United States

**Abstract:**

Records of bycatch of sensitive species in the Mediterranean include seabirds, elasmobranchs, cetaceans and sea turtles; however, information is scarce and unequally distributed, and there are significant gaps in certain sub-regions, and for specific fishing gears. Bycatch represents one of the most significant threats to seabirds globally. In the Mediterranean and Black Sea it is estimated that 5,100 seabirds/year are bycaught in longline fisheries, although this is likely to be an underestimate. Often, seabird bycatch is addressed in isolation from bycatch of other taxa. A multi-taxa approach can help to understand the bycatch problem and tackle it in a comprehensive way. It can reveal spatial and temporal overlap between bycatch of different taxa and allow the effectiveness of mitigation measures to be assessed across all affected taxa, therefore facilitating the identification of solutions that benefit multiple taxa, or at least avoid trade-offs between taxa. We will present the findings from data collection on multi-taxa bycatch in Cyprus, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey following a standardised data collection methodology adopted by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. It provides a first insight into bycatch in some of the data scarce areas of the Mediterranean and represents a first step towards comparable data at the regional level. We will also explore some of the benefits and opportunities of a multi-taxa approach to bycatch as well as some of the challenges.

**Authors:**

Daniel Mitchell¹, Antonio Vulcano¹

¹BirdLife Europe and Central Asia

3rd World Seabird Conference

Understanding and tackling seabird bycatch within a multi-taxa approach - results and lessons from the Mediterranean

Welcome Seabirders!  

Welcome to Virtual World Seabird Conference 3 - vWSC3! Whether you are in your office or lab, at home, in a coffee shop or bar poaching some wifi, or at a remote field site or research vessel – we are very excited to welcome you to the third ever World Seabird Conference. 

We would like to thank ALL of you for being so patient as WSC3 was scheduled, postponed, rescheduled, revised to virtual, and scheduled again. Throughout all those iterations there was one message that remained perfectly clear – seabirders were eager to meet and share their science. If we could not meet in person then virtual it would have to be, but a 3rd WSC was something everyone wanted. That support and commitment helped the WSU Board of Directors and Member Societies sort through all of the challenges they faced to plan and hold this conference. 

The list of those that need to be thanked is long and, while we plan on recognizing many during the live closing plenary, it is important to do so here in writing as well. 

The Australasian Seabird Group was our Local Host for our plan to meet in Hobart, Tasmania. They invested substantial time and effort to find venues and plan events that we unfortunately were not able to visit. Nonetheless we appreciate their work on behalf of WSC3 and encourage all of you to thank them when you see their members in Gathertown or elsewhere during our virtual meeting. Their willingness to host created the initial excitement for WSC3 and without that our vWSC would not have been possible.

We also wish to thank the Science Program Committee, the Virtual Committee, and the Early Career Scientist Committee for their hard work planning the logistics, events, and schedule for vWSC3. These committees also had to deal with changing parameters and short timelines that made what is always a challenging task even more challenging. The Travel Awards Committee also invested time and effort in developing procedures for awarding travel funds that ultimately would not be implemented. 

Our ability to shift from an in-person to a virtual meeting, and to do so in a way that would be financially feasible, was due to the effective efforts of The International Fundraising Committee and to our financial sponsors. The IFC raised funds to support WSC3 and then, through the good relationships they built with sponsors, ensured we could re-envision how those funds could be used to support a virtual conference that would be affordable and high-quality.

We all owe the WSU Board of Directors and the Representatives of the Member Societies a great deal of thanks. They are the ones who manage the WSU and, for the past 18 months, have had to have a series of challenging meetings and conversations, have had to make a series of difficult choices, have had to do all of that while considering the short- and long-term health of WSU and the World Seabird Conferences, and did this while also managing their own challenges at their day jobs. We are grateful for their diligence, patience, foresight, and throughout all of the meetings, their collegiality. Also – a 6-year term is quite a commitment!

There would not be a WSC3 without a successful WSC1 and WSC2. Thanks go to the Pacific Seabird Group for their support of WSC1 in Victoria, Canada, and to the African Seabird Group for their support of WSC2 in Cape Town, South Africa. In each of these endeavors and for our current conference we were fortunate to work with a dependable and trustworthy partner in Podium Conferences. Michelle Smith and Marischal de Armond have become valued members of our team and have not only helped us plan conferences but have assisted and advised the WSU Chairs and Board on issues above and beyond conference planning. 

