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Shearwaters have a unique song and a great capacity for flight that allows them to spend most of their lives flying over the sea. Although they can live for several decades, they only lay one egg a year and always lay with the same partner and in the same place. These and other characteristics make them very poorly adaptable to rapid changes in their environment and make them some of the most vulnerable birds in the world.

In Spain we find four species belonging to the Procellariformes group, the Mediterranean and Atlantic Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea and Calonectris borealis), the Mediterranean (Puffinus yelkouan) and the Balearic Islands (Puffinus mauretanicus), which share habitat on land (breeding colonies) and at sea (mainly on the continental shelf), as well as threat factors, including bycatch.

All of them, according to SEO/BirdLife, show negative population trends in recent years and are included in various lists of threats, so they must have conservation strategies at the state level. The Spanish Catalogue of Threatened Species (CEEA) lists the Balearic and Cory’s shearwaters in the “endangered” and “vulnerable” categories, respectively, and the Mediterranean shearwater is included in the List of Wild Species under Special Protection Regime (LESPRE). Of these, only the Balearic shearwater has a specific conservation strategy, which needs to be renewed, according to the organization.

In this context, this project aims to update knowledge about these birds and to implement (or update, in the case of the Balearic shearwater) strategies to coordinate monitoring and conservation work. By sharing habitat and threats, it is appropriate to propose a joint conservation strategy to optimize efforts, according to SEO/BirdLife.

The overall objective of the project has been to update knowledge and propose guidelines for the conservation of four threatened seabird species: the Balearic shearwater, the Mediterranean shearwater and the Mediterranean and Atlantic Cory’s shearwaters. It is also proposed to review the information available on these species, directly addressing some gaps in knowledge, and to disseminate their problems.

The specific objectives were as follows:

• Collect and update knowledge on population, status and threats of the four shearwater species targeted by the project.
• To lay the foundations for a joint conservation strategy for the four species of shearwaters targeted by the project, which will make it possible to prioritize and optimally coordinate monitoring and conservation actions.
• Develop a communication and political action strategy that highlights the four species at the regional, state and international levels.

• Compilation and updating of information through the review of 283 bibliographic sources on the status of populations and threats affecting the shearwater species targeted by the project. Consultations have also been carried out with 21 experts, both national and international, involved in the study of the state of the populations and demography, ecology and distribution patterns, among others.
• Development of exploratory surveys for the location of nests and the estimation of the breeding population of the species.
• Holding a face-to-face workshop with experts to discuss and integrate the experience and vision of all parties in the Conservation Strategy through a participatory process.
• Preparation of the Strategy for the Conservation of Shearwaters in Spain, which covers the 5 species of shearwater with the presence of breeding populations in Spain: the Mediterranean Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), the Atlantic Cory’s shearwater (Calonectris borealis), the Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus), the northern shearwater (Puffinus baroli) and the Canary Island shearwater (Puffinus puffinus canariensis). It also includes the species and subspecies of shearwaters that are common in Spanish coasts and waters despite not having breeding colonies, such as the Mediterranean shearwater(Puffinus yelkouan), the pigeon-finned shearwater (Puffinus puffinus puffinus puffinus), the grim shearwater(Ardenna grisea), and the black-capped shearwater (Ardenna gravis). Finally, although they are not considered a preferred target in the strategy, different species of petrels and storm-petrels could also benefit.
• Dissemination and communication of the project, including actions aimed at both the general public and professionals, especially those related to the fishing sector and public administrations. Among them, a website has been created, graphic and audiovisual resources have been designed that show the species of shearwater studied and their main threats, an informative infographic video has been published on YouTube, an infographic has been designed, an identification notebook has been published in the magazine “Aves y Naturaleza” and, for children, the comic “On holiday with shearwaters” has been produced. Press releases have also been prepared and disseminated and a visit with journalists to areas where shearwaters are present was held, attended by 6 different media outlets.

The main objective of the project has been to lay the foundations for the creation of a conservation strategy to ensure a legal framework of protection for the shearwater species present in Spain, as well as to raise awareness of these species and their conservation problems among the general public. In this sense, and given that these species, in many cases, show similar ecology and common threats, their conservation poses similar challenges. To address them, the project has been based on three main pillars: updating the available information, developing a shearwater conservation strategy and social communication.

In order to carry out the conservation strategy, on the one hand, a bibliographic compilation was carried out by reviewing 283 sources and consulting a total of 21 experts. On the other hand, censuses have been carried out to update the existing information, both in Menorca in relation to the Mediterranean Cory’s shearwater, and in two areas of Galicia studying the reproductive success of the Atlantic Cory’s shearwater. In the case of Menorca, a breeding population of 750 pairs of Mediterranean Cory’s shearwater has been estimated, so the population estimate is lower than those previously obtained by other authors except in the area of the island of Aire. This decline may be due to the regression that the species is currently experiencing due to accidental catches with longlines, the presence of introduced predators and the overestimation of previous studies. In the case of Galicia, in the two areas an increase in the number of pairs identified in a previous study in 2017 has been detected, being more notable in Coelleira (Lugo), where the breeding population has increased by at least nine pairs, extending mainly to the western area, an area with numerous blocks with suitable habitat for the species. It has been determined that, in both areas, the reproductive success was 71.4%.

All this data has made it possible to update the information available on these species, which has been reflected in different technical documents and publications, which have also contributed to the preparation of other technical publications and reports such as the update of the Red Book of the Birds of Spain (2021) and the Atlas of the Birds of Spain in the breeding season (2022). and which, ultimately, have been reflected in the conservation strategy.

This conservation strategy was developed collaboratively through a participatory workshop, made up of 7 experts in the target species. The strategy includes the status of the populations of the species it encompasses (Calonectris diomedea, Calonectris borealis, Puffinus mauretanicus, Puffinus yelkouan, Puffinus baroli, Puffinus puffinus, Puffinus puffinus puffinus, Puffinus puffinus canariensis, Adenna grisea and Adenna gravis) and specific threats to which each of the taxa are exposed and their degree of severity. It also establishes the priority actions to be carried out and the criteria for the identification and delimitation of critical areas for the aforementioned species.

Finally, the communication work has included the creation of a new website, an informative audiovisual and infographic, an article to help identify these birds and a comic aimed at children, as well as several articles and press releases that have had a great impact on the media, also promoted by a trip organised with journalists to learn first-hand about the colonies of the shearwaters of Menorca and their threats.