Balearic Shearwater Monitoring Project

Tender description

Seabird Monitoring Team, based in Aberdeen, co-ordinates and participates in surveys that will contribute to our understanding of changes in distribution patterns of seabirds and identify key gaps in the evidence base for understanding natural capital assets and benefits. To this end, the Team entered into a partnership agreement with CEFAS and MARINElife to commence the Balearic Shearwater Monitoring Project. The project aims to deliver data on the UK's at-sea non-breeding Balearic Shearwater population, an IUCN red-listed species that is critically endangered and is not routinely monitored in UK waters. This work will build on and continue recent work developed by Natural England, in partnership with Cefas and MARINElife, to deliver data on the UK's at-sea non-breeding Balearic shearwater population. From 2015 to 2017, Natural England funded Balearic shearwater surveys, conducted by MARINElife, on Cefas PELTIC research cruises. Funding allowed the collection of robust European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) standard data from those cruises, ultimately providing information on Balearic shearwater distribution and relative abundance within the survey area. Data have continued to be collected on a voluntary basis by MARINElife since then but using less robust methods and covering a smaller area. The JNCC will contribute to the partnership by providing expertise in conducting seabird surveys and contracting two ESAS-trained seabird surveyors for a period of approximately five weeks, during which time they will be onboard the RV CEFAS Endeavour as it completes its Autumn 2022 PELTIC survey within the Celtic Sea and English Channel. The professional surveyors will collect Balearic shearwater data which will increase the evidence base and time series data for this species.