As we embark on our vWSC3 week we extend to all of you our thanks for showing up, for being patient, and most importantly for the work you do with seabirds. We are all part of a unique, global community that shares an interest, a fascination, and a passion for birds that make a living in our world’s oceans. We have advanced the science, conservation, and management of seabirds as well the ecosystems they inhabit. We are consistently impressed and motivated by the work you do. 

The WSU formed in 2010 because we saw the need for a global organization to address challenges at a global level. Over the past 11 years WSU has grown, adapted, and evolved to become the community that this week is making vWSC3 a reality. Enjoy the week, appreciate and support the friends and colleagues you have made in the community, and if you see us in a virtual hallway please stop and say hello! 

Thank you for the opportunity to serve all of you and the WSU over the past few years,

Nicholas Carlile, Interim Chair, WSU<br>
Patrick Jodice, 2nd Chair of the WSU<br><br>

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Join us for four days of science, networking and virtual engagement with delegates from around the world!

technical paper

**Abstract:**

Seabirds often care for their offspring in remote breeding colonies where foraging sites may be unpredictable and distant. As a result, their young are at risk of being left unaccompanied for extended periods of time during their parents' foraging trips, leaving them vulnerable to predation. One way for this risk to be minimised is for individuals to coordinate parental care duties with their partner. The degree of flexibility and coordination that pairs are capable of has been a subject of much interest, and many seabirds are now known to coordinate their care. However, the mechanisms used to achieve coordination are largely unknown. To resolve this, we physically handicapped Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus) to reduce their foraging efficiency, forcing them to choose between an extended foraging trip or to return to the nest before they have fully recovered their condition. We found that handicapped parents took significantly longer foraging trips than normal, to which their partner responded by lengthening their incubation stint. But lengthy incubation stints appear to come at a cost with these individuals subsequently embarking on longer foraging trips once their partner returned. These results suggest that coordination emerges from a simple, individual-centric rule where foraging birds stay at sea for as long as it takes them to recover their condition, and where incubating birds remain at the nest until their partner returns. Consequently, apparently coordinated behaviour can arise without the need for explicit communication.

**Authors:**

Natasha Gillies¹, Cecile Vansteenberghe¹, Martyna Syposz¹, Tim Guilford¹

¹University of Oxford

Apparent intra-pair coordination may arise through individual behaviour in the Manx shearwater (Puffinus puffinus)

**Abstract:**

In a wide range of taxa, individuals use odor cues during mate choice to assess their genetic similarity to potential partners. However, in contrast to fish, lizards or mammals, the ability of birds to assess genetic similarity using olfactory cues has long been unexplored. We studied two seabird species: black-legged kittiwakes nesting on a radar tower on Middleton island, Alaska and blue petrels breeding at the Sub-Antarctic Kerguelen islands. We focused on similarity at genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC), which allelic diversity is crucial for resistance to pathogens. Using chemical analyses and behavioral tests, we provided the first evidence that birds can assess MHC-similarity using odor cues, which suggests that odor-based MHC recognition might be vertebrate-wide. Then, we investigated a potential mechanism by which MHC genes influence odor, i.e. by enabling the elimination of bacteria, MHC-molecules might influence odor indirectly by shaping the community of odor‐producing bacteria. We combined genetic analyses and bacterial analyses, and found that genetically-similar individuals had more similar feather microbiota. Our results were consistent with the hypothesis that individual MHC-genotype shape bacteria in scent integuments in birds. Further studies are ongoing to determine whether these bacteria produce the MHC-related odorants.

**Authors:**

Sarah Leclaire¹, Maxime Pineaux², Francesco Bonadonna¹

¹CNRS, ²University of Toulouse

Genetic similarity, odor cues and microbiota in blue petrels and kittiwakes

**Abstract:**

Traditional monitoring techniques (e.g. manual nest checks) are being increasingly combined with non-invasive monitoring technological innovations (e.g. GPS tracking, nest cameras) to aid in furthering ecological and conservation studies. By incorporating these technological innovations, it is possible to both continue long-term monitoring, whilst also collecting novel data to answer associated knowledge gaps. For example, aiding in identifying at-sea habitat usage or in-nest potential threats and breeding success rates. In the Azores, two sibling species of storm-petrel breed on the same islet, but at different times of year (Monteiro's storm-petrel, Hydrobates monteiroi, 'hot season', and the 'cool season' breeder, Madeiran storm-petrel, H. castro). While there are now well established artificial nest boxes in place, enabling detailed monitoring of breeding success and chick growth rates, there are still significant knowledge gaps about, 1) adult behaviours in the nest, 2) chick-adult interactions in the nest (e.g., length of time spent chick provisioning), 3) chick growth and survival/fitness, 4) foraging behaviours of breeding adults, and 5) within-nest threats to survival of the eggs, chicks and adults. Our study aims to provide a detailed overview of the breeding ecology of both Azorean sibling species at the nest and during foraging trips. To achieve this, we combine traditional nest monitoring techniques (daily nest checks, including daily chick weight) with more novel techniques such as GPS tracking of parent adults and the deployment of in-nest cameras (using Raspberry Pi technology). These combined approaches allow for the identification of at-sea behaviours as well as in-nest behaviours and potential threats. Preliminary in-nest results identify the presence of non-native Madeiran wall lizards (Lacerta dugesii) and other seabird species as potential threats. Conservation implications of the obtained results will be discussed.

