Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary Flyway Partnership Report
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Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary Flyway Partnership Report Report by The Nature Conservancy For the: Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, South Australia 27 March 2018 The lead author of this document was David Mehlman of The Nature Conservancy’s Migratory Bird Program, with significant input, editing, and other assistance from James Fitzsimons and Anita Nedosyko of The Nature Conservancy’s Australia Program and Boze Hancock from The Nature Conservancy’s Global Oceans Team. Acknowledgements We thank the Government of South Australia, Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, for funding this work under an agreement with The Nature Conservancy Australia. Helpful advice and comments on various aspects of this project were received from Mark Carey, Tony Flaherty, Rich Fuller, Michaela Heinson, Arkellah Irving, Jason Irving, Micha Jackson, Spike Millington, Chris Purnell, Phil Straw, Connie Warren, Doug Watkins, and Dan Weller. 2 Table of Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ 4 List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................. 4 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Overview of the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary ............................................................................... 7 Introduction to the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) and other shorebird flyways ........................... 9 Deliverable 1: Review of the science regarding the value of AIBS as a site on the flyway ......................... 14 Summary and Recommendations .................................................................................................. 17 Deliverable 2: Identify sister sites to potentially establish agreements with DEWNR ............................... 18 Summary and Recommendations .................................................................................................. 33 Deliverable 3: Action plan for promoting and establishing the role of the AIBS in the flyway .................. 35 Summary and Recommendations .................................................................................................. 39 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................................................... 40 Appendix I. List of potential wetland conservation sites in China and South Korea that either had no data for the occurrence of the seven focal shorebird species or at which none of the seven species occurred ...................................................................................................................................................... 71 Appendix II. Discussion of important sites for Eastern Curlew, extracted from the EAAFP single species action plan .................................................................................................................................................. 74 Appendix III. List of existing sister site relationships between EAAFP sites .............................................. 75 Appendix IV. Successful examples of shorebird conservation promotion/establishment at sites outside of Australia and the EAAF ........................................................................................................................... 76 3 List of Figures 1. Map of the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary site nominated for inclusion in the East Asian- Australasian Flyway Site Network ........................................................................................................ 45 2. Aerial extent of the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary National Park – Winaityinaityi Pangkara, as of November 2017 ............................................................................................................................... 46 3. Total number and proportion of globally threatened and near threatened waterbirds in flyways of the world ............................................................................................................................................. 47 4. Predictors of flyway-level population trend estimates between 1993–2012 for ten EAAF migratory shorebirds ............................................................................................................................................ 48 5. Grey Plover satellite tracks from plovers banded in March 2016 at Thompson Beach, AIBS, South Australia ................................................................................................................................................ 49 6. Maps of EAAF and important shorebirds sites in coastal China ........................................................... 50 7. Sixteen key areas for intertidal waterbird biodiversity in the East Asian-Australian Flyway ............... 51 8. Bohai Sea and Bohai Bay maps from Wikipedia ................................................................................... 52 9. Critical areas of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, based on the number of priority shorebird populations supported in internationally important numbers ............................................................ 53 List of Tables 1. List of shorebird species occurring at the AIBS ................................................................................... 54 2. List of shorebird sites in Australia and New Zealand with high counts of one or more of the seven focal shorebird species, ranked in descending order of ‘importance’ score ....................................... 56 3. List of shorebird sites outside of Australia and New Zealand with counts of one or more of the seven focal shorebird species, ranked in descending order of ‘importance’ score ....................................... 59 4. List of potential AIBS partner sites that have high or medium importance for the seven focal shorebird species and that have been designated by one or more of the EAAFP, Ramsar Convention, or Important Bird Area program .......................................................................................................... 62 5. List of potential AIBS partner sites that have high or medium importance for the seven focal shorebird species but are not designated by either EAAFP, Ramsar Convention, or Important Bird Area program ....................................................................................................................................... 64 6. List of potential AIBS partner sites that have low importance for the seven focal shorebird species and that have been designated by one or more of the EAAFP, Ramsar Convention, or Important Bird Area program ....................................................................................................................................... 65 7. List of sites that have low importance for the seven focal shorebird species and that have not been designated by one or more of the EAAFP, Ramsar Convention, or Important Bird Area program ..... 68 8. Summary of sites recommended for partnership consideration with some selection criteria ........... 69 4 Executive summary This report fulfills the requirement of an Agreement between the South Australian Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR) and The Nature Conservancy to provide information and advice concerning the status of the Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary as a conservation area for migratory shorebirds and for establishing international partnerships to promote the site and further its conservation mission. The report was written by staff from the Conservancy in extensive consultation with staff from DEWNR and numerous partners and represents the current opinion of the Conservancy based on information available at the time of writing the report. The Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary (AIBS) is a recognized site of importance for migratory and resident shorebirds, as well as numerous other species of plants and animals and natural habitats. We provide an overview of the shorebird diversity at the site as well as the context of the East Asian- Australasian Flyway (EAAF) of which it is a key component. We also provide examples of similar flyway- based conservation work in other hemispheres to provide more context and areas to look for additional conservation ideas. The first deliverable was to review the science regarding the value of AIBS as a site on the flyway. In this analysis we focused on seven focal migratory shorebird species, while acknowledging the value of AIBS for the at least 45 other shorebird species known to have occurred in the area. Our review suggests that AIBS is well positioned to provide leadership in shorebird conservation regionally, nationally, and across the flyway. We recommend that AIBS and its collaborators build off the existing strengths of the site to promote itself and ongoing best practices. AIBS should engage other sites in the flyway to provide opportunities for shared learning. Ongoing monitoring should be continued and, ideally, be complemented with additional research on the focal species. The second deliverable was to identify sites to potentially establish agreements with DEWNR. In this section, we present a list of important issues for AIBS to consider