Last Atlantic seabirds

This issue of Atlantic Seabirds is the last. The launch in 1999 of a journal published jointly by the Seabird Group and the Dutch Seabird Group (Nederlandse Zeevogelgroep) was ambitious and at the time it seemed the way forward for two organisations which had already forged close ties. The Executive Committees of both groups should be congratulated for establishing a venture which over the course of its relatively short lifespan nevertheless added up to more than the constituent parts from which it derived. Both Sula and Seabird were fine organs but Atlantic Seabirds expanded the geographical scope and scientific content of both. Ultimately, however, the challenge of maintaining a quarterly journal proved too demanding. Atlantic Seabirds was not alone in Europe in suffering for some time a low submission rate, and after much debate the two seabird groups have amicably decided to end the collaboration. Ties between the two groups will remain, however, not least through the active research collaborations that exist between their members. Both the Seabird Group and the Dutch Seabird Group will revert to their old journals, Seabird and Sula, re-launching them as annual and four-monthly publications respectively. Martin Heubeck has taken over as Editor of Seabird, assisted by Linda Wilson as Publishing Editor, and a new Editorial Board has been established. Mardik Leopold, Kees Camphuysen, Steve Geelhoed, Guido Keijl and Martin Poot will start as Editors of Sula.