**Authors:**

Hannah. F. Hereward¹, Renata Medeiros¹, Verónica Neves², Frank Hailer¹, Richard Facey¹, Robert Thomas¹

¹Cardiff University, ²Azores University

Exploring sibling storm-petrel species (Hydrobates sp.) breeding ecology, utilising both traditional and modern approaches

**Abstract:**

Seabirds are extensively used as environmental biomonitors and feathers are among the most analyzed matrices because they are one of the main excretory pathways to detoxify the bird's body of environmental contaminants. Still, there is a variation in contamination level between the different feathers of seabird species, driven by diet and physiology, such as molt strategy and feather formation sequence. We measured total mercury (THg) concentration in different types of feathers (wing, tail, ventral and dorsal) of the same individual in adults and juveniles of brown boobies (Sula leucogaster) from the northern coast of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. Brown booby adults and juveniles had higher THg concentration (µg.g-1 d.w.) in wing and ventral feathers compared to dorsal and tail feathers. This difference may be explained by the fact that feathers grow in a specific sequence during molts leading to different THg concentrations in each type of feather. Additionally, juveniles had significantly lower concentrations of THg than adults in all feather types, which may be explained by the shorter life span, leading to less time to bioaccumulate Hg in their body. It is essential to choose carefully which feather type is more suitable to be used as a biomonitor of THg contamination in a particular species. For brown boobies, we suggest the use of ventral feathers, which represent the highest Hg concentration, are easy to sample and do not impair the seabird's flight ability.

**Authors:**

Gabriel Bighetti¹, Janeide Padilha¹, Larissa Cunha¹, Olaf Malm¹, Patrícia Mancini¹

¹Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

Ventral feathers contained the highest mercury level in brown bobby (Sula leucogaster), a pantropical seabird species

**Abstract:**

Microplastics (MP, <5mm) have emerged as significant, ubiquitous marine contaminants; due to their size and persistent nature, MP are ingested by a variety of marine species. Studies have revealed MP transfer between low trophic levels, but few have (1) modelled the bioaccumulation potential of MP across foodwebs, and (2) investigated model accuracy using in situ data. Likewise, few studies have focused on MP pollution in tropical regions; MP have reached the historically significant UNESCO-World Heritage site, Galápagos Islands, and the implications for the endemic species inhabiting these islands remain underexplored. The endangered Galápagos Penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus), the only penguin species north of the equator, has received little attention in terms of anthropogenic impacts and is the subject of interest given the role of seabirds as sentinel species for plastic pollution. This work reveals Phase 1 data: modelling bioaccumulation potential of MP (in grams of MP/kg of biomass) across the Galápagos Penguins' foodweb by developing an Ecopath and Ecosim (EwE) trophic dynamic-ecosystem model focused on the Galápagos Penguin. MP concentrations empirically reported for Galápagos' waters in previous studies were entered into the EwE model using the Ecotracer (contaminant tracing) routine. A simulation period of 100 years was assessed including varying levels of MP water concentrations and fecal elimination rates of MP. The trophic magnification factor (TMF) was calculated using the model. The resulting TMF was compared against other Ecotracer runs in existing EwE models available through Ecospace, including Galápagos' Darwin, Wolf, and Floreana Islands. Preliminary outcomes show that while low MP concentrations were predicted in seabirds, ranging 1.5x10-5 to 9.6x10-5 g/kg, statistically significant TMF values ranged from 4.7 to 23.8, indicating potential biomagnification. Phase 2 involves collecting and comparing modelled findings to empirically gathered data on ingested MP in Galápagos Penguin scats and prey.

