Reduction of mammal predation on seabirds - assessing options and priorities

Descriptions

The Collaboration in Offshore Wind Strategic Compensation (COWSC) initiative brings together industry, environmental NGOs, SNCBs, the UK Government and Devolved administrations to identify strategic compensation measures. Expert Group 2 was formed to identify potential compensation measures around predation reduction. Three potential measures were identified: predator eradication on islands, predator control and exclusion and biosecurity. There are currently a number of seabird island SPAs that have non-native invasive mammals present as well as many other non-SPA seabird sites. Predator eradication involves a significant investment of resources and time to remove all target invasive mammals from an island until the island can be declared predator free. This is usually done using poison but for larger mammals can also include trapping and shooting. Once an island is predator-free biosecurity measures can be employed to maintain the predator-free status of the site. Significant strides have been made on biosecurity through the RSPB-led Biosecurity for Life project which has seen islands undertaking sufficient biosecurity measures increase from 20% to >90% (https://biosecurityforlife.org.uk/). Predator control and exclusion is used to target impacts at colonies/sites where eradication is not possible, such as inshore islands which mammals can easily access by swimming and mainland colonies. Measures can include fences to prevent mammals accessing sensitive areas and reducing the density of predators using control such as trapping. 4.Project Objectives To meet the overall aims of this project (Section 2), the objectives are: 1.Review of potential sites for management UK 2.Prioritisation of species and locations 3.Development of success criteria 4.Adaptive management options 5.Project Objectives: Detailed Tasks The overarching objective of this project is to deliver a comprehensive list of locations in the UK for potential predator reduction/control, both islands and mainland. The work undertaken here should build on previous work in this area (Ratcliffe et al. 2009; Stanbury et al. 2017) and also be informed by the priorities identified by the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (SNCBs) and Government agencies (e.g. English Seabird Conservation and Recovery Pathway (ESCaRP)).