Supporting Publication to the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program CAFF CBMP Report No. 15 September 2008 FRAMEWORK FOR A CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC SEABIRD MONITORING NETWORK CAFFs CIRCUMPOLAR SEABIRD GROUP Acknowledgements i CAFF Designated Agencies: t Environment Canada, Ottawa, Canada t Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Helsinki, Finland t Ministry of the Environment and Nature, Greenland Homerule, Greenland (Kingdom of Denmark) t Faroese Museum of Natural History, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands (Kingdom of Denmark) t Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Reykjavik, Iceland t Directorate for Nature Management, Trondheim, Norway t Russian Federation Ministry of Natural Resources, Moscow, Russia t Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm, Sweden t United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska This publication should be cited as: Aevar Petersen, David Irons, Tycho Anker-Nilssen, Yuri Ar- tukhin, Robert Barrett, David Boertmann, Carsten Egevang, Maria V. Gavrilo, Grant Gilchrist, Martti Hario, Mark Mallory, Anders Mosbech, Bergur Olsen, Henrik Osterblom, Greg Robertson, and Hall- vard Strøm (2008): Framework for a Circumpolar Arctic Seabird Monitoring Network. CAFF CBMP Report No.15 . CAFF International Secretariat, Akureyri, Iceland. Cover photo: Recording Arctic Tern growth parameters at Kitsissunnguit West Greenland 2004. Photo by Carsten Egevang/ARC-PIC.COM. For more information please contact: CAFF International Secretariat Borgir, Nordurslod 600 Akureyri, Iceland Phone: +354 462-3350 Fax: +354 462-3390 Email: ca"@ca".is Internet: http://www.ca".is ___ CAFF Designated Area Editor: Aevar Petersen Design & Layout: Tom Barry Institutional Logos CAFFs Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program: Framework for a Circumpolar Arctic Seabird Monitoring Network Aevar Petersen, David Irons, Tycho Anker-Nilssen, Yuri Artukhin, Robert Barrett, David Boertmann, Carsten Egevang, Maria V. Gavrilo, Grant Gilchrist, Martti Hario, Mark Mal- lory, Anders Mosbech, Bergur Olsen, Henrik Osterblom, Greg Robertson, and Hallvard Strøm on behalf of the CIRCUMPOLAR SEABIRD GROUP (CBird) CAFF CBMP Report No. 15 August 2008 List of Contributors Aevar Petersen, Icelandic Institute of Natural History, Hallvard Strøm, Norwegian Polar Institute, Polar Hlemmur 3, P.O. Box 5320, 125 Reykjavik, Iceland. Environmental Centre, N-9296 Tromsø, Norway. [email protected] hallvardþ[email protected] Anders Mosbech, Dept. of Arctic Environment, Henrik Osterblom, Museum of Natural History, Dept. National Environ. Research Institute, Frederiksborgvej Systems Ecol., Box 50007, SE-10691, Sweden. 399, Box 358, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark. amo@ [email protected] dmu.dk Maria V. Gavrilo, Dept Polar Geography, AARI, Bergur Olsen, Faroese Fisheries Laboratory, Nóatún, 38 Bering St., Saint-Petersburg, 199397 Russia. FO-100 Tórshavn, Faroes. [email protected] mþ[email protected] Carsten Egevang, Greenland Institute of Natural Martti Hario, Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Resources, P.O. Box 570, 3900 Nuuk, Greenland, Institute, P.O. Box 2, FIN-00791 Helsinki, Finland. [email protected] martti.hario@rktl.fi David Boertmann, Dept. of Arctic Environment, Mark Mallory, Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment National Environ. Research Institute, Frederiksborgvej Canada, Box 1714, Qimugjuk Bldg 969, Iqaluit, 399, Box 358, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark. dmb@ Nunavut X0A 0H0, Canada. [email protected] dmu.dk Robert Barrett, Tromso Museum, Zoology Dept, David Irons, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1011 E. University of Tromso, N-9037 Tromso, Norway. Tudor Rd., Anchorage, Alaska AK99503, USA. david. [email protected] [email protected] Tycho Anker-Nilssen, NINA-NIKU, Tungasletta 2, Grant Gilchrist, Science and Technology Branch, N-7485, Trondheim, Norway. [email protected] Environment Canada, N.W.R.C., 1125 Colonel By Drive, Raven Rd., Carleton Univ., Ottawa, Ont. K1A Yuri Artukhin, Kamchatka Br. Pacific Inst. of Geography, 0H3, Canada. [email protected] Rybakov pr., 19-a, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683024, Russia. [email protected] Greg Robertson, Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, 6 Bruce Str., Mount Pearl, Newfoundland A1N 4T3, Canada. greg.robertson@ ec.gc.cad Table of Contents Introduction . 1 Vision . 2 Rationale . 2 Objectives . 3 Which are the Arctic Seabirds? . 4 Current monitoring activity . 5 Canada . 6 Faroes . 11 Finland . 13 Greenland . 15 Iceland . 19 Norway . 23 Russia: western part . 26 Russia: eastern part . 29 Sweden . 34 United States (Alaska) . 35 The overall circumpolar monitoring activity . 41 Components of a circumpolar seabird monitoring network . 43 Colony Monitoring . 43 Selecting species for colony monitoring . 44 Environmental indicators . 45 Arctic responsibility . 45 International commitments . 46 Trophic levels . 47 Proposed list of species for monitoring. 47 Colony monitoring parameters . 48 At-sea Surveys . 48 Harvest Statistics . 49 National lists of breeders and non-breeders . 49 National Endangered Species Lists . 50 Banding . 50 Other national or global initiative s . 50 General bibliography . 50 Appendix 1. A list of Arctic Seabirds . 52 Appendix 2 (a - g). Matrices compiled during development of the Circumpolar Seabird Monitoring Framework . 53 (a) The seabird species breeding in each of the Arctic countries: Distribution and . trophic level . 53 (b) The population status of Arctic seabird species and year(s) of estimate . 56 (c) The population trends of Arctic seabird species . 58 (d) The number of seabird colonies monitored in the Arctic countries compared . to the total number of countries . 60 (e) The number of programmes for di"erent monitoring parameters in the Arctic . countries . 62 (f) The relevance of di"erent Arctic seabird species as environmental indicators . 64 (g) The conservation concerns for Arctic seabirds . 66 i 1 Introduction During recent years a Circumpolar Biodiversity “Assessing and Monitoring Arctic Biodiversity” and Monitoring Program (CBMP) has been developed by more specifically, the development of the CBMP falls the CAFF (Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna) under the following recommendation: Working Group of the Arctic Council (AC). The third AC ministerial meeting in Finland, October 2002, “Build on national and international work to endorsed the framework of activities, which included implement a program to monitor biodiversity biodiversity monitoring, for the CAFF Working at the circumpolar level that will allow for Group for years to come. The CBMP Framework regional assessments, integration with other document was published in 2004 (Petersen, Zöckler environmental monitoring programs, and & Gunnarsdóttir 2004). At the fourth AC ministerial comparison of the Arctic with other regions of the in Iceland in November 2004 the Circumpolar globe” (CAFF 2002, p. 10). Biodiversity Monitoring Program was finally endorsed as a cornerstone program of CAFF for the future. As initial components of the CBMP seven monitoring The CBMP was launched at a meeting in Cambridge, networks were identified in order to start the process England, in September 2005 and since then the of developing and executing such a program, of infrastructure of the program has been developed, which networks seabirds were considered one (CAFF including indicators and implementation plan, while 2000). The Circumpolar Seabird Group (CBird), with networking to dozens of different programs has been Iceland and USA as leads, were charged with the made (CAFF 2008a). An important development was task of putting together a framework for an integrated the publication of the ACIA report, which called for monitoring program for seabirds, initially mentioned various biological information in relation to climate in the CAFF Work Plan for 2002-2004 (CAFF 2000). change (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment 2004). CAFF has identified the CBMP as the main response Clearly not all seabird species can be included in to this call by the Arctic Council. a circumpolar monitoring program at all stages of their life cycle, for that seabird species are too many. Monitoring 1 was identified early on in CAFF´s work as Hence the challenge is to cover Arctic seabirds in an important conservation tool. In the Arctic Flora and as representative yet pragmatic way possible, at the Fauna. Recommendations for Conservation (CAFF same time taking into account on-going monitoring 2002) monitoring was one of the five objectives activities. This task involves, inter alia , (a) identifying that were selected to guide future CAFF work. the types of monitoring needs, (b) suggesting what Therein monitoring is addressed under the heading monitoring parameters are important for individual 1Many definitions exist for monitoring, but in the present context this is in essence defined as regular, standardized observations of elements of the environ - ment, creating long-term series of information. Hence trends, which otherwise may go unnoticed until too late, are realized at an earlier stage, early enough to counteract them with the appropriate mitigation measures, if needed or feasible. Greg Robertson: Preparing to photograph a murre colony in Witless Bay , Canada 2005. 2 elements of the program, and (c) selecting the most including researchers, local communities, educators, appropriate species for monitoring. The important managers, policy makers, and the general public at issue of this exercise is to recognize the circumpolar large. aspect, while individual national programs may also have other, more domestic, objectives or emphases. Rationale The