**Authors:**

Karly McMullen¹, Juan Jose Alava¹

¹The University of British Columbia

Are microplastics accumulating in the foodweb of the endangered Galápagos Penguin, Spheniscus mendiculus? Modelling microplastics bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential in the Galápagos Archipelago

**Abstract:**

Over the last few decades, anthropogenic debris, and particularly plastics, have become a major threat for the environment and biodiversity. Over 200 seabird species have been recorded to interact directly with plastics, leading to reductions in survival and/or breeding rates, and consequently representing a major conservation concern. Breeding birds are known to adjust prey quality over the breeding season in order to provide higher quality food for chick provisioning. Nevertheless, it is unclear what this means with respect to the use of anthropogenic food sources used by seabirds. Over the 2020 breeding season, regurgitated pellets, or boluses (n=143), from yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis) were collected from a series of nests at Carteau colony in the Gulf of Fos, Camargue, France. 85% (n=121) contained at least one plastic. The most abundant plastic type was sheet plastic, mainly composed of polyethylene and used in food packagings. There was a significant decrease in the number of boluses containing plastics between pre-hatching and post hatching (respectively 84% and 75%). The number of collected boluses also declined between these two periods (respectively n=82 and n=61). These results suggest that gulls may indeed adjust their foraging habits to provide more digestible food to chicks. However, we found high variability among the followed nests in the number of recovered boluses, and a large majority of regurgitates still contained anthropogenic items post-hatching. As yellow-legged gulls are known to specialize on particular food sources, landfill specialist birds may continue to use these food items during chick rearing despite their potential risk for chick growth and survival. More detailed surveys will now be required to test whether these birds are nonetheless able to select different types of anthropogenic items to maximize reproductive success.

**Authors:**

Florence Droguet¹, Carole Leray², Alexandra ter Halle³, Marion Vittecoq², Jennifer Provencher⁴, Karen McCoy¹

¹University of Montpellier CNRS IRD, Centre IRD, ²Tour du Valat, Research Institute for the Conservation of Mediterranean Wetlands, ³UMR 5623 CNRS - University of Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, ⁴Environment and Climate Change Canada, National Wildlife Research Centre

Changes in plastic ingestion over the breeding season: do yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis) adjust foraging habits for chick provisioning?

**Abstract:**

For the past half century anthropogenic and non-biodegradable materials known collectively as marine debris have been tainting the worlds pelagic and coastal waters in an ever increasing manner. Marine debris impacts at least 267 species, including 44% of seabird species with entanglement and ingestion representing the most frequent of consequences. The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) has operated a facility in Cape Town since 1968 which rehabilitates sick, injured and oiled seabirds. SANCCOB treats more than 1000 endangered African penguins (<I>Spheniscus demersus</I>) annually together with a diversity of mostly coastal seabirds including three other endangered Benguela endemics. Seabirds are regarded as bioindicators of the marine environment and have been used to understand patterns in particulate debris levels in the oceans. SANCCOB provides an ideal environment to assess the extent of entanglement and ingestion on seabirds along South Africa's coastline. The study focusses on seabirds admitted to SANCCOB in Cape Town that have been affected by entanglement and ingestion by anthropogenic debris over the past decade. This allows for a better understanding of spatial and temporal trends in entanglement and ingestion as well as bird species most affected. The study helps to identify hotspots and possible sources of coastal pollution which assists in improving effective management interventions and coastal policies to reduce marine debris along our coastline. The number of seabirds admitted to SANCCOB with debris related injuries has increased each year from 2013 to 2018. Kelp gulls (<I>Larus dominicanus</I>), Hartlaub's gulls (<I>Chroicocephalus hartlaubii</I>) and African penguins were most frequently affected. Ingestion of debris was seen in 51% of cases and entanglement 44%. Entanglement most commonly caused leg and wing injuries and ingestion, gastric complications.

**Authors:**

Kyle Maurer¹, Katta Ludynia¹, Albert Snyman¹

¹SANCCOB

Marine Debris Entanglement and Ingestion of Coastal Birds Admitted to SANCCOB 2008- 2018

**Abstract:**

Digital aerial stills surveys for seabirds have developed rapidly over recent years in line with advances in technology, and greater knowledge of how the data will be supplied and used.  Many of these developments have been instigated to meet the needs of the marine renewable energy industry to allow assessment of potential impacts, driven by the requirement for advancement in the knowledge base for both developers and conservation bodies.   Our paper will discuss best practices from projects in UK, Europe, USA, Vietnam and Australia, and will cover both acquisition, data presentation and interpretation. Moreover, the paper will look at the differences in survey design and how these are employed in different situations, including wide area surveys, baseline studies to inform permitting, post-consent (pre-, during and post-construction) studies, as well as custom designs to answer specific questions on issues such as protected site connectivity, collision risk, avoidance and displacement, and colony counts.

