Marine protected areas and the conservation of seabirds: Data collection

We have already carried out the field work and data collection of the project “AMARYPESCA: Las aves marinas como instrumento para la mejora de la gestión pesquera y acuícola en el contexto de una RAMPE sostenible” (seabirds as a tool to improve the management of fisheries and aquaculture in the context of a sustainable RAMPE). This project has two objectives: 1) determining the role of the Spanish network of marine protected areas (Spanish acronym: RAMPE) in the conservation of seabirds, and 2) addressing the interactions between seabirds and both fishing and aquaculture activities, in order to improve the management of RAMPE and of the human activities at sea. These objectives align with LIFE INTEMARES actions, which aim for an efficient management of marine areas from Natura 2000 with the collaboration of the sectors involved and research as main tools for decision making.

AMARYPESCA project is part of the 2019 call of the Pleamar programme, which has the support of Fundación Biodiversidad (biodiversity foundation) from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic challenge and is co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The project is being developed by the Seabird Ecology Lab, from the Faculty of Biology from Universitat de Barcelona and the Institute for Research on Biodiversity (IRBio), and its partner organisation, the Asociación de Naturalistas del Sureste (ANSE), with the collaboration of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO).

Most of the fieldwork of AMARYPESCA has been carried out by the Seabird Ecology Lab, in close collaboration with ANSE, from June to September of 2020. The field campaigns were conducted by different teams in several autonomous communities: Balearic Islands, Valencian Community, Region of Murcia, Andalusia and Canary Islands (Figure 1). We have obtained abundant movement data during these campaigns, which will allow us to perform the analyses needed to achieve the objectives of AMARYPESCA.

During the field campaigns we have worked with different seabird species: Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris borealis), Scopoli’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), European storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus and Hydrobates p. melitensis) and Bulwer’s petrel (Bulweria bulwerii) (Figures 2, 3 and 4, respectively). Moreover, we are still collecting movement data from European shags (Gulosus aristotelis) and yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis) equipped with GPS/GSM transmitters (Figures 5 and 6) between January and April of the present year in the Balearic Islands and Murcia. Preliminary results on the movement and use of different habitats by these species can be found in a post below.

We have used different tracking devices to assess the use of RAMPE by seabirds and to investigate the interactions among seabirds, fishing vessels and fish farms. Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices can provide the location of tagged individuals with a very high temporal and spatial resolution. Some of these devices can also measure the acceleration of the animal and detect direct interactions with radars from fishing vessels. If the tracking devices use Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) technology, we can receive all data via the mobile communications network, virtually in real-time. Otherwise, we need to retrieve the devices after a few days and up to a month after the deployment to obtain the movement data collected by them. Check Figure 7 to see the deployment process of a GPS tracking device on the back of a Scopoli’s shearwater, and Figures 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 to see several of the devices we used depending on the species behavioural and morphological traits.

In addition to GPS tracking devices, we have also deployed Global Location Sensing (GLS) devices, or light-level geolocators (Figure 11), on a selection of individuals tagged with GPS tracking devices. Geolocators are used to study large-scale migratory movements, but they also measure the conductivity of salt water, providing useful information on whether the animals are in contact with sea water. Thus, we can infer the activity of seabirds based on the wet or dry state of the geolocator: resting on the water (geolocator wet), flying (geolocator dry) or foraging (frequent shifts in wet-dry state).

In summary, we obtained 1004 foraging trips (round trips from the breeding colony) from 290 individuals (all species) during the fieldwork developed from June to September of 2020. Out of the total amount of trips, 244 were obtained during the incubation period and 537 were obtained during the chick rearing period (Figures 12 and 13). Table 1 includes the number individuals tagged and foraging trips per species, breeding colony breeding phase. Foraging movements from all the studied seabirds cover a wide area of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, in addition to the coasts belonging to several Spanish autonomous communities and different countries in Africa.

All the movement-related data collected from the different seabirds studied here will allow us to perform a detailed spatio-temporal analysis that will help in characterising the interactions among seabirds, fishing vessels and fish farms, identifying the drivers of these interactions, and determining the most dangerous situations for seabirds. Moreover, these analyses will also enable us to propose measures to improve the management of RAMPE and of human activities at sea, which would ultimately allow a sustainable exploitation of the marine environment that minimises the adverse impact on seabirds.