Shearwaters on the rise after successful project

Conservationists hope to continue with their research of the islands' three seabird species to identify and curb any threats and protect sites which are important to them.

This comes just as the Yelkouan Shearwater Project, a national initiative involving environmental, government and private organisations, came to an end with the publication of its findings.

The four-year project was deemed a success as the species population trend, previously declining, has now risen by 10 per cent.

Yelkouan Shearwaters nesting on the Maltese Islands amount to about a tenth of the global population, most of which nest at Rdum tal-Madonna, Mellieħa, where the project was based.

Researchers spent two thousand gruelling hours on the cliffs, exposed to the elements. But besides making their observations, the researchers faced the challenges of rats and illegal hunting besides the difficulties of managing light and noise pollution.

It took a year of patrolling and enforcing a few rules which, for instance, took care of the litter left by campers and picnickers that drew the rats.

The study achieved a number of firsts, like the first ever worldwide footage of the birds' habits, including their feeding, mating and nesting by an infrared camera mounted on a ledge.

Another milestone was the use of tracking technology through which birds were traced all the way to the Aegean Sea and Black Sea, where they spent some time before returning to their nests in Malta.

But the tracking also revealed sites, up to seven kilometres away, where the birds congregate before nightfall after which they fly back to their nests.

The project has now produced a management plan for the area which could serve as a model for the protection of similar sites around the Maltese Islands.

"The results of this successful partnership now relies on the respective government departments to build on the future of this project by allocating the necessary funds for the conservation of the site and recognise the protection of important marine sites," said project manager Nicholas Barbara.

Other seabirds native to the Maltese Islands, which were also spotted on camera visiting Rdum Tal-Madonna, are the Cory Shearwater and the Stormpetral.

The project, which was partly funded by the EU, involved BirdLife, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Sociedada Para o Estud das Aves together with the Armed Forces of Malta, Heritage Malta, the Capture Fisheries Branch within the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs and Transport Malta.