**Authors:**

Stephanie McGovern¹, Stuart Clough¹, Laura Jervis¹

¹APEM Ltd

Global best practices for collecting biological data from digital aerial stills surveys to aid assessment of potential impacts of Marine renewables on seabirds.

**Abstract:**

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) supports seabirds from throughout the Atlantic basin during the annual cycle. Temporal use ranges from daily to resident, but data on species composition and abundance is limited in time and space. The GoM also is one of the most industrialized seas globally, with substantial levels of oil and gas (O&G) activity occurring in the central and western regions within the U.S. EEZ. In 2017, we implemented the Gulf of Mexico Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (GoMMAPPS) to characterize the seabird community within the U.S. EEZ. From April 2017 - October 2019, we conducted 275 days and ~2,200 hrs of vessel-based surveys covering ~40,200 kms. We tallied 67 marine species, including North American temperate and high-latitude migrants, GoM-resident breeders, and breeding, migrating, and sub-adults originating from the Caribbean, eastern north Atlantic, and western south Atlantic. Simpson's diversity (controlled for effort) was least in the central (0.71; area of highest O&G activity), greatest in the western (0.82), and intermediate in the eastern (0.73; area of least O&G activity) GoM. Black Terns, a North American inland breeding migrant, comprised ~1/3 of all individual birds observed, and were most numerous in the central region, particularly in the footprint of the Mississippi River plume. Audubon's Shearwater, a Caribbean and Bahamian breeder, was observed regularly throughout the GoM across the annual cycle. Sooty Tern, an abundant breeder in the southern GoM and Caribbean, was commonly observed in spring and fall, and most numerous in the east. Ongoing analyses will characterize seabird distribution in relation to oceanography and O&G activity, and subsequently combine seabird data with survey data for marine mammals and sea turtles to provide the most extensive multi-taxa assessment of higher marine vertebrates in the GoM to date. These results will inform future O&G planning on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf, further refine existing oil spill risk assessment models, and will be used to reduce or mitigate potential impacts from O&G activities on seabirds.

**Authors:**

Pamela Michael¹, Jeffery Gleason², J. Chris Haney³, Yvan Satgé¹, Patrick G.R. Jodice⁴

¹South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Department of Forestry and Environmen, ²U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Gulf Restoration Team, ³Terra Mar Applied Sciences, LLC, ⁴U.S. Geological Survey South Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Clemson Universit

Marine bird distributions in the Gulf of Mexico: informing marine spatial planning

**Abstract:**

Fishing is the main economic activity in waters of the Argentinian Continental Shelf (ACS). Various seabird species attend trawlers and longliners seeking food facilitated by the fishing operation as well as discards and offal as a byproduct of the catch and processing. During the austral spring, large numbers of Great Shearwaters (GSH, Ardenna gravis) forage over the ACS. This species has been registered interacting with longliners targeting skates or toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides, ice-chilling and freezer trawlers that target hake Merluccius hubbsi and has high rates of bycatch in coastal pelagic trawlers targeting anchovy Engraulis anchoita. This study analyzes the overlap between the distributions of adult (2009-2010 period) and immature (2006, 2008-2009, 2009-2010 periods) GSHs and a range of fishing fleets, as well as assessing the effect of fishing effort on shearwater foraging behavior. The database comprised fisheries effort for 9 fleets, and 21 GSH tracked by satellite telemetry. The tracking data were analyzed with switching state-space models (SSSM) to infer behavior (transitory or foraging) at each location. The overlap was analyzed using the UDOI index (no overlapping = 0, complete overlap UDOI ≥ 1), while the effect of fisheries on foraging behavior was analyzed using GLMM (individual identity as random factors). The largest overlap for all years and age pooled was observed with the pelagic trawlers (UDOI ≥ 0.45), demersal coastal fleets (≥ 0.32), and ice-trawlers target hake (≥ 0.25). For immatures ice-trawlers target hake (2006 and 2008-2009 periods), freezer longiners (2006) and coastal demersal trawlers (2009-2010 period) were the fisheries that showed positive effect in the foraging behavior (i.e. foraging was most likely with increased fishing effort), while for adults ice-trawlers target hake was the only fishery with effect significantly positive. This preliminary analysis as a proxy of risk of interaction constitutes the basis for further studies to define areas and times of higher sensitivity for shearwaters attending fisheries.

**Authors:**

Jesica Paz¹, Robert Ronconi², Juan Seco Pon¹, Sofía Copello¹, Peter Ryan³, Marco Favero¹

¹Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, CONI, ²Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, ³FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town

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Next from 3rd World Seabird Conference

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