Mediterranean seabird conservation: What can we do?

Abstract

Human activities in the Mediterranean determine, to a large extent, the availability of food and breeding sites for seabirds, the two most important ecological requirements for breeding seabirds. Food availability is highly dependent on fisheries activities and the availability of breeding sites is largely related with tourism pressure. Conservation plans necessarily need to incorporate the fact that Mediterranean seabirds and human activities are forced partners. However, solutions are complex because fishing policies are not commonly designed by environmental agencies and also because seabirds are organized in metapopulations which do not coincide with administrative borders. In this monographic volume, several authors describe the main characteristics of the Mediterranean seabird community, identify its conservation problems and suggest a number of technical solutions.