Birdlife today launched its third EU-funded project related to the conservation of seabirds in Malta.

Over the past 10 years, the organisation, together with its partners, made various efforts to understand and tackle the main threats causing the decline of protected seabird species breeding in Malta.

LIFE Arċipelagu Garnija, the project launched today, will focus on the Yelkouan Shearwater (Garnija) with the main objective being that for improving the conservation status of Puffinus yelkouan populations in the Maltese Islands and safeguarding their breeding colonies in Natura 2000 sites and adjacent areas.

This is the third in a series of projects linked to each other, the first of which was the LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project (2006-2010).

This had focused on the conservation, research and awareness of this seabird with special focus on the largest colony of Yelkouan Shearwater in Malta at Irdum tal-Madonna in Mellieħa.

This was followed by the LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project, which is nearing its completion (2011-2016). Through extensive and innovative research, the project identified the most important areas at sea essential for Malta’s seabirds and created an inventory of marine Important Bird Areas (IBAs) which are to be legally protected after being designated as Malta’s first marine Special Protected Areas (SPAs).

This second project targeted the Yelkouan Shearwater (Garnija), Scopoli’s Shearwater (Ċiefa) and the Mediterranean subspecies of the European Storm-petrel (Kanġu ta’ Fifla).

The Maltese Islands are home to 10 per cent of the Yelkouan’s global population, three per cent of Scopoli’s Shearwaters and 50 per cent of Mediterranean storm-petrels.

LIFE Arċipelagu Garnija,the project launched today, seeks to complement the findings of the first two. It aims at securing the Maltese Islands for the Yelkouan Shearwater by identifying and fully understanding the species distribution and assessing the specific threats these seabirds face in each nesting site.

By directly reaching out to various stakeholders such as fisheries, boat operators, policy makers and the public, the project will encourage a change in behaviour and significantly eliminate the threats caused to these birds. 

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