A best practice guide for monitoring illegal killing and taking of birds 1 Executive Summary Overexploitation is one of the main threats driving birds towards extinction globally, and much of this is illegal. Illegal activities are by definition hidden and difficult to track, and consequently most estimates of the numbers of birds illegally killed or taken are currently based on inference from fragmentary data, informed by expert knowledge. Monitoring of illegal killing and taking of birds using standardised, replicable methods is needed to generate robust quantitative data to help focus efforts, track trends and monitor the effectiveness of actions to address illegal killing. Detailed guidance is widely available on methods for monitoring bird population abundance, but little information is available on methods to monitor illegal killing and taking of birds. Such monitoring requires use of appropriate sampling design and methodology, recruitment and maintenance of a network of individuals to collect the data, involvement of relevant stakeholders, appropriate consideration of security issues, appropriate data management, analysis, presentation and communication, and many other elements. The aim of this best practice guide is to provide BirdLife Partners and other stakeholders with guidance covering these different aspects. The principle elements of each aspect of a monitoring scheme are summarised in the main chapters, illustrated by a series of case studies describing different approaches applied in selected countries. Citation BirdLife International (2015) A best practice guide for monitoring illegal killing and taking of birds. Cambridge, UK: BirdLife International. www.birdlife.org/datazone/sowb/casestudy/708 Front cover picture: Illegal mist-netting of birds in Cyprus© BirdLife Cyprus For further information about the content of these guidelines, please contact: Vicky Jones – Senior Flyways Officer - [email protected] Claire Thompson – Conservation Programme Officer - [email protected] Willem Van Den Bossche – European Flyways officer - [email protected] 2 3 Acknowledgements This publication draws on the experience of the BirdLife Partnership in the Mediterranean region (and additionally Georgia), and valuable experience shared by a range of international collaborators: Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), European Federation of Associations for Hunting & Conservation (FACE), European Union network for the implementation and enforcement of environmental law (IMPEL) and EuroNatur. An early draft was reviewed and developed by attendees at a workshop held in Spain in February 2015. We are grateful to the following individuals for their contributions: A.R. Al-Hmoud (Royal Society for Conservation of Nature), N.G. Asswad (Syrian Society for Conservation of Wildlife), J.C. Atienza (Sociedad Española de Ornitología), I. Atrash (Palestine Wildlife Society), P. Becka (EuroNatur), C. Celada (Lega Italiana Protezione Uccelli), I. Cherkaoui (Groupe de Recherche pour la Protection des Oiseaux au Maroc), J. Costa (Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds), D. de la Bodega (Sociedad Española de Ornitología), D. de los Ríos (Batumi Raptor Count), S. Dereliev (AEWA), E. Eid (Royal Marine Conservation Society of Jordan), S. Elhalawani (BirdLife International), B. Elliot (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), C. Feltrup-Azafzaf (Association "Les Amis des Oiseaux"), J. Fernández-Orueta (Sociedad Española de Ornitología), R. Gregory (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), C. Griffin (FACE), B. Heredia (CMS), M. Horváth (Magyar Madártani és Természetvédelmi Egyesület), J. Jansen (Batumi Raptor Count), S. Jbour (BirdLife Middle East), V. Jones (BirdLife International), M. Kaczynska (Polish Society for the Protection of Birds (OTOP)/BirdLife Poland), P. Kmecl (DOPPS), M. Korbeti (Hellenic Ornithological), L. Lachmann (Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union), N. López-Jiménez (Sociedad Española de Ornitología), U. Lötberg (Swedish Ornithological Society), V. Lucić (BIOM association), T. Mikuska (Croatian Society for Nature and Bird Protection), N.A. Noor (Nature Conservation Egypt), N. Piludu (BirdLife Malta), K. Putilin (Macedonian Ecological Society), G. Quaintenne (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux), G. Ramadan-Jaradi (Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon), M. Ruzic (Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia), A. Sandor (Georgian Society for Nature Conservation (SABUKO), N. Sarajlic (Naše ptice (Bosnia and Herzegovina)), D. Saveljić (Center for Protection and Research of birds of Montenegro), B. Sevo (Albanian Ornithological Society), T. Shialis (BirdLife Cyprus), C. Thompson (BirdLife International), A. Tribe (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds), W. Van Den Bossche (BirdLife Europe and Central Asia), J. Visbeen (IMPEL) and S. Wotton (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds). The Guide was compiled and edited by Anne-Laure Brochet. It was developed through a project reviewing the scale, impact and geography of illegal killing and taking of birds across the Mediterranean region, generously supported by a BirdLife anonymous Donor. 4 Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 2 Citation .................................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 4 1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 7 1.1. Aim of the Best Practice Guide ................................................................................................ 7 1.2. Defining illegal killing and taking of birds and the need for monitoring ................................. 7 1.3. Overarching considerations for schemes that monitor the illegal killing and taking of birds 8 2. Survey design .................................................................................................................................11 2.1. Monitoring goal and objectives ............................................................................................. 12 2.2. Direct or indirect measures? ................................................................................................. 12 2.3. Survey boundaries ................................................................................................................. 13 2.4. Census or sample? ................................................................................................................. 13 2.5. Sampling strategy .................................................................................................................. 13 2.6. Field methods ........................................................................................................................ 16 2.7. Reliability: accuracy, precision and bias ................................................................................ 18 2.8. Analysis .................................................................................................................................. 18 3. Implementation on the ground .....................................................................................................20 3.1. Recruiting surveyors and maintaining involvement .............................................................. 20 3.2. Training surveyors ................................................................................................................. 21 3.3. Security .................................................................................................................................. 22 3.4. Supporting materials ............................................................................................................. 23 4. Collecting data on illegal killing and taking of birds ......................................................................26 4.1. Direct or indirect measures? ................................................................................................. 26 4.2. ‘Visible’ or ‘undercover’ monitoring ..................................................................................... 27 4.3. Monitoring illegal shooting of birds ...................................................................................... 27 4.4. Monitoring illegal trapping of birds....................................................................................... 32 4.5. Monitoring illegal poisoning of birds .................................................................................... 35 4.6. Monitoring the illegal bird market trade .............................................................................. 39 4.7. Monitoring illegal activities through socioeconomic study .................................................. 41 4.8. Recording casual data on illegal killing from different sources ............................................ 46 5. Analysing and managing information on illegal killing and taking of birds ...................................48 5.1. Data management ................................................................................................................. 48 5.2. Data analysis .........................................................................................................................