DPLUS139: TRACKING SEABIRDS AND SEALS IN THE FALKLAND ISLANDS

WebGIS

Background

The Falkland Islands, are a globally significant wildlife wonder spot. Home to 75% of the global population of Black-browed albatross, 50% of the global population of South American fur seals, 30% of the global population of Rockhopper and Gentoo penguins, to list but a few. This means that population trends of Falklands seals and seabirds disproportionately influence the global population trends and conservation status of these species. To protect seals and seabirds, it is essential to understand their spatial distribution at-sea, potential threats and relevant spatial scales of management. Yet surprisingly, we know very little about the at-sea usage of the largest populations of Rockhopper penguins, Magellanic penguins, Thin Billed Prions and South American fur seals to name but a few. Our project is a multi-species project, which includes Rockhopper, Magellanic and Gentoo penguins, Thin-billed prions, Black-browed albatross, Imperial shags and South American fur seals.

Project Objectives

At the most basic level, our project will fill data gaps and quantify the at-sea distribution for globally significant breeding colonies of seabirds and seals in the Falkland Islands. We will use this data to then achieve two high-level project aims:

To quantify exposure to anthropogenic threats across the entire foraging range of these species (that is over the entire Patagonian Shelf), by using freely available big ocean datasets, such as Global Fishing Watch.

To quantify important at-sea areas for seals and seabirds, by combining tracking data with an ensemble modelling approach. This will, in-turn, help support and inform the proposed Falkland Islands Marine Managed Areas (MMAs), because it will allow us to quantify how these predators use the proposed MMAs, and highlight other management considerations.

Project Manager

DR ALASTAIR (AL) BAYLIS

Alastair joined SAERI as the Deputy Director – Science in February 2020. Alastair’s science expertise includes movement ecology, and over the past 12 years much of his research has focused on the poorly studied pinniped populations breeding at the Falkland Islands. Alastair has a PhD from the University of Adelaide, Australia and a Postgraduate Certificate in Veterinary Conservation Medicine from Murdoch University, Australia. The latter reflects his interest and expertise in pinniped aneasthesia. Alastair’s main role as the Deputy Director – Science is to support the delivery of SAERI’s scientific programs and to work closely with the Director to continue to develop strategic South Atlantic research.

Follow our Falkland fur seal tracking live!

Did you know that the Falkland Islands are home to the largest population of South American fur seals in the world?

To understand dispersal and connectivity between the Falkland Islands and other South American fur seal populations, we have been busy deploying satellite tags on pups as part of a larger tracking project (funded by Darwin and the Winnifred Violet Scott Trust). Falkland fur seal pups are born in December. They wean when they are about 10 months of age - so anytime from late October onwards pups will leave home for the first time, and will likely stay at-sea for many months (although we don't really know for how long!). We deployed the satellite tags on Flat Jason Island (the Jason Islands Group is home to over 95% of the Falkland Islands fur seal population). Satellite tags are not super helpful if you want to look at fine-scale movements, for example over a couple of km, because they can have quite a large error (uncertainty) associated with each location. However, we we expect pups will disperse over hundred to thousands of kilometers. So, while although there is error associated with satellite tags (and we will need to account for with fancy mathematical models) - the error is much smaller than the scale at which we expect the pups will move. Fingers crossed the pups find plenty of fish and squid on their travels!

Feel free to reach out for any further information to info@saeri.ac.fk

 

PROJECT FUNDING AND PARTNERS

This Project is funded by the UK Government through the Darwin Plus Fund

Darwin Plus Project 139

FALKLAND ISLANDS OFFICE:
PO Box 609, Stanley Cottage North
Ross Road, Falkland Islands
Stanley, FIQQ 1ZZ
Falkland Islands: +500 27374
UK Office: +44 (0)20 3745 1731
© Copyright 2022 - SAERI
Proudly designed with Oxygen, the world's best visual website design software
envelopephone-handsetmap-markercheckmark-circle linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram