves. Depending on the tracking type, small devices are attached to either the body or the leg of a shearwater. GPS tags were not an option, however, when it came to Storm Petrels, as these birds are simply too small for such devices. The only technical solution to track these sparrow-sized seabirds, was radio. Petrels were fit with a small device with an antenna. Their movements then had to be traced by flying a small aircraft above the sea. After some time these antennas simply fall off the birds, having made no significant disturbance to their everyday lives that we're only on the way to fully understand.
Mediterranean Storm-petrel (Kanġu ta' Filfla)
This is the smallest of our seabirds. The oldest storm-petrel know in Malta is at least 27 years old. It was once ringed and then caught again in the same place after all these years. Mind that storm-petrels are not much larger than sparrows - their body size is around 15 cm. Ornithologists in the 18th century did not know much about them and described the species as 'small, black and foul-smelling'.
Yelkouan Shearwater (Garnija)
Yelkouan Shearwaters are endemic to the Mediterranean basin, meaning this species live nowhere else in the world. The name 'Yelkovan' derives from the Turkish name of this bird, meaning wind-chaser. The largest local colonies are at Rdum tal-Madonna, Comino and the Southern cliffs of Malta. Yelkouan Shearwaters are one of the top-priority species to conservationists, as their population is declining rapidly. It is given a 'Vulnerable' status in the IUCN Red List of Threatened species.
Scopoli's Shearwater (Ċiefa)
A big, strong shearwater, capable to dive as deep as 15 metres under water to catch fish. In winter they leave the Mediterranean for the West African coast, but when coming back, they take a different route, making a big loop along the East coast of Brazil. The biggest colony is at Ta' Cenc cliffs. In summer, right before sunset they gather in hundreds to raft near the cliffs. When dark settles, they find their small crevices in the cliffs again.
Important Bird Areas in Malta, Europe and around the world
Over 12,000 sites across the globe are recognised as Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs), making it the largest network of precious nature sites. Unfortunately, only 40 % of them are properly protected. Recently, 442 sites were included in the list of IBAs in Danger, including three sites in Malta, mainly due to risk of development.
Many of these bird areas are also part of other nature site networks, such as Natura 2000 in Europe. The newly found marine areas by the Malta Seabird Project will also be Natura 2000 sites. They must be protected under EU's nature laws.
LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project
The project is a partnership between BirdLife Malta, the RSPB (BirdLife UK), SPEA (BirdLife Portugal) and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change (MSDEC). Half of its funding is provided by EU's LIFE unit. Find out more at www.maltaseabirdproject.org