Seabird Monitoring in the California Current System

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

U.S. Geological Survey

Regional Seabird Conservation Plan

Objectives

• Review seabird resources, threats, and management issues

• Identify priorities for management, monitoring, research and outreach

• Develop a comprehensive strategy to direct future FWS actions

Seabird Monitoring Program for Seabird Monitoring Program for the California Current Systemthe California Current System

• Monitoring at a variety of scales, using a hierarchical approach

• Scientifically rigorous, and logistically and fiscally feasible

• Cooperatively with other federal, state, and private partners

USFWS is working with USGS and seabird experts throughout the Pacific to develop a monitoring program for seabirds breeding in the California Current System.

NWR

State

Oceanographic sub-region

California Current System

Geographic ScopeGeographic Scope

California Current System: coastal and marine habitats from Scott Islands, British Columbia, Canada to Punta Eugenia, Baja

California Sur, Mexico

Initial effort is focused on the U.S. portion of the CCS.

Seabird Monitoring WorkshopsSeabird Monitoring Workshops

• Experts in seabird monitoring convened for two workshops

Oregon - September 2004 Southern California - April 2005

• Participants from Canada, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California

• Experts from USGS, USFWS, State Agencies, University, and private sector

Objectives of Seabird Monitoring Objectives of Seabird Monitoring WorkshopsWorkshops

• Develop specific objectives for seabird monitoring in the CCS

• Outline the underlying design or framework for a seabird monitoring program

• Select focal species for monitoring

• For each of these species recommend: monitoring locations, population parameters, measurement variables, and field methodologies.

Goals for Seabird MonitoringGoals for Seabird Monitoring

• GOAL 1 Detect and understand changes in the status and trends of seabird populations in support of conservation strategies in the CCS.

• GOAL 2

Integrate seabird monitoring into an overall assessment of the health of the marine/coastal ecosystem in the CCS.

Goals for Seabird MonitoringGoals for Seabird Monitoring

OBJECTIVES

• Monitor trends of seabird populations.

• Determine conservation status of seabird populations, incorporating abundance, distribution, trends, and threats to seabird populations.

• Gain insight as to causes of population change.

• Collaborate with partners to achieve and advance all objectives.

GOAL 1: Detect and understand changes in the status and trends of seabird populations in support of conservation strategies in the CCS.

Goals for Seabird MonitoringGoals for Seabird Monitoring

OBJECTIVES• Use seabirds as indicators of CCS health (i.e. structure,

function, and productivity).

• Collaborate with partners to integrate seabird monitoring with other marine monitoring efforts.

GOAL 2: Integrate seabird monitoring into an overall assessment of the health of the marine/coastal ecosystem in the CCS.

Considerations for Species Selection

• Birds of Conservation Concern

• Stewardship species – those species and subspecies for which the CCS supports the majority of the global population

• Representation from each foraging guild

• Species with broad distribution across the oceanographic sub-regions of the CCS

• Species that can provide data to address the Goals and Objectives

TARGET SPECIES

Leach's Storm-PetrelAshy Storm-PetrelPelagic CormorantBrandt's CormorantWestern GullGlaucous-winged GullElegant TernBlack SkimmerCommon MurreXantus's MurreletCassin's AukletRhinoceros Auklet

Basic Framework of the Monitoring Program

Two tiered approach

• Inventory of all colonies at infrequent intervals (e.g., every 10-15 years)

• More intensive monitoring of population parameters of target species at selected colonies

Schedule

2005 Draft manual developed:Species specific recommendations for monitoring, monitoring locations, population parameters,

measurement variables, and field methodologies.

Spring 2006 Review by team of experts

Summer 2006 Peer review

Fall 2006 Final Manual