The protected Scopoli’s shearwater seabird will become extinct from the Maltese islands in less than 50 years due to human activity if no action is taken to safeguard the species, a study has predicted.

The 38-year research by John J. Borg, senior curator at the Natural History Museum and a specialist on seabirds, has shown that the fate of the shearwater in Malta is “not bright at all”.

Malta is considered one of the more important sites in the Mediterranean for these pelagic seabirds.

An ongoing, overall decline in breeding population in some of their colonies has led to the conclusion that at the current rate it would lead to the extinction of the Scopoli’s shearwater (Calonectris diomedea, ċiefa in Maltese) from the islands, where it breeds, in less than half a century.

This is mainly due to direct and indirect human activities, such as killing and urbanisation, Borg’s MSc research dissertation has established.

But he also pointed to “a lack of political will and enforcement, lack of funding for long-term research projects and lack of public awareness”.

Although it was hard to quantify how many birds were killed, Borg said the absence of returning ringed birds to their breeding colonies varied between five and 15 per cent.

They were shot at, got caught in fishing tackle and could also be killed due to oil spills.

But urbanisation close to the breeding colonies was now one of the major concerns for the shearwaters, while disturbance through human activity, light and sound pollution and the presence of predators, such as rats, cats and dogs, were having a “drastic effect” on them.

“The numerous existing policies and legal notices should, in theory, provide adequate legal protection measures to their breeding sites, as well as to the species,” Borg pointed out.

But the study highlighted various threats and the lack of protection measures to safeguard them.

Among the requirements to protect the shearwaters, Borg mentioned the installation of environment-friendly lighting and a reduction in the timing of lights along the coast during their fledging period.

The eradication of the feral cat population from coastal areas was also important, as was controlling human activity above the breeding colonies, such as BBQs, clifftop fishing and visiting of sea caves during the breeding season.

Adequate patrolling of protected areas – including Natura 2000 sites in which all colonies are located – is also necessary.

The study also recommended mitigation measures such as halting the advance of building development towards the cliff edges and the illegal dumping of material over them and onto sites used by the shearwaters.

The shearwaters have a breeding season that spans from late February to late October, laying only one egg per year. And it is this long period on land that makes them highly vulnerable to predation and disturbance by terrestrial mammals, including humans, Borg explained.

Considering they have played a very important part of my life for over 40 years, I cannot imagine going to the cliffs in late February and trying to listen for the first birds returning back – in vain

No specific studies on the species were carried out until 1982, when Borg started researching extensively on their breeding biology and ecology as a bird ringer with BirdLife Malta.

His research covered almost four decades up to 2020 and involved the observation of 158 study nests.

It focused on breeding colonies along Malta’s southern sheer cliffs, the north-western cliffs of Gozo and on offshore islands like Filfla, and also looked at the effects of existing legal protection measures on their breeding population.

Analysing population trends from a sample of four study sites – Ħal Far, Għar Lapsi, Għarb and Filfla – the findings showed an overall decline in the breeding population, particularly in Ħal Far and Għarb.

These colonies are more accessible, so more prone to human disturbance, Borg explained, adding that Ħal Far, a Natura 2000 site, had experienced a decline of 71 per cent in less than three decades.

He pointed to “no tangible action by the relevant government agencies, showing that protected areas provide negligible protection to the shearwaters and that the Natura 2000 site designation on its own can be considered to have failed”.

The methodology and results of Borg’s research will now be put forward to government agencies such as the Planning Authority and to eNGOs as “a basis for the conservation” of this and other pelagic seabird species breeding in Malta.

“Considering they have played a very important part of my life for over 40 years, I cannot imagine going to the cliffs in late February and trying to listen for the first birds returning back – in vain,” he said about what their predicted extinction meant to him and Malta.

“Unfortunately, for the public, losing these birds will not make any difference at all. But it would be a great shame. They will go the way of the barn owl, the jackdaw and other past breeding species. But only those with nature at heart will value their loss.”