Seabirds as indicators of the state of the marine environment and its conservation

Abstract

For sustainable use of marine resources, ecosystem based management is essential. However, collecting and integrating all the information needed is difficult. Thus it is important to use effective indicators of marine ecosystem change. Seabirds are believed to be useful biological indicators of marine ecosystem changes and marine pollution. In this paper, we review: 1) the responses of seabird to climate driven marine ecosystem changes, 2) the usefulness of seabirds as indicators of marine pollution and its potential effect on seabirds, 3) the status and conservation of albatrosses, focusing on the reduction of long-line by-catch. We review the seabird monitoring program globally and propose a seabird monitoring and network in Japan.