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Mediterranean seabirds
Volume 20/Number
6/June
1989
Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 20, No. 6, p. 293, 1989. Printed in Great Britain.
Mediterranean Seabirds The 2nd Mediterranean Seabird Symposium was held in Calvia, Mallorca, on 21-26 March 1989. Until rather recently the only things that were known about Mediterranean seabirds were that they include a number of remarkable endemic forms left over from the breakup of the ancient Tethys Ocean when Africa bumped into Eurasia, and that the inhabitants had hunted most of them close to extinction. Then in March 1986 an enigmatic organization called Medmaravis (which apparently stands for Mediterranean Marine Avifaunas) unobtrusively organized by Xaver Monbailliu (20 rue St. Martin, 75004 Paris) suddenly convened a conference at Alghero, Sardinia, which resulted in a massive volume of Proceedings (Medmaravis & Monbailliu, X., eds., Mediterranean Marine Avifauna: Population Studies and Conservation, NATO ASI Series G: Ecological Sciences Vol. 12, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1986), covering an astonishing variety of new, original and interesting observations throughout the area. Clearly it was necessary to find out what was going on. At the first approach the second Symposium, organized in conjunction with the Grup Balear d'Ornitologia (founded and organized by Sr Joan Mayol-Serra, and known affectionately as GOB) resembled primeval chaos, with the instructions arriving after the meeting thanks to a postal strike, and everything starting an hour late. Then a pattern began to emerge; the organizers had actually taken endless trouble to lay on a good programme with simultaneous translations in the official languages English and Spanish, most of the speakers whether young or old were breaking new ground with contributions we had not heard before, and everyone was remarkably affable. A great breakthrough was achieved with the appearance of a Russian and a Bulgarian with accounts of the situation around the Black Sea. I. Chernichko reported that over the last quarter of a century, during which there has been little news, an expansion of the feeding area (and clearly good conservation) has caused the incomparable populations of seabirds breeding along the north coast to expand from 200 000 to 450 000 pairs of gulls and terns, with 317 000 of Mediterranean Gulls Larus melanocephalus (well over 90% of the world population), 35 000 of Slender-billed Gulls L. genei, 326 of Great Black-headed Gulls L. ichthyaetus, 30 000 of Sandwich Terns Sterna sandvicensis, 1200 of the increasing Caspian Tern S. caspia, 2500 of the rapidly declining Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica, 20 000 Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo and 150 Pygmy Cormorants P pygmaeus on the inner waters, and 1200 Shags P. aristotelis on the outer ones.
0025-326X/89 $3.00+0.00 © 1989 Pergamon Press pie
Dimitar Nankinov described how the Mediterranean Gulls, which feed inland in summer, then flood westward to winter at sea, and reported on the welfare of the better-known bird populations of the Danube delta; apparently they also have a Yellow-legged Gull Larus cachinnans (formerly regarded as a race of the Herring Gull L. argentatus) explosion in Bulgaria, with 2500 pairs nesting on their roofs. A series of other speakers reported how following the growing implementation of similar conservation measures hundreds and thousands of the birds named are now also beginning to spread west along the north coast of the Mediterranean to the great deltas of the Evros, Po, Rhone, and Ebro, where they had long been wiped out (it seems a pity that nobody seems to be doing anything about the Nile yet . . .). John Walmsley described how the birds are starting to use the salinas where salt is manufactured, with a plea for more toleration for wildlife there. Eduardo de Juana and Juan Varela also reported how following the institution of conservation measures at the Spanish military base on the Chaffarinas Islands off north Africa the remarkable threatened Mediterranean endemic species Audouin's Gull Larus audouini, which was only thought to number a few hundred birds in the 1960s, has increased and established additional large colonies up the east coast of Spain, so that there are now over 8000 pairs again; it seems a pity that the Spanish armed forces are none the less continuing to spoil their improving image by carrying out manoeuvres on the island that the Balearics would like to have for a National Park, Cabrera, in the breeding season. Maria Grotta reported that the Yellow-legged Gulls have disappeared from everywhere around Naples except Capri, however, apparently as a result of growing human disturbance and pollution. Aristeo Renzoni described how analyses of toxic chemicals in Cory's Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea show that whereas birds breeding at Madeira and where Atlantic water enters the Mediterranean past Linosa in the Sicilian Channel and Crete are still comparatively unpolluted, those breeding in the outgoing current at the Balearic Islands are beginning to show rising toxic chemical levels, though fortunately still far short of the point where effects might be expected. M. Sara also described how this species is now profiting by feeding behind fishing-boats like northern seabirds. Indeed, some of the birds are apparently also helping to spread pollution, as where Pierre Bartoli reported that the Yellow-legged Gulls carry distinctive Mediterranean digenetical trematodes to north-west Europe when they move there during the hot weather in summer. Clearly these birds need watching; the Proceedings will be published as a special number of Ardeola. W. R. P. BOURNE
293
6/June
1989
Marine Pollution Bulletin, Volume 20, No. 6, p. 293, 1989. Printed in Great Britain.
Mediterranean Seabirds The 2nd Mediterranean Seabird Symposium was held in Calvia, Mallorca, on 21-26 March 1989. Until rather recently the only things that were known about Mediterranean seabirds were that they include a number of remarkable endemic forms left over from the breakup of the ancient Tethys Ocean when Africa bumped into Eurasia, and that the inhabitants had hunted most of them close to extinction. Then in March 1986 an enigmatic organization called Medmaravis (which apparently stands for Mediterranean Marine Avifaunas) unobtrusively organized by Xaver Monbailliu (20 rue St. Martin, 75004 Paris) suddenly convened a conference at Alghero, Sardinia, which resulted in a massive volume of Proceedings (Medmaravis & Monbailliu, X., eds., Mediterranean Marine Avifauna: Population Studies and Conservation, NATO ASI Series G: Ecological Sciences Vol. 12, Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1986), covering an astonishing variety of new, original and interesting observations throughout the area. Clearly it was necessary to find out what was going on. At the first approach the second Symposium, organized in conjunction with the Grup Balear d'Ornitologia (founded and organized by Sr Joan Mayol-Serra, and known affectionately as GOB) resembled primeval chaos, with the instructions arriving after the meeting thanks to a postal strike, and everything starting an hour late. Then a pattern began to emerge; the organizers had actually taken endless trouble to lay on a good programme with simultaneous translations in the official languages English and Spanish, most of the speakers whether young or old were breaking new ground with contributions we had not heard before, and everyone was remarkably affable. A great breakthrough was achieved with the appearance of a Russian and a Bulgarian with accounts of the situation around the Black Sea. I. Chernichko reported that over the last quarter of a century, during which there has been little news, an expansion of the feeding area (and clearly good conservation) has caused the incomparable populations of seabirds breeding along the north coast to expand from 200 000 to 450 000 pairs of gulls and terns, with 317 000 of Mediterranean Gulls Larus melanocephalus (well over 90% of the world population), 35 000 of Slender-billed Gulls L. genei, 326 of Great Black-headed Gulls L. ichthyaetus, 30 000 of Sandwich Terns Sterna sandvicensis, 1200 of the increasing Caspian Tern S. caspia, 2500 of the rapidly declining Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica, 20 000 Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo and 150 Pygmy Cormorants P pygmaeus on the inner waters, and 1200 Shags P. aristotelis on the outer ones.
0025-326X/89 $3.00+0.00 © 1989 Pergamon Press pie
Dimitar Nankinov described how the Mediterranean Gulls, which feed inland in summer, then flood westward to winter at sea, and reported on the welfare of the better-known bird populations of the Danube delta; apparently they also have a Yellow-legged Gull Larus cachinnans (formerly regarded as a race of the Herring Gull L. argentatus) explosion in Bulgaria, with 2500 pairs nesting on their roofs. A series of other speakers reported how following the growing implementation of similar conservation measures hundreds and thousands of the birds named are now also beginning to spread west along the north coast of the Mediterranean to the great deltas of the Evros, Po, Rhone, and Ebro, where they had long been wiped out (it seems a pity that nobody seems to be doing anything about the Nile yet . . .). John Walmsley described how the birds are starting to use the salinas where salt is manufactured, with a plea for more toleration for wildlife there. Eduardo de Juana and Juan Varela also reported how following the institution of conservation measures at the Spanish military base on the Chaffarinas Islands off north Africa the remarkable threatened Mediterranean endemic species Audouin's Gull Larus audouini, which was only thought to number a few hundred birds in the 1960s, has increased and established additional large colonies up the east coast of Spain, so that there are now over 8000 pairs again; it seems a pity that the Spanish armed forces are none the less continuing to spoil their improving image by carrying out manoeuvres on the island that the Balearics would like to have for a National Park, Cabrera, in the breeding season. Maria Grotta reported that the Yellow-legged Gulls have disappeared from everywhere around Naples except Capri, however, apparently as a result of growing human disturbance and pollution. Aristeo Renzoni described how analyses of toxic chemicals in Cory's Shearwaters Calonectris diomedea show that whereas birds breeding at Madeira and where Atlantic water enters the Mediterranean past Linosa in the Sicilian Channel and Crete are still comparatively unpolluted, those breeding in the outgoing current at the Balearic Islands are beginning to show rising toxic chemical levels, though fortunately still far short of the point where effects might be expected. M. Sara also described how this species is now profiting by feeding behind fishing-boats like northern seabirds. Indeed, some of the birds are apparently also helping to spread pollution, as where Pierre Bartoli reported that the Yellow-legged Gulls carry distinctive Mediterranean digenetical trematodes to north-west Europe when they move there during the hot weather in summer. Clearly these birds need watching; the Proceedings will be published as a special number of Ardeola. W. R. P. BOURNE
293