Migratory Shorebirds Vanishing Along their Flyway

Migratory Shorebirds Vanishing Along their Flyway

April 2008  - One of the world's great 
wildlife spectacles is under way across Australia. Two million migratory 
shorebirds of 36 species are gathering around Broome before an amazing 
10,000 kilometer (6,200 mile) annual flight to their breeding grounds in 
the Northern Hemisphere. The birds are preparing to make an annual flight 
along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, a route which passes through 22 
countries. 
But a new study shows that these migrants and Australia's one million 
resident shorebirds have suffered a serious long-term decline in numbers 
over the past 25 years. 
       
A large scale aerial survey study covering the eastern third of the 
continent by researchers at the University of New South Wales has 
identified that migratory shorebirds populations there plunged by 73 
percent between 1983 and 2006, while Australia's 15 species of resident 
shorebirds - such as avocets and stilts - have declined by 81 percent. 
The first long-term analysis of shorebird populations and health at an 
almost a continental scale, the study is published in the scientific 
journal "Biological Conservation." 
"This is a truly alarming result: in effect, three-quarters of eastern 
Australia's millions of resident and migratory shorebirds have disappeared 
in just one generation," says an author of the report, Professor Richard 
Kingsford. 
"The wetlands and resting places that they rely on for food and 
recuperation are shrinking virtually all the way along their migration 
path, from Australia through Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and up 
through Asia into China and Russia," Kingsford said. 
The study reveals for the first time that Australia's inland wetlands are 
particularly important for migratory shorebirds, along with the 
better-known coastal sites such as Roebuck Bay, Port Phillip Bay, the 
Hunter River estuary and Hervey Bay. 
"Loss of wetlands due to river regulation is one of the more significant 
contributors to this drastic decline, but it appears such a threat is 
largely unrecognized in Australia's conservation plans and international 
agreements," says Professor Kingsford, who co-authored the report with 
Silke Nebel and John Porter, of the University of New South Wales School 
of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. 
"Our grandchildren will not be able to share in the excitement of 
marvelling at the migratory feats of shorebirds if the current decline 
continues," said Dr. Graeme Hamilton, CEO of Birds Australia, the BirdLife 
International partner organization in Australia. 
The study comes as nearly two million migratory shorebirds are gathering 
in what has been described as one of the world's greatest wildlife 
spectacles. 

Many birds have already set off - including a bar-tailed godwit carrying a 
small transmitter. The GPS tag allows researchers to follow its route from 
Broome in northwestern Australia as it travels to breeding grounds in 
Alaska. The bird 'H8' was last sighted on April 11 entering the Yellow Sea 
in China, after traveling around 5,000 km (3,000 miles). 
The Bar-tailed Godwit tracking study is part of the Pacific Shorebird 
Migration Project; involving biologists from the California-based PRBO 
Conservation Science and the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science 
Centre, as well as Massey University and the University of Auckland, both 
based in New Zealand. 
The Yellow Sea provides rich feeding habitat for more than three million 
migratory birds annually, and is a key refuelling stop. A total of 36 
species pause here to rebuild their energy reserves before continuing on 
their migrations. 
The Yellow Sea is also home to 600 million people in China and South Korea 
- about 10 percent of the world's population. The demands of this growing 
human population are destroying the tidal feeding grounds, crucial for 
migratory shorebirds. 
"Destruction of habitat along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway is a 
major threat as birds are most vulnerable during their migration," said 
Simba Chan, senior conservation manager at BirdLife's Asia Division 
The most important shorebird site within the Yellow Sea, Saemangeum, now 
is being reclaimed for development, putting millions of migratory birds 
under threat.
       
The 40,100 hectare construction project on the west coast of South Korea 
involves damming the estuaries of the Mangyeung and Dongjin Rivers with a 
seawall 33 km (20 miles) long. 
"Our international agreements relating to shorebird conservation, such as 
the Ramsar Convention, the Japan-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement, the 
China-Australia Migratory Bird Agreement, and the Convention on the 
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, do not seem to be 
working," warns Dr. Hamilton. 
A worldwide assessment of the survival status of all bird species will be 
released on May 19. Published once every four years, the 2008 IUCN Red 
List of Threatened Species for birds is a global assessment of every bird 
species on Earth. 
For birds, the IUCN Red List is maintained by BirdLife International. The 
last assessment showed one in eight of the world's 10,000 bird species are 
at risk of extinction.

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