Seabird monitoring programme: tenth anniversary symposium, Durham, 15 april 1999

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is holding a one-day symposium on Thursday 15th April 1999 at St Aidan's College, University of Durham to mark the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the integrated UK Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP). The SMP was established in 1989, following completion of the Seabird Colony Register baseline census of seabirds in Britain and Ireland. The principal objective of the SMP is to coordinate seabird monitoring on a UK-wide basis and to ensure that sufficient and appropriate data are collected both regionally and nationally to enable the conservation status of breeding seabirds to be assessed. In addition to routine monitoring of seabird numbers and breeding success ata wide range of colonies throughout the UK, the JNCC also funds more detailed monitoring. Through external contracts, at four geographically dispersed key sites: Canna (Small Isles; NW Scotland), Fair Isle (between Orkney and Shetland), Isle of May (Firth of Forth) and Skomer (Pembrokeshire). The data collected are summarised in an annual report, Seabird Numbers and Breeding Success in Britain and Ireland, published by JNCC in collaboration with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group (SOTEAG). The main objectives of the symposium are (1) to present some results from theSMP, (2) to provide an opportunity for those who contribute data to the SMP to meet each other and also those who make use of the data that they collect, (3) to stimulate discussion on future seabird monitoring, and (4) to publish the symposium proceedings for the information of a wider audience. The symposium will take the form of a series of short presentations by invited speakers with time for questions and discussion. Topics will include: Seabird survival rates on the Isle of May (Mike Harris, Sarah Wanless and Peter Rothery) SOTEAG's seabird monitoring programme in Shetland (Martin Heubeck) Seabird monitoring on Skomer Island (Chris Perrins & Simon Smith) Long-term seabird monitoring on Canna (Bob Swann) Impact of Mink on seabirds (Clive Craik) Demography of Roseate Terns (Norman Ratcliffe) Cormorant monitoring in Britain (Robin Sellers)