Britain's seabirds starve

The cliffs fall silent as hungry mouths are left un-fed
 
13 December 2005
 
Pair of northern fulmars©Matt Parsons/JNCCWidespread seabird starvation has occurred in some of our largest and most renowned colonies, a report by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the Government's advisers on UK nature conservation, has revealed.
 
On St Kilda, one of the UK's largest seabird colonies and a designated World Heritage Site, puffin chicks starved to death in their burrows, as their parents failed to find sufficient food for them. A pitiful sight confronted seabird biologists, as adults brought back beak-fulls of inedible pipefish in a vain attempt to nourish their offspring.
 
The reason for this mass starvation was a widespread shortage of the lesser sandeel Ammodytes marinus. This energy-rich fish is the staple diet of many seabirds, and is key to their breeding and survival.  But in 2005 shoals of this usually abundant species were largely absent from the seas around western Scotland. While other fish were taken as an alternative, few provide the energy required to raise the growing chicks.
 
Poor breeding seasons have occurred before; for many parts of the UK, 2004 was the worst on record, sparking fears that global warming had fundamentally affected the ecosystem of the North Sea, the area most badly affected. However, seabird colonies on Scotland's north-west coast, which hold internationally important numbers, have up to now been unaffected.
 
A Pair of common guillemots©Matt Parsons/JNCCA reversal of fortune took place in 2005, however, when food shortages struck the west coast colonies with dramatic effect. Black-legged kittiwakes raised only a handful of chicks from a colony of 1,000 pairs on the isle of Canna in the inner Hebrides; this was the lowest number during the 37 years of seabird study carried out on the island. In contrast, seabird colonies along the North Sea coast that failed to raise any young in 2004 fared better this year, but still produced fewer chicks than usual. It appears that in many parts of the North Sea, sandeels were still in short supply, since those birds that bred successfully supplemented their chicks' diet with other fish not normally taken.
 
The reasons for the shortages of sandeels in recent years are complex and not fully understood. However, as sandeels feed on plankton, it is on these tiny floating organisms that many scientific studies have focused. There have been striking changes in the abundance, species composition, and timing of occurrence of plankton in our seas over the last few years. These changes are related to an increase in the surface temperature of the sea, which have occurred over the past three decades, particularly in the North Sea.
 
Although no causal link has been identified between seabird breeding performance and the industrial sandeel fishery off south-east Scotland, the fishery has recently been closed due to concerns about its potential effect on kittiwake breeding success.
 
Dr Matthew Parsons of JNCC, who co-ordinates the UK's Seabird Monitoring Programme, said "the seas around the British Isles are changing, and it is clear that its seabird populations are providing a barometer with which we can measure how these changes work their way up the food chain. It is imperative that we continue to monitor our seabird populations in the future, and so contribute to a better understanding of how to conserve the diversity of life around our coast." 

- ENDS -
 
Notes for Editors:

 

  1. UK Seabirds in 2005 is a booklet summarising the results of the UK Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP). An electronic version of the leaflet is available as a downloadable PDF. Led by JNCC, the programme co-ordinates the monitoring of seabird breeding numbers and breeding success throughout the UK.  Data from the Republic of Ireland is also collated, to set the results in a wider geographical context. The results of the SMP are published annually by JNCC in full as Seabird numbers and breeding success in Britain and Ireland.
  2. The following organisations are partners with JNCC in the SMP: Scottish Natural Heritage, Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature, Environment and Heritage Service (Northern Ireland), Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, The Seabird Group, Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group, BirdWatch Ireland, National Parks and Wildlife Service (Dept. of Environment, Heritage and Local Government – Republic of Ireland).
  3. Much of the information of the SMP is collected by volunteers, some of whom are helped with expenses made available via the Seabird Group (for which, see http://www.seabirdgroup.org.uk/).
  4. JNCC is the forum through which the three country conservation agencies – the Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature and Scottish Natural Heritage - deliver their statutory responsibilities for Great Britain as a whole, and internationally. These responsibilities contribute to sustaining and enriching biological diversity, enhancing geological features and sustaining natural systems. As well as a source of advice and knowledge for the public, JNCC is the Government's wildlife adviser, providing guidance on the development of policies for, or affecting, nature conservation in GB or internationally.  JNCC was created by the Environmental Protection Act 1990. More details about JNCC's work are available through its website at http://www.jncc.gov.uk/
 
Further information:
General media enquiries:
Communications Team, JNCC
Tel: 01733 866839 Fax: 01733 555948
 

For an interview with the project co-ordinator, or answers to technical questions, please contact Dr Matt Parsons at the Aberdeen office of JNCC, Tel 01224 655715;

 
A pdf (375 kb) is available online. The following digital images are also available upon request:
 
The following digital images may be obtained from JNCC Communications, each available as jpeg (c.0.5 megabyte) and TIF (c.35 megabyte):
 
Pair of common guillemots (Photograph by Matt Parsons)
Black-legged kittiwake on its nest (Photograph by Matt Parsons)
Northern fulmar (Photograph by Matt Parsons)
Pair of northern fulmars (Photograph by Matt Parsons)
 
Graphs showing changes in breeding numbers and breeding success of northern fulmar, black-legged kittiwake, common guillemot and European shag are also available from JNCC Communications.
 
News Release JNCC