Review of the illegal killing and taking of birds in the Mediterranean Red-Backed Shrike trapped on lime-stick© BirdLife Cyprus Willem Van den Bossche – NADEG meeting

Background (1) Overexploitation is one of the main threats driving birds towards extinction globally, and much of this is illegal Illegal killing and taking of birds is a growing issue of concern, especially across the Mediterranean region Little quantitative information on which species, which countries & locations & potential impact on populations Nets on Egyptian Mediterranean coast © Dr Holger Schulz

Background (2) Available information: Reasonable (e.g. Cyprus, Malta, parts of Spain and Italy) Some (e.g. Balkans, Greece, Turkey, Jordan) Very poor (e.g. Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Libya) Mediterranean-wide picture is still obscure Project: Review of illegal killing and taking of birds in the Mediterranean (January 2014 – September 2015) 26 Med countries + Georgia assessed Illegal killing and taking = any form of deliberate action that results in the death/removal from the wild of an individual of a bird species that is prohibited under national or regional legislation

“No data available” “We have no quantitative information on which we could base our calculations” “Our main concern is that we need to remain credible about the estimates that we provide” “No clue of numbers” Many national experts were at first reluctant to make estimates of the number of individuals illegally killed in their country Scale, scope and impact of illegal killing (1) To better understand which species might be most affected, which countries are the most seriously affected and where are the worst locations

Our approach: estimates with credible min and max bands given the level of uncertainty Min and max limits of the estimate could be very wide (e.g ,000) Justification notes explaining how estimates have been derived, so the logic and audit trail is transparent Caveats and confidence limits highlighted in any outputs produced using these data DEROGATIONS were taken out in the final figures Scale, scope and impact of illegal killing (2) Rationale: establish baseline for priority-setting

Data collection Extrapolations from existing data On illegal killing at individual sites Rehabilitation centres Violation (police) records Mist-net capture rates from ringing studies Proportion of population size Etc. Expert opinion Example: Estimates for spring shooting European Turtle-dove in Greece: Min-Max = 4-15 birds per day * 4-7 ‘good’ days * 1,5 hunters per shooting hide * hides = 12, ,000 ind/year (interviews with poachers)

Data review Datasets available online for review by external experts from conservation and ornithological organisations, hunting associations, and scientific/technical bodies and/or national focal points of relevant international conventions Aim: to ensure that the data were as accurate as possible and integrated all relevant information Any feedback was then used by the national experts to revise the data

‘The killing’ report Short communications publication for publicity purposes Detail the situation in the 10 countries with the highest numbers of illegally killed/taken birds and the 3 worst locations for the top 5 countries. Scientific paper and full report soon available Download the Layman's report at:

CONFIDENTIAL - Preliminary results (1) Brochet et al. in revision Illegal killing was reported to be widespread all around the Mediterranean: million birds may be illegally killed/taken per year In Cyprus and Italy, more than 2 million individual birds may be killed/taken on average each year

CONFIDENTIAL - Preliminary results (2) Brochet et al. in revision At least 375 (67%) of those species regularly occurring in the region are reported to be affected by illegal killing/taking GroupMean estimated no. individual birds illegally killed/taken per year (min – max) (millions) Passerines19.9 (9.4 – 30.3) Waterbirds1.0 (0.5 – 1.6) Pigeons, Doves0.7 (0.4 – 1.0) Raptors0.08 (0.04 – 0.1) Others1.8 (1.1 – 2.5) For Blackcap and Common Quail, more than 1 million individuals are estimated to be killed/taken illegally on average every year Quail in crate in market © Nature Conservation Egypt Blackcap trapped in mist net © BirdLife Cyprus

Preliminary conclusion First comprehensive quantitative Pan-Mediterranean situation of the scope and scale of illegal killing of birds Providing useful indications of the overall magnitude of the issue Paucity of data on illegal killing/taking of birds, with most estimates having wide intervals. Monitoring schemes which use systematic sampling protocols are needed Priority conservation actions to address this international conservation problem. Out of the 10 countries with most birds killed, 5 are EU countries! Brochet et al. in revision

Link with the Tunis Action Plan and EU Roadmap List of priority locations List of priority species Hoping to secure funding to extend this work geographically in 2016 to cover rest of Europe + Arabian Peninsula (extension dark green on the map) Full report available soon with annexes of detailed national level information

Thank you very much for your attention! Free Blackcap © BirdLife Cyprus Thank you to national experts who worked hard to contribute national information on illegal killing and taking of birds and the organisations that supported them to work on this issue. Thanks you to the external experts who helped to review the national data. This review was funded by an anonymous BirdLife donor.