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To assess whether the Good Environmental Status of seabird populations in the SPAs of the Spanish Mediterranean is compromised by competition for food resources posed by fishing, as well as to provide the necessary information to the Management Plans of the SPAs, to manage fishing activity, allowing to maintain seabird populations in a good state of conservation in these areas

Specific objectives of the project

SO1: Quantify the Fishing Footprint in the 2 Mediterranean DMCs and 9 marine SPAs from the point of view of seabirds for inclusion in the drafting/updating of the Management Plans of marine SPAs.
OE2: To evaluate annually, in the 2 DMCs and 9 SPAs, the evolution in the availability of food for breeding seabirds over the last 30 years (1990-2019), analyzing spatiotemporally the abundance of the three main food sources for seabirds (small pelagics, discards and food from aquaculture).
SO3: Study annually the relationship between the distribution and abundance of food with reproductive success and/or the abundance of seabirds in the 9 selected SPAs.
SO4: Quantitatively analyse the impact of commercial fishing on the availability of food for birds in marine SPAs.
SO5: Analysis of gaps in available information on seabirds to ensure assessment of the relationship between fishing activity and seabirds at the trophic level.
SO6: Dissemination of project results to fishers and the general public.

A1. Compilation and descriptive analysis of fishing activities today (2016-2019).
A2. Historical assessment of food availability for seabirds during the breeding season (1990-2019).
A3. Seabird data collection and analysis (1990-2019).
A4. Annual analysis (1990-2019) of the relationship between food availability and breeding parameters and/or abundance of A5 seabirds
. Quantitative analysis of the impact of commercial fishing on the availability of prey for birds.
A6. Analysis of deficiencies in existing information and design of monitoring programs.
A7. Transfer of the results obtained or the reports generated to the administration with a view to their future incorporation into Management Plans of the A8 marine
SPAs. Organization of information days in fishermen’s
guilds A9. General dissemination of the project and publication of informative materials

The project has assessed the impact of fishing on the availability of food for seabirds in the Levantine-Balearic demarcation and in 7 marine SPAs defined as feeding areas for seabirds (ES0000508, ES0000510, ES0000512, ES0000513, ES0000514, ES0000520, and ES0000521). It has also been evaluated in two future marine SPAs (Catalan Central Coast and Mallorca-Menorca Channel), which have not yet been declared.

Firstly, the project analyses the fishing footprint between 2016 and 2019 in the Levantine-Balearic demarcation and in the SPAs based on the use of space by the different fishing modalities and their landings (analysed from VMS and DEA data). These same data, provided by the Ministry of Fisheries for the period 2008-2019, together with existing information in technical reports on the abundance of sardines and anchovies (1996-2020), have been used to assess the availability of food for seabirds (small pelagics and discards) throughout the study area, paying special attention to the aforementioned SPAs.

On the other hand, all the existing information between 1990 and 2019 has been compiled regarding the abundance in the breeding season (both in colonies and in the sea) and reproductive parameters of eight species of seabirds: the Balearic and Cory’s shearwaters, the European storm petrel, the Audouin’s and yellow-legged gulls, the sandwich and common terns and the little tern. This information has been used to evaluate, in those species with sufficient information, how food availability correlates annually with abundance or reproductive success. The energy needs of each species and of the seabirds as a whole have also been assessed annually, as well as the energy available annually in the form of food for seabirds at the demarcation and SPA level. In this sense, the results show how the energy present in the environment, once the fishery resources have been extracted, could seem sufficient to maintain the seabird populations of recent years, both in the demarcation and in the different SPAs. However, it is not only birds that feed on these resources, but also other taxa not considered here and that should be taken into account in future studies. In addition, this energy may not be sufficient if, despite being present, it is not accessible to birds, something that cannot be calculated with the information currently available. This can be the case for both small pelagics, which account for most of the energy present in the environment, and discards, which by themselves cannot provide enough energy to meet the energy needs of seabirds in the region during breeding.

Finally, it should be noted that the analysis of all the available information has made it possible to identify those knowledge gaps related to bird monitoring, which make a good environmental assessment impossible, and to propose improvements in the existing Monitoring Programmes in order to correctly assess both Descriptor 1 of the MSDM (Biodiversity), and especially Descriptor 4 (Food webs). as well as to improve the management of marine SPAs from the point of view of the trophic requirements of breeding seabird populations.

This link shows the detailed results as well as the highlights of the project, including some examples of the data analysed with the most significant results.