Marine Birds Strategy 2019
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TABLE OF CONTENTS OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................................................................. 2 GOAL ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 The goal of the Marine Birds Strategy is to reverse the decline of selected species of birds, particularly threatened species, associated with marine environments as a contribution to the restoration of sustainable marine ecosystems. ............................... 3 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Invasive species .................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Bycatch ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Climate Change .................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Habitat Loss .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 THEORY OF CHANGE AND APPROACHES .................................................................................................................................... 5 Seabirds Approaches: Opportunities and Challenges ........................................................................................................................... 5 Breeding Grounds ................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 At Sea ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Shorebirds Approaches: Opportunities and Challenges ....................................................................................................................... 8 GRANTMAKING .......................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Island restoration ................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Bycatch reduction ............................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Shorebird habitat conservation .......................................................................................................................................................... 10 Mexico ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 11 Panama .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 12 Chile ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Pacific Flyway-wide ............................................................................................................................................................................ 13 RISK ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATION ....................................................................................................................................... 14 Island restoration ............................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Bycatch reduction ............................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Shorebird habitat conservation .......................................................................................................................................................... 14 MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING .......................................................................................................................... 15 ESTIMATED TIMELINE AND EXIT PLAN ...................................................................................................................................... 16 BUDGET AND STAFFING ........................................................................................................................................................... 16 APPENDIX A: OUTCOMES AND INDICATORS ............................................................................................................................. 17 APPENDIX B: ISLAND ROIS ........................................................................................................................................................ 21 1 OVERVIEW The Marine Birds Strategy is part of the Packard Foundation’s Ocean Strategic Framework, adopted by the Foundation in 2016. The Framework describes a set of priorities for enabling sound marine resource management in countries with globally significant marine biodiversity that together account for most global seafood production — Chile, China, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. These six focal countries all encircle the Pacific Ocean. In addition to working in these countries, the Foundation supports four global strategies that transcend national boundaries: 1) promoting global markets for sustainable seafood, 2) protecting marine birds through habitat protection and bycatch reduction, 3) eliminating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing around the world, and 4) working to more broadly understand and proactively address the impacts of climate change on ocean systems. Seabirds and shorebirds both depend on and contribute to robust ocean and coastal systems. Human pressures, such as overfishing, climate change, pollution, and coastal development threaten the health of our ocean, and communities that depend on the ocean, by disrupting ecosystems, degrading coastal habitats, threatening marine biodiversity, and undermining human welfare. The Marine Birds Strategy is part of our effort to protect and restore marine biodiversity. Through this strategy we focus on protecting island and coastal environments as well as supporting more sustainable fisheries. Marine birds are among the most threatened animals on Earth. Twenty-nine percent of seabird species are listed as Threatened (Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable) on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. In North America, 28 of 31 shorebird species that depend on Pacific Coast habitats are thought to be declining in numbers. This strategy addresses three major threats to the survival of marine birds: Invasive species: • Adult mortality or reduced breeding success of seabirds caused by invasive predators at their breeding colonies • Shorebird extinction and endangerment caused by invasive species Bycatch: High mortality for albatrosses, petrels, and other seabirds that are inadvertently caught in longline and other fishing gears Habitat loss: Loss and degradation of important shorebird habitats, primarily due to wetland reclamation and human disturbance To address these threats, the Marine Birds strategy supports eradication of invasive species on priority seabird and shorebird breeding islands in coordination with restoration activities to increase breeding success, development of bycatch reduction methods and improvements to fisheries management that ensure the broad use of best practices for seabird bycatch mitigation, and capacity strengthening for long term protection of critical shorebird habitat, primarily along the Pacific Flyway in Latin America. The original Marine Birds grantmaking strategy was prepared in 2007 and updated in 2013. This document extends the 2013 strategy through 2021 and reflects a modest number of modifications based on a mid-strategy refresh concluded in 2018. The significant modifications include: updated statistics; expressly including translocation and social attraction as interventions to be supported for seabird conservation; more specificity on capacity building interventions to be supported for shorebird conservation; and updated outcomes and indicators for seabirds and shorebirds. 2 GOAL The goal of the Marine Birds Strategy is to reverse the decline of selected species of birds, particularly threatened species, associated With marine environments as a contribution to the restoration of sustainable marine ecosystems. Specifically, the strategy aims to: • Increase seabird breeding success and survival through eradication