Jersey to host Balearic Shearwater workshop
A workshop for the conservation of Balearic Shearwater is being hosted on Jersey.
The species – the most endangered seabird in Europe – breeds mainly in its namesake Spanish archipelago, but in the summer large flocks travel to the waters around the Channel Islands. With an estimated total population of 25,000, Balearic Shearwater is listed as Critically Endangered.
Balearic Shearwater is Critically Endangered due to its rapidly declining population (Matthew Barfield).
The workshop is set to bring conservationists from France and the Channel Islands together for the first time and aims to gather data across various organisations in order to understand the importance of the Channel Islands for this species.
It will also produce management recommendations and start a collaborative project enabling all organisations in the region to coordinate monitoring and conservations efforts.
Experts from the Natural Environment Teams in Guernsey and Jersey, the Alderney Wildlife Trust, the Alderney Bird Observatory, the Channel Islands Bird Ringing Scheme, the Societe Jersiaise, Durrell and the National Trust for Jersey will be involved.
Cris Sellarés, from the Birds On The Edge partnership, said: "This is an exciting new partnership that will set the basis for future collaborations between the Channel Islands and France. We need to look beyond what biodiversity we have on our individual Islands and treat the sea as another key component of our shared natural heritage."