The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Seabirds Program enhances the viability of seabird populations by increasing their survival and reproduction to levels that will allow for long-term sustainability. The program currently focuses on the Pacific, one of the most globally significant regions for threatened seabirds.
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Seabirds are declining faster than any other group of birds and Pacific seabirds face the highest risk of extinction. Several threats, both at land and sea, continue to drive these species downward. They include:
- Predation and displacement by non-native, invasive species on breeding islands
- Habitat loss and degradation due to non-native invasive species, and expansion of human activities
- Collection of seabird eggs, chicks and adults for food or other purposes
- Incidental mortality (bycatch) from fisheries operations
- Reduction in prey availability from human demand for fisheries resources
- Marine pollutants
The Seabirds Program aims to increase survival and reproduction of seabirds by mitigating these threats. The program also supports actions that build long-term resilience for threatened seabirds, including investments in biosecurity planning and projects that establish new seabird colonies through social attraction and translocation. The Seabirds Program also supports strategic investments in information gaps for focal species that will lead to future conservation.
| Pacific Seabird Business Plan | Download the PDF | |
| Pacific Seabird Program Conservation Impact Assessment | Download the PDF | |
| Honopū Seabird Conservation Initiative Implementation Plan 2019 | Download the PDF |
Senior Scientist, Bird Conservation
Coordinator, Regional Programs
Related Species
Pacific seabirds
Seabirds are a diverse group of species that disperse over vast ocean distances to seek food, often travelling far from breeding colonies on oceanic islands. They are able to live for decades and take three to eight years before starting to breed, after which they produce only 1 to 2 eggs every other year or so. Seabirds are impacted by their interaction with humans both on islands and in the ocean, which has driven many species to the brink of extinction.
Hawaiian forest birds
Due to its geographic isolation, Hawaii has unique fauna and flora that are particularly vulnerable to changes in their environment. In fact, Hawaii is considered the species extinction capital of the United States. This especially true for endemic birds; 98 of 142 known endemic bird species