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The Endemic Mediterranean Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus Yelkouan

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The Endemic Mediterranean Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus Yelkouan Review The endemic Mediterranean yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan: distribution, threats and a plea for more data Karen Bourgeois and Eric Vidal Abstract The endemic Mediterranean yelkouan shearwater seabirds to the combination of both terrestrial and marine Puffinus yelkouan, elevated to the rank of species in 2002, is threats. Most seabirds that are threatened by invasive poorly monitored and studied. Despite this lack of data and species on their breeding islands are also concurrently the susceptibility of closely related species to threats at threatened by incidental mortality in commercial fisheries breeding sites and foraging areas, the yelkouan shearwater (Donlan & Wilcox, 2008). Unfortunately, for many threat- is currently considered to be at low risk of extinction. This ened seabirds demographic and ecological data are sparse, review, based on published documents, personal communi- and it is thus difficult to make a reliable assessment of their cations with scientists and our own observations, summa- conservation status (IUCN, 2007). rizes available data on range, population size and trends, and The yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan is a medium- on threats to the species’ existence. Breeding sites range from size procellarid strictly endemic to the Mediterranean the Marseille islands (France) to Bulgarian islands in the Basin (including the Black Sea). It was previously considered Black Sea but many are not confirmed. The estimated global to be a Mediterranean subspecies of the globally distributed population is 11,355-54,524 pairs but most censuses are Manx shearwater P. puffinus complex (Brooke, 1990; War- probably overestimates and the global population could be ham, 1990) and later to be the oriental subspecies of the only a few thousand breeding pairs. There is evidence of Mediterranean shearwater (Bourne et al., 1988; Heidrich a population decline and susceptibility to introduced mam- et al., 1998). A taxonomic revision elevated the yelkouan mals, particularly feral cats Felis catus and ship rats Rattus shearwater to the rank of species, distinct from both the rattus, and to accidental bycatch in fishing gear. We high- Manx shearwater and Balearic shearwater P. mauretanicus light the lack of accurate and regular censuses of the species, (Sangster et al., 2002). Whereas considerable attention has and the alarming situation suggested by the little data been given to the Balearic shearwater, leading to its catego- available. We recommend that the yelkouan shearwater be rization as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List categorized as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, en- (Arcos & Oro, 2004; Oro et al., 2004; BirdLife International, courage collaborative work to clarify its status, and make 2006a; IUCN, 2007), few studies have dealt with the a plea for more data on the species’ demography and ecology, yelkouan shearwater. Consequently, this species remains and for the evaluation of terrestrial and marine threats. the poorest known seabird in the Mediterranean, with little documentation of its distribution, population size Keywords Bycatch, introduced mammals, Mediterranean, and trends. Zotier et al. (1992) emphasized this lack of Near Threatened, Puffinus yelkouan, status assessment, data and suggested that documented population sizes are yelkouan shearwater. overestimates. Despite this paucity of data the yelkouan shearwater is This paper contains supplementary material that can be considered to be at low risk of extinction (BirdLife In- found online at http://journals.cambridge.org ternational, 2006b; IUCN, 2007) and its European threat status is Secure (BirdLife International, 2004a), with pop- 14 750 52 300 2007 Introduction ulation estimates of , - , pairs (IUCN, ) and 13,000-33,000 pairs (BirdLife International, 2004a). The eabirds, particularly albatrosses and petrels, have expe- yelkouan shearwater has only recently (2004) been added Srienced a dramatic deterioration of their conservation to Annex I of the European Union Wild Birds Directive. status (Butchart et al., 2004), and of the 328 seabird species As a consequence, the attention of conservationists and currently recognized, 31.1% are considered globally threat- scientists has not been drawn to this endemic species. Most ened (IUCN, 2007). Reasons are the high sensitivity of of the endemic shearwater species formerly included in the KAREN BOURGEOIS (Corresponding author) and ERIC VIDAL Mediterranean Manx shearwater complex have, however, recently been Institute for Ecology and Palaeoecology (UMR CNRS 6116), Paul Ce´zanne categorized on the IUCN Red List (IUCN, 2007): Near University, Europoˆle Me´diterrane´en de l’Arbois, Avenue Philibert, BP 80, 13545 Aix-en-Provence cedex 04, France. E-mail [email protected] Threatened (Puffinus opisthomelas), Endangered (P. hut- Received 21 August 2006. Revision requested 6 November 2006. toni, P. newelli) and Critically Endangered (P. auricularis, Accepted 22 January 2007. P. mauretanicus). ª 2008 Fauna & Flora International, Oryx, 42(2), 187–194 doi:10.1017/S0030605308006467 Printed in the United Kingdom Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.14, on 02 Oct 2021 at 04:27:34, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605308006467 188 K. Bourgeois and E. Vidal Here we therefore provide for the yelkouan shearwater west (France; Zotier & Vidal, 2004) to Bulgarian islands a comprehensive review of available data on range, pop- (Nankinov, 1993) in the Black Sea in the east, and from the ulation size and trends, and of threats to the species’ Bulgarian islands in the north to Malta (Borg & Sultana, existence. This review is based on an intensive literature 2002)inthesouth(Fig.1,Appendix).Thisgivesayelkouan survey, including grey and local literature (80 references, shearwater extent of occurrence (IUCN, 2001)ofc. 1,117,100 2 eight languages), and also includes 3 years of exchanges and km . With the 35 additional possible breeding locations this 2 personal communications with scientists, conservationists could extend to 1,322,100 km . The area of occupancy (IUCN, and NGOs from the 24 countries bordering the Mediterra- 2001) is much smaller because of the patchy insular nean, Black and Azov Seas, and our own research data. Our distribution of the species. Considering the entire surface aim is to provide an exhaustive compilation of available data area of the islands where the species breeds, the area of oc- 2 concerning the yelkouan shearwater, identify the main gaps cupancy ranges from 1,209 km (for the 40 certain breeding 2 in this data, and to discuss the species’ conservation status sites) to 2,147 km (when the 35 possible breeding sites are and priorities for its conservation. Finally, we make a plea for included). However, yelkouan shearwater colonies are re- more data needed to fill the main gaps identified. stricted to only a small part of the occupied islands (,1%; IMEP, unpubl. data), and based on this the area of oc- 12 1 21 5 2 Breeding locations, extent of occurrence and area cupancy is reduced to . and . km , respectively. of occupancy Breeding population estimate Seventy-five sites (i.e. islands) distributed among 10 coun- tries were identified as certainly (40 sites) or possibly (35) Only 17 of the 40 certain breeding locations have been harbouring yelkouan shearwater breeding colonies (Fig. 1, surveyed (nest and calling bird counts at colonies), with an Appendix). The 40 breeding locations categorized as estimated on-land breeding population of 2,468-3,224 pairs. certain were those for which recent (,70 years old) The other 23 certain breeding locations were only censused evidence of breeding (i.e. eggs, chicks) were clearly stated approximately by counting flocks at sea, and the authors and for which further information indicated clearly that estimated 3,431-6,185 additional pairs, giving a total of 5,899- breeding still occurs. The 35 possible breeding sites were 9,409 breeding pairs. For 31 of the 35 possible breeding considered as such from information linked to at-sea locations, approximate counting at sea indicates a specula- observations but actual breeding is unconfirmed. tive additional breeding population of 5,456-45,115 pairs. Thus, if we consider only the 40 locations where It is important to note that the estimation of shearwater breeding is certain, the area of occurrence of the yelkouan breeding population by counting flocks at sea is question- shearwater extends from the Marseille islands in the able because of the risk of strong overestimation, FIG. 1 Locations of breeding sites of the yelkouan shearwater in the Mediterranean Basin (including the Black Sea), with number of breeding pairs determined by censuses on land or at sea (including sites were breeding is both certain and possible, see text for details), and of the nine sites where the species appears to be extinct. ª 2008 Fauna & Flora International, Oryx, 42(2), 187–194 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.33.14, on 02 Oct 2021 at 04:27:34, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605308006467 Mediterranean yelkouan shearwater 189 imprecision and error (Bibby et al., 1992; Brichetti & early April, hatching in May and fledging in July to early Fracasso, 2003). For example, flocks of up to 10,000 birds August (Zotier 1997; K. Bourgeois & E. Vidal, pers. obs.). are regularly seen off some French
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