Scotland’s seabirds are in crisis. Here’s how you can help us turn the tide, writes Head of Marine Policy, Helen McLachlan.
I was brought up with the cry of Scotland’s seabirds in my ears and have lived close to places where they breed most of my adult life. They constantly fill me with wonder and awe. These ocean voyagers make unbelievable journeys across the open seas, often returning to within inches of the place they were born to breed and raise their own young on our coasts and islands.
They are an immensely fascinating and varied group, long-lived – Fulmars live well over 40 years - raising just one or two chicks each year and putting enormous investment into their offspring’s survival.
There’s the Arctic Tern. Nicknamed the Sea Swallow, or the bird of light and air, as they have the longest migration of any animal, voyaging thousands of miles between the two polar regions each year. Astonishingly, they travel the equivalent of three trips to the moon in their lifetimes.
Impressive Gannets can reach speeds of 60mph when they expertly dive in the sea, streamlined as a javelin, with specially adapted skulls to allow them to withstand such high impact as they dive down to catch fish. Scotland is home to almost 50% of the world’s total population of Northern Gannets, with the Bass Rock hosting the largest Gannet colony on Earth.
With their brightly-coloured bills and orange 'socks’, Puffins are as unmistakable as they are charming. They usually mate for life, producing puffin chicks or ‘pufflings’ and nuzzling their partner’s beak as a form of greeting and affection.
And that’s just to name a few. Scotland hosts more than half of the UK’s seabirds. Our islands, seas and coasts, where they return each year to breed and rear their young, are absolutely vital for their future.
Why we need to act now to save them
But seabirds are the group of birds declining more quickly than any other globally and sadly Scottish seabirds are no exception. Their numbers have halved since the 1980s and the latest census of seabirds revealed that 70% of seabird species in Scotland are in decline.
The combined impacts of climate change, invasive predators and other activities such as overfishing of their prey fish, bycatch in fisheries and increasing offshore developments, have taken their toll.
And then there’s the catastrophic impacts of avian flu, which has ripped through colonies, decimating some populations – in the case of the Great Skua (which Scotland is of global importance for) by 76%.
The most recent Birds of Conservation Concern report added five more UK seabird species to the Red List – meaning they have suffered severe national declines or are threatened with global extinction. As top predators, seabirds are indicators of how healthy our seas are. So if they are not doing well, neither are our seas.
This really is an emergency.
We don’t want to live in a Scotland where the sound of seabird cries on our coasts and islands falls silent. And we don’t have to: we know how to turn this around.
Together, we can help save these amazing animals, and in turn our seas, and see them thriving once again. But we need to speak up now. We can, and have already, made a difference for seabirds.
After years of campaigning, and more than 11,000 of you speaking up for our seabirds, industrial sandeel fishing in Scottish waters ended this year. Though this is now being disputed by the EU, the ban is a lifeline for our seabirds and shows the positive difference people and governments can make.
Now, join us in telling the Scottish Government how important it is to take immediate action to save our seabirds.
What are we calling for?
The Scottish Seabird Conservation Action Plan is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to speak up for our beloved seabirds.
We are calling for the action plan to take these urgent measures:
Gannet and chick by Sam Turley.
Together these actions will build the much-needed resilience in our seabird populations that will allow them to thrive and cope with the multiple present and future threats.
Scotland is home to seabird populations that are important at national, European and global level. This is a huge responsibility – what we do here will have consequences both here in Scotland and globally.
It’s vital to protect these unique species. Let the Scottish Government know this should be a priority.
We’ve made it easy to send a message to the team working on the seabird action plan.
Add your voice to our action here.
Seabird numbers are plummeting. Together, we can help them soar again.
Main image by Paul Turner