European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) Recordings

Transcription

1 European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) Recordings Kostas Gaganis «Concrete Conservation Actions for the Mediterranean Shag and Audouin s Gull in Greece, including the Inventory of Marine IBA s» (LIFE 07 NAT/GR/000285)

2 What is European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS)? Standardized ship-based method for recording atsea distribution and behaviour of seabirds, allowing utilization of a common ESAS database and GIS. In Greece: For study of distribution and behaviour primarily of: Mediterranean Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis) Audouin s Gull (Larus audouinii) Cory s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) Mediterranean Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) European Storm-petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus) Other Larus sp. For assessment of fisheries and other human activities at sea

3 Historic review The European Seabirds at Sea database was established in the early 1980s as a common database format containing results of ship-based and aerial seabird surveys in the Northwest European waters The methodology is based on the methodology by Tasker (Tasker et.al. 1984) 1, but bird behavior and their activities are recorded as well, not only presence (Kees et.al. 2004) 2 In Greece started in 2007 as part of the project Survey and conservation of seabirds in Greece ( ) From 2009 intensive surveys throughout Aegean and Ionian Sea in the framework of LIFE Nature project Concrete Conservation Actions for the Mediterranean Shag and Audouin s Gull in Greece including the Inventory of Relevant Marine IBAs ( )

4 European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) This methodology is based on recording seabirds in the marine environment from boat or research vessel, with a steady course and speed of up to 20 knots At least 2 team members: observer and recorder Survey area covers a 300m wide transect parallel to ship s direction and a 90 or 180 angle from the ship s bow Swimming birds are recorded continuously while flying birds only once per minute 90 angle E >300m D m C m B m A<50m 5min 5min 5min Filling datasheets: There are 2 types of datasheets which must be filled during every SAS survey. 1. Ship datasheet (every 5 minutes) 2. Species datasheet (Presence and activity of seabirds are continuously recorded)

5 Original ESAS sheet were adjusted to Greek conditions and requirements of the project: Datasheets in English and in Greek, hardcopy and electronic (in EXCEL) GIS compatible database (in ACCESS) Additional categories for fisheries, pollution Inventories of the seabirds and sea-mammals

6 New Greek ESAS datasheets

7 Establishment of data base and datasheets in digital format for observers, directly compatible with the database

8 Compilation of Greek and English manual

9 European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) What has been achieved so far: Group of experienced volunteers -15 volunteers -Trained by HOS members (theoretical and practical seminars) Terms, conditions and obligations Team of two persons Able to recognize seabirds Able to work and cooperate under various working environments and conditions at sea Familiar with the use of GPS Can collaborate with the coordinator and the data manager Transfer their data to the electronic protocols and send it to the data manager

10 Ferry boat routes In total >120 ferry boat routes covering most of the Ionian and east and south Aegean. 2 shipping companies sponsoring ferry boat tickets for ESAS observers Remote regions of the Northern Aegean are mainly covered research vessels. Fig: Ferry boat routes

11 Results Total trips: 92 Total length (km): Total area (km 2 ): Average speed (knots): 13.4 Total counts of birds and marine mammals: Total seabird number: Rest of marine fauna: 699 Fig. : Total area covered

12 Comparison between Ferry routes and the total area covered Fig: Ferry boat routes Fig. : Total area covered

13 European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) Seabird counts: Calonectris diomedea: Puffinus yelkouan: Larus michahellis: Larus audouinii: 9 Phalacrocorax aristotelis: 991 Hydrobates pelagicus: 7

14 European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) Spatial distribution of recorded seabirds (on 10x10km grid)

15 Density of Calonectris diomedea

16 Density of Puffinus yelkouan

17 European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) The rest of the marine fauna includes: Common dolphin, Delphinus delphis Bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncates Striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba Rissso s dolphin, Grampus griseous Sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus Albacore tuna, Thunnus alalunga

18 Sea mammals Common dolphins, Delphinus delphis (DELDEL) Bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncates (TURTRU)

19 Sea mammals Striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba (STECOE) Risso s dolphin, Grampus griseus (GRAGRI)

20 Sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus

21 European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) References: 1 M. L.Tasker, P. H. Jones PH, Dixon T and B. F. Blake (1984) Counting seabirds at sea from ships: A review of methods employed and suggestion for a standardized approach. The Auk 101: C. J. Champhuysen and S. Garthe (2004) Recording foraging seabirds at sea: Standardized recording and coding of foraging behaviour. Atlantic Seabirds 5(si) J. Fric (2007) European Seabirds at Sea Methodology, Hellenic Ornithological Society Photos: HOS Archive: Aris Christidis, Kostas Gaganis, Jakob Fric, Giannis Markianos, SPEA, BirdLife International/ Ben Lascelles