Bonn,
3 September 2010 - The 1^st World Seabird
Conference (WSC) will be taking place on 7-11 September
2010 at
the Victoria Conference Centre in Victoria, British
Columbia, Canada. The theme of the conference is “Seabirds:
Linking the Global Oceans” and over 800 participants
from more than 40 countries are expected to attend.

The conference will provide a platform for seabird scientists,
conservationists, policy-makers and other stakeholders
and will help raise awareness and focus attention on
the world’s seabirds.

Most seabird populations are highly threatened:
Amongst the most significant threats are food shortages
due to the depletion of fish stocks, to which both over-fishing
and climate change contribute. By-catch and long-line fisheries,
oil pollution and solid wastes (debris) are other problems
for seabirds. Further threats are destruction of habitats
and unsustainable human exploitation. On-land threats include
disturbances at breeding sites and introduced terrestrial
predators.

Mr. Sergey Dereliev, AEWA’s Technical Officer, will
be participating in the Conference on behalf of the AEWA
Secretariat. Twenty new seabird species, including several
species of auks, frigate birds, gannets and tropic birds
have recently been added to Annex 2 of the African-Eurasian
Migratory Waterbird Agreement by the Fourth Meeting of
the Parties (MOP4) in Antananarivo, Madagascar. The inclusion
of these species gives them greater international protection
and calls upon countries and other stakeholders in the
African-Eurasian region to take concrete action for those
species that have an unfavourable conservation status.

The Symposium is being organised by the1^st World Seabird Conference International Steering Committee,
led by the
Pacific Seabird Group and 25 other professional seabird
and research organizations from around the world. Next
to an extensive conference programme – featuring
over 700 presentations reflecting the work and research
of more than 1300 seabird experts and other stakeholders – several
field trips are scheduled for participants. In line with
the meeting a Conference Expo, a seabird film festival
and a seabird art exhibition have been organised which
are open to the public.

Information: