1st World Seabird Conference to take place in Victoria, Canada: 7-11 September 2010

Bonn, 3 September 2010 - The 1^st World Seabird Conference (WSC) will be taking place on 7-11 September 2010 at the Victoria Conference Centre in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The theme of the conference is “Seabirds: Linking the Global Oceans” and over 800 participants from more than 40 countries are expected to attend.

The conference will provide a platform for seabird scientists, conservationists, policy-makers and other stakeholders and will help raise awareness and focus attention on the world’s seabirds.

Most seabird populations are highly threatened: Amongst the most significant threats are food shortages due to the depletion of fish stocks, to which both over-fishing and climate change contribute. By-catch and long-line fisheries, oil pollution and solid wastes (debris) are other problems for seabirds. Further threats are destruction of habitats and unsustainable human exploitation. On-land threats include disturbances at breeding sites and introduced terrestrial predators.

Mr. Sergey Dereliev, AEWA’s Technical Officer, will be participating in the Conference on behalf of the AEWA Secretariat. Twenty new seabird species, including several species of auks, frigate birds, gannets and tropic birds have recently been added to Annex 2 of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement by the Fourth Meeting of the Parties (MOP4) in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The inclusion of these species gives them greater international protection and calls upon countries and other stakeholders in the African-Eurasian region to take concrete action for those species that have an unfavourable conservation status.

The Symposium is being organised by the1^st World Seabird Conference International Steering Committee, led by the Pacific Seabird Group and 25 other professional seabird and research organizations from around the world. Next to an extensive conference programme – featuring over 700 presentations reflecting the work and research of more than 1300 seabird experts and other stakeholders – several field trips are scheduled for participants. In line with the meeting a Conference Expo, a seabird film festival and a seabird art exhibition have been organised which are open to the public.

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