The objective of this project is the estimation, for the first time in Spain, of the mortality rates caused by three fishing gears of several species of seabirds of the Birds Directive (Balearic shearwater, Cory’s shearwater, Audouin’s gull and European shag) in eastern Spain.

The objective of this project is the estimation, for the first time in Spain, of the mortality rates caused by three fishing gears of several species of seabirds of the Birds Directive (Balearic shearwater, Cory’s shearwater, Audouin’s gull and European shag) in eastern Spain.

The objective of this project is the estimation, for the first time in Spain, of the mortality rates caused by three fishing gears of several species of seabirds of the Birds Directive (Balearic shearwater, Cory’s shearwater, Audouin’s gull and European shag) in eastern Spain.

The project seeks to use the recoveries of tagged animals that have been collected in recent decades from the mass ringing of these species that has been carried out in different Spanish Mediterranean colonies (mainly the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and the Valencian Community). The most sophisticated mathematical capture-recapture models will be used to estimate the probability of death in different fishing gears (longline, gillnet and sport fishing) and thus quantitatively know the effect that this mortality has on the viability of the species under study.

To achieve these objectives, the following action plan has been drawn up:

• Collection of historical data from ringing and recovery of the species under study
• Estimate the probabilities of mortality for each of the species and for each fishing gear considered
• Model the probabilities of extinction of each seabird species taking into account mortality in fishing gear and making predictions under different management scenarios and application of different mitigation measures
• To make predictions on the viability of the populations of the species under study, taking into account the fishing policies prohibiting and regulating discards by the trawl fleet, in order to combine sustainable fishing with the conservation of marine biological diversity
• Creation of a simple and free mobile app tool to facilitate the transfer of information about mortality events to fishing guilds and clubs
• Communication and merchandising campaign in the 70 fishing guilds of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, as well as in all the fishing clubs of these Autonomous Communities.