ABC's Seabird Program

ABC's Seabird Program addresses the most pressing threats to birds that spend part of their lives at sea. When most of us think of seabirds, the first species that spring to mind are the gulls and terns that frequent our beaches, sounds, and bays. But there is a large diversity of other seabirds that spend almost all of their time out on the open ocean, coming ashore only to breed. These pelagic species include albatrosses, petrels, skuas, jaegers, fulmars, and shearwaters. Alcids, such as puffins, guillemots, and murrelets, also spend part of their life far from land.

Most seabirds are seldom seen, so their plight goes largely unnoticed. Yet many of them, particularly albatrosses, are experiencing dangerous population declines. Of 22 albatross species throughout the world, 19 are listed as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List. In U.S. waters, Laysan, Black-footed, and Short-tailed Albatrosses are all in trouble, as are the Ashy Storm-Petrel, Bermuda Petrel, Buller's and Pink-footed Shearwaters, and Marbled, Craveri's, and Xantus's Murrelets.

The reasons for their declines are varied, but include mortality in fisheries, loss or degradation of breeding habitat, marine pollution, and in the longer term, global warming. ABC works cooperatively with partners around the world to find creative solutions to these problems. In some cases, the threats are unique to individual species, such as lead paint on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge that is killing young Laysan Albatrosses, whereas others affect a range of species, such as longlining. The variety of threats requires a variety strategies, so ABC’s Seabird Program works both domestically and abroad, both in policy and in conservation projects, and both at land and at sea.