Study says seabird species face decline risk
A new study has revealed that 47 percent of the world’s seabird population is considered to be in the high categories of decline risk.
According to the study published in the Bird Conservation International, threats to the endangered birds include commercial fishing and damage to breeding colonies caused by rats and other invasive species.
"They are top predators in their marine systems,” said chair of BirdLife's Global Seabird Program Professor John Croxall.
“The fact that almost a third are globally threatened should really be telling us something about how we need to look after where they occur to breed on land and where they go to feed in the ocean."
The study was carried out by BirdLife International, in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that assessed the threat status of seabirds.
They found that seabirds are more threatened than any other group of birds with 5 percent of them in the highest category of ‘critically endangered’.
Researchers also found that 17 out of 22 species of the albatross family are threatened with extinction.
Conservationists have mentioned commercial fishing as one of the key threats to seabirds with large numbers killed in nets and on lines.
Scientists believe seabirds have great influence on the health of the oceans, despite the fact that they make up just about 3.5 percent of the world’s bird species.
Source: presstv.com
