Seabird Monitoring Programme

The Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP) is an ongoing annual monitoring programme, established in 1986, of 26 species of seabird that regularly breed in Britain and Ireland.  It aims to ensure that sample data on breeding numbers and breeding success of seabirds are collected, both regionally and nationally, to enable their conservation status to be assessed.  
Incubating Common Guillemots © Matt Parsons/JNCC
 
The SMP is led and co-ordinated by JNCC in partnership with others. In November 2009 all Partners signed a Statement of Intent that established the way forward for future data sharing and collaborative working.
 

SMP Results

View the latest population trends from the SMP, including analysis of abundance, productivity, survival and diet data, together with interpretation of the likely causes of change.

 

Previosuly these trends were published in Seabird numbers and breeding success in Britain and Ireland.  The last edition of this report was updated following the 2006 breeding season.  A leaflet summarising the key pressures affecting seabirds (UK Seabirds) will be updated with the conclusions of the latest research every five years, next in 2013.

 

Follow the link to view these and other SMP Reports & Publications.

 

Get SMP Data

Data on abundance, breeding success and other parameters are available to view or download.

 

Submit Seabird Colony Data

The SMP relies on Partner organisations, volunteers and others to collect the data that build a picture of seabird trends, the causes of change and what can to be done to conserve them. Please contribute by submitting your records.

 

SMP sampling methods

Recommended sampling methods for population and productivity monitoring are described in Walsh et al. 1995: Seabird Monitoring Handbook for Britain and Ireland.  Population monitoring comprises counts of whole colonies and counts of sample plots that are representative of the colony as a whole.  
 
Measurements of breeding success, adult survival and diet are collected to provide information about the mechanisms responsible for observed changes in breeding numbers.  Such parameters are revealing because they can tell us about interactions between seabirds and their environment – such as the availability of fish in the seas or pollution incidents – and so indicate how their populations can be more effectively conserved. Results from the programme have informed practical conservation and management practices aimed at protecting key components of the marine ecosystem.
 

SMP Review and future sampling strategy

In 2007, JNCC  completed a review of the aims, drivers, sampling strategy and outputs of the SMP.  In October 2008, JNCC ran  a workshop of SMP partners to determine stakeholders’ requirements for information and data, to obtain stakeholder input into JNCC's SMP review recommendations, and  to discuss ways of working more effectively together in partnership. The workshop approved, with amendments, JNCC's recommendations for an SMP Surveillance Strategy. The recommended future direction for the SMP is summarised in a paper presented to the Inter-agency Chief Scientists Group in November 2008. The SMP surveillance strategy is designed to meet the objectives of the UK Terrestrial Biodiversity Surveillance Strategy. Outputs from the review, workshop, and recommendations are available to download. 

 

 

Download

 

      2007 Review:

 

       2008 Workshop:

 

      Paper presented to the Inter-agency Chief Scientists Group in November 2008 

 

You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF documents.
 

SMP Partner Organisations