7 Potential actions in response to climate change: Petrels and Shearwaters (Hydrobatidae and Procellariidae)

In this section we list and assess possible local conservation actions that could be carried out in response to identified climate change impacts on petrels and shearwaters . This section is not grouped by species, but by identified impacts. If an impact or action is specific to one or a few species, this information is included in the action summary or in the footnotes.

7.1 Impact: Increased frequency/severity of storms (including wind, rain and wave action) increases foraging difficulty and/or mortality

Summary:
Several local actions may be possible to limit mortality or increase recovery on a small scale, but for larger populations effective local action is difficult. Supporting the population in more general ways (increasing adult survival, limiting chick mortality) may be the most effective method.

Intervention	Evidence of effectiveness	R	S	T
Provide supplementary food during the breeding season	Trialled on many seabird species. Very limited trials on petrels and shearwaters, and with limited success. It may be possible to feed a small number of chicks for a limited amount of time, but feeding adults supplementary food is likely unfeasible or, at the least, extremely challenging.	3	4	3
Provide supplementary food during the non-breeding season	This is a hypothetical action. We found no published studies assessing this action’s effectiveness	NA	NA	NA
Treat sick or injured birds affected by storms	This is a hypothetical action. We found no published studies assessing this action’s effectiveness	NA	NA	NA

Green = Likely to be beneficial. Red = Unlikely to be beneficial, may have negative impact. Orange = contradicting or uncertain evidence. Grey = Limited evidence.
R = relevance rating. S = strength rating. T = transparency rating. All ratings on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 is the highest.

Detail:

Provide supplementary food during the breeding season
Relevance (R): 2 studies in the evidence base focus on petrels and shearwaters, 14 on other seabirds and 0 on other birds. Strength (S): The evidence base was comprised of 16 studies. Of these 10 were considered to have a good sample size, and 14 had a clear metric for effectiveness. Transparency (T): 16 studies included were published and peer-reviewed, 0 were from the grey literature, and 0 were anecdotal. Of the studies included, 13 had a published methodology, and 4 justified their rationale.

7.2 Impact: Reduced prey availability during breeding season

Summary:
Several local actions may assist breeding populations on a small scale, but direct intervention on a large scale is likely to be extremely difficult. General conservation actions to protect fish stocks and local marine areas may be the most effective method. If a population is likely to suffer major losses, even with conservation help, then translocations could be considered

Intervention	Evidence of effectiveness	R	S	T
Artificially incubate or hand-rear chicks to support population	Known to be effective for some seabirds, though labour intensive and usually only appropriate for small populations. Several petrel and shearwater species have been hand-reared succesfully, but typically in small numbers.	3	2	1
Make new colonies more attractive to encourage birds to translocate	Trialled extensively across other seabirds, with variable success. However, in petrels and shearwaters the use of vocalisations, smells and suitable burrows have been generally successful in encouraging establishment, especially when combined with other conservation actions. The effectiveness of each individiual action is mixed, and varies depending on the species and population in question.	3	4	3
Provide supplementary food during the breeding season	Trialled on many seabird species. Very limited trials on petrels and shearwaters, and with limited success. It may be possible to feed a small number of chicks for a limited amount of time, but feeding adults supplementary food is likely unfeasible or, at the least, extremely challenging.	3	4	3
Translocate the population to a more suitable breeding area	Known to be beneficial in several seabird groups, and multiple translocations of petrel and shearwaters have been carried out successfully. There is a substantial body of work on maximising translocation success, and encouraging establishment.	4	4	4

Detail:

Artificially incubate or hand-rear chicks to support population
Relevance (R): 4 studies in the evidence base focus on petrels and shearwaters, 36 on other seabirds and 0 on other birds. Strength (S): The evidence base was comprised of 40 studies. Of these 9 were considered to have a good sample size, and 19 had a clear metric for effectiveness. Transparency (T): 26 studies included were published and peer-reviewed, 0 were from the grey literature, and 0 were anecdotal. Of the studies included, 17 had a published methodology, and 4 justified their rationale.

Make new colonies more attractive to encourage birds to translocate
Relevance (R): 9 studies in the evidence base focus on petrels and shearwaters, 29 on other seabirds and 6 on other birds. Strength (S): The evidence base was comprised of 44 studies. Of these 31 were considered to have a good sample size, and 18 had a clear metric for effectiveness. Transparency (T): 44 studies included were published and peer-reviewed, of which 1 were literature reviews or meta-analyses, 0 were from the grey literature, and 0 were anecdotal. Of the studies included, 30 had a published methodology, and 22 justified their rationale.

Translocate the population to a more suitable breeding area
Relevance (R): 7 studies in the evidence base focus on petrels and shearwaters, 8 on other seabirds and 0 on other birds. Strength (S): The evidence base was comprised of 15 studies. Of these 13 were considered to have a good sample size, and 9 had a clear metric for effectiveness. Transparency (T): 14 studies included were published and peer-reviewed, of which 1 were literature reviews or meta-analyses, 0 were from the grey literature, and 0 were anecdotal. Of the studies included, 11 had a published methodology, and 9 justified their rationale.