The Regional Secretariat for the Environment and the Sea, as a partner of the “LIFE” project participates at a ceremony for the public presentation of the goals as well as of the first results of that ongoing project in the Azores, to be held at the Santa Casa da Misericórdio do Corvo today at 9 PM.
The initiative, organised by the Portuguese Society for the Study of Seabirds, coordinator of the aforementioned project, titled as “Sanctuary Islands for Seabirds” (Ilhas Santuário para Aves Marinhas) also seeks to address the current high mortality rate among protected young birds by introduced species, particularly rats and cats.
These predators have caused the disappearance of more than forty percent of the young and defenceless birds in the nest monitored by the “LIFE” project. This mortality is one of biggest problems on Corvo Island, which is considered as one of the main seabirds’ sanctuaries in the Atlantic Ocean.
Hence, the project aims to study the complete eradication of exotic species that jeopardise the survival of several endangered seabirds’ colonies, also threaten by invasive plants that form dense patches, thus making nidification more difficult.
The LIFE project, “Sanctuary Islands for Seabirds,” taking place on Corvo Island and on the Vila Franca do Campo Islet, will install an enclosed pilot area to eradicate invasive species for the next four years, allowing seabirds to settle down with any disturbance and predation problems.
Furthermore, the project also aims to test measures to monitor and eradicate exotic invasive species, both animals and plants, to improve seabirds’ habitat and increase their number as well as their distribution area at a medium and long term, to promote the environmental values, simultaneously encouraging the environmental tourism in the Azores.