Island Conservation’s Jose Luis Herrera in Mongabay: “It is critical we take action to protect seabirds”

Island Conservation's Jose Luis Herrera

A new article in Mongabay covers a recently published paper Tracking the global application of conservation translocation and seabird attraction to reverse seabird declines led by Dena Spatz in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with contributions by Island Conservation’s David Will and Coral Wolf. The paper reviewed 851 seabird restoration events that took place over the last 70 years, spanned 551 locations, and targeted 138 seabird species. the effectiveness of social attraction and translocation projects to protect seabirds.

The authors found that science-based interventions such as translocation and social attraction can help protect seabirds, one of the most threatened bird groups in the world, against threats like invasive species and the impacts of climate change. Once invasive species have been removed from islands, seabird populations can be – and have been – restored with remarkable success. 

Island Conservation Project Manager Jose Luis Herrera-Giraldo was asked to contribute to the article and provide perspective on why saving seabirds is important:

“Climate change, habitat destruction, and failing ocean health are here now, so it is critical we take action to protect and increase threatened seabird populations as fast as we can, making them more resilient,” Herrera-Giraldo told Mongabay in an emailed statement.

“Seabirds are essential connector species in island-ocean ecosystems, bringing nutrients from the sea to the land, which in turn nourishes the marine environment creating more fish biomass,” Herrera-Giraldo added. “Island communities are dependent on these natural resources for their livelihoods, sustainability, and health. The loss of seabirds from an island can cause the entire island-ocean ecosystem to collapse.”

You can read the full article here.

Featured photo credit: Laysan albatross with decoys at James Campbell NWR in Hawaii. Image by Eric VanderWerf/Pacific Rim Conservation.

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