BirdLife said on Friday it will continue studying seabirds on land and at sea following the start of a new project - LIFE PanPuffinus!

This will be a Mediterranean-wide collaboration for the conservation of two endemic and threatened species: the Yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan) and the Balearic shearwater (Puffinus mauretanicus). 

Through the new €3.45 million project, BirdLife has joined forces with its partners from France, Greece, Portugal and Spain to share knowledge and investigate further the whereabouts of these elusive birds, their interactions with fisheries, and the perils these sea voyagers face during their lifecycles.

The Balearic shearwater. Photo: Pep Arcos, Birdlife Spain

It has also partnered with the Department of Fisheries within the Ministry for Agriculture. The ministry has committed to co-finance the project. 

The Balearic shearwater (Garnija Balearika) is classified as “critically endangered with extinction” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species, while the Yelkouan shearwater (Garnija) is classified as “vulnerable”.

Both species are very susceptible to a changing environment and are affected by multiple marine and terrestrial threats which include pollution, the accidental capture of birds in fishing gear known as bycatch, climate change and severe weather.

When it comes to breeding seabirds, invasive alien species and human disturbance are the main threats. 

While the Balearic shearwater is a very rare species for the Maltese Islands, breeding in the Balearic Islands and the south coast of France, the Yelkouan shearwater can only be found in the central and eastern Mediterranean region, with Malta home an estimated breeding population of around 1,600–1,800 pairs. 

Both species spend a significant portion of their life on open seas, rarely visiting land except during the breeding season. Due to this they encounter a diversity of threats.

Although both species breed exclusively in the Mediterranean, like many other seabirds they wander through different seas, in particular during the non-breeding season.

Balearic shearwaters visit the Atlantic coast of Portugal, France and southern England while large numbers of Yelkouan shearwaters winter in the Black Sea. 

Throughout the delivery of this five-year project (2021–2025), BirdLife will build on the expertise gained through the previous three EU LIFE-funded projects which studied Malta’s pelagic species, namely the LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater Project (2006–2010), the LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project (2011–2016), and the most recent LIFE Arċipelagu Garnija project (2016–2020) which came to an end in September. 

Apart from hazards already identified and addressed through these projects such as light and noise pollution, human disturbance including from boat-based tourism, and egg/chick predation by invasive mammal species such as rats, the new project will also address emerging problems such as plastics, which might affect both these seabird species on a great scale in the next decades. 

LIFE PanPuffinus! aims to improve the conservation status of these endangered species across the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic coast of Portugal through a joint effort between all participating partners to tackle the major common threats they face. 
The project will showcase a unique collaboration of different stakeholders across the Mediterranean for the conservation of these two seabird species.