Acting Together For Black Sea’s Birds BLACK SEA SEABIRDS PROJECT LAYMAN’S REPORT BLACK SEA SEABIRDS PROJECT “Yelkouan Shearwater” Ali Rıza Altınok / Bosphorus The Black Sea Seabirds Project Layman’s Report ‘‘Preparing the basis for an inventory of Marine Important Bird Areas along the southern Black Sea Coast’’ (Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey) 07.020400/2012/617393/SUB/D2 The Yelkouan Sherwater - Yelkovan Kuşu - Puffinus yelkouan (Acerbi, 1892) yelkouan, from Turkish yelkovan meaning ‘wind-chaser’. a local term for shearwaters, sherwater, referring to the bird’s typical gliding flight above sea surface with tips shearing or cutting through water. Acting Together For Black Sea’s Birds BLACK SEA SEABIRDS PROJECT LAYMAN’S REPORT BLACK SEA SEABIRDS PROJECT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to express our their staff: Zeynep Varlı and Ali Rıza Altınok, Ömer gratitude to the many people İpek Akyıldız for their great Kulaçoğlu, Selim C. who have made contributions effort on communication work İmamoğlu, Serkan Özaydın, to this report, and helped and CENK Group for their Kemal Kahraman and Taner so much for completing the support. Şekercioğlu, İdris Ölmez. Black Sea Project with their efforts. We are also most grateful to Last, but certainly not least, several different components we offer special thanks to Our sincere thanks to The of BirdLife International and our volunteers, academicians, European Commission RSPB. From RSPB, we offer government representatives, for their support and special thanks to Jose Tavares press members who guidance, including Michail and Ivan Ramirez. participated in our meetings, Papadoyannakis and Caroline trainings and contributed to Ofenhammer. We owe We are indebted to many the fieldwork of the Black Sea particular heartfelt thanks to photographers who Seabirds Project. Communication Partner and contributed to this report: Contents Project Summary Section 1 Project site Southern Black Sea (Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania) Section 2 Birds and results The Yelkouan Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) The Mediterranean Shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii) The Directorate-General Natura 2000 is an for the Environment is EU wide network of one of the more than 40 nature protection areas Directorates-General and established in 1992. The services that make up the aim of the network is European Commission. to assure the long-term Commonly referred to survival of Europe’s most as DG Environment, valuable and threatened the objective of the species and habitats. It Directorate-General is is comprised of Special to protect, preserve and Areas of Conservation improve the environment (SAC) designated by for present and future Member States under the generations. To achieve Habitats Directive, and this it proposes policies also incorporates Special that ensure a high level of Protection Areas (SPAs) environmental protection designated under the Birds in the European Union and Directive. that preserve the quality of life of EU citizens. About The Project THE BLACK SEA SEABIRDS LAYMAN’S REPORT BLACK SEA SEABIRDS PROJECT Overview Throughout its two years of At sea... In the class... implementation (2012 – 2014), the Black Sea Project has focused on The Project « Preparing the The pilot standardized boat- The Black Sea project also aimed conservation work to eliminate basis for an inventory of Marine based observation transects to train staff and volunteers from threats, scientific research to dis- Important Bird Areas along the were conducted within territorial Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey on cover unknown aspects about the southern Black Sea Coast » is im- waters of the three countries seabird research and conservation life cycle of the Yelkouan Shear- plemented by Doğa Derneği (DD) between January 2012 and March methods. water and Mediterian shag and an in collaboration with Hellenic Or- 2014. Boat based observations information campaign to increase nithological Society (HOS), Bul- were carried using standardized Three international trainings have awareness about the sea birds. garian Society for the Protection methods implemented by the been realized within the project: of Birds (BSPB) and Romanian European Seabirds at Sea (ESAS) On land... Training on Standard boat-based Ornithological Society (SOR), program for recording seabirds and land-based survey methods, in Southern Black Sea during at sea to allow the data collected Training on GIS methods and the period from 16/04/2012 to All Mediterranean shag colonies to be incorporated into the wider seabird database and Training on 16/04/2014 with a total duration along the Black Sea Coast of European database. Marine IBA data analysis-Black of 24 months. The Black Sea Sea- Turkey and Bulgaria has been sur- Sea Marine IBA with participation veyed by the research team. We birds Project aims to create the The collection of data from boat- of researchers, academicians and have identified 47 key locations basis for an inventory of Marine based surveys also helped identify volunteers. and confirmed the breeding in Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for these offshore sites and map 45 of them, whereas two of them two seabird species: Yelkouan important rafting sites where the were used for only wintering. The On the media... Shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) birds would spend hours waiting breeding range of Shags is wide, and Mediterranean Shag (Phala- for nightfall before moving into TV, newspaper, magazines, radio crocorax aristotelis desmarestii). covering a large area in the Black their colonies. programs and social media are The Black Sea Project also aims Sea beginning from Kıyıköy in used in order to raise awareness to train staff and volunteers from Thrace extending to Hopa, which for the importance of Marine Im- Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey on is the easternmost district located portant Bird Areas and Protecting seabird research and conservation at the Georgian border. the seabirds. methods. During the reporting period 4,432,185 people are estimated to have been informed about the project, seabirds and their conser- vation, via the information mate- rial available on the internet and media, according to DD’s external media agency, Ajans Press. The total media effect of the project has reached 1.467.000 $. And into the future... The continuation of research and conservation actions will be crucial to securing the future of the Black Sea as a safe haven for Yelkouan Shearwaters. The project is a showcase of how a partnership between governmen- tal and conservation organisations can succeed in protecting one of Black sea’s most threatened Seabirds. Section 1 PROJECT SITE Southern Black Sea (Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania) THE BLACK SEA SEABIRDS LAYMAN’S REPORT THE BL BLACK SEA SEABIRDS PROJECT THE BLACK SEA SEABIRDS LAYMAN’S REPORT PROJECT Section SITE 1 The Black Sea is one the waters of the Med- area of 423,000 km2 of the most fascinat- iterranean flowed into and a water mass of ing seas in the world. it via the Istanbul’s 547,000 km3. Its av- It may be said, for Bosphorus strait. erage depth is around example, that it is the 1,240 m, with its deep- world’s youngest sea. The Black Sea is one est point reaching The Black Sea began of the most isolated 2212 m. Its total coast- to take on the prop- inland seas in the al length is around erties of a briny sea world. Located bet- 4,340 km. Ukraine at the end of the last ween South-eastern has the longest Black ice age about 7000 Europe and Anatolia, Sea littoral (1,628 km), years ago, when it was the Black Sea has an followed by Turkey a freshwater lake and approximate surface (1,400 km) The Black Sea is a sanctuary for ters, that are the open sea birds in the Black Sea are dependent BIRDS a rich variety of bird life. As it has of the Black Sea, which forage upon the coast for resting, sleep- low salinity and is also cold, it is in the sea, rest in the sea and ing and mating. The characteris- ON THE more fecund than other seas. It sleep in the sea. Yelkouan Shear- tics of the coastline are therefore BLACK is also particularly rich in fish pop- water never goes on land except the most decisive factor in their ulations that live in schools. This is for nesting. The Black Sea has choice of habitat. The water in SEA* very important for birds that feed numerous and diverse habitats these areas has low salinity and is on fish such as yelkouan shearwa- for birds. Most of the birds forage murkier as a result of the particles carried by rivers. The water is therefore mineral-rich. The rocky isles and steep cliffs along the coast of Turkey are the birds’ nesting areas. The med- iterrenean shag, yellow legged gulls and cormorants inhabit these areas. The estuaries of the Dnieper, Dniester, Danube, Sakarya, Kızılırmak, Yeşilırmak and Çoruh form important habitats. As the Black Sea is situated to the south of the temperate zone, it does not freeze like some other inner seas (e.g., the Baltic Sea). Thus, water birds living in lakes in southeastern Europe find refuge in the Black Sea with the freez- ing of their lakes in January and February. * This excerpt is taken from “The Black Sea Box Education Set” prepared jointly by BSEC, WWF Turkey, UNDP and TCCC. THE BLACK SEA SEABIRDS LAYMAN’S REPORT PROJECT Section SITE 1 TRAININGS The Black Sea Project also aimed to train staff and volunteers from Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey on seabird research and conservation methods. Three international trainings have been realized within the project: Training on Standard boat- Training on GIS methods and Training on Marine IBA data based and land-based survey seabird database analysis-Black Sea Marine IBA methods Workshop A series of lessons on GIS, statistical The methodologies produced were and GIS data analysis, as well as The training for Marine IBA data presented to the 25 participants of on the ESAS database have been analysis has been implemented on project staff and volunteers from prepared and presented at the 2nd 30th, 31st of October and 1st of Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania at a project’s workshop which took place November 2013 (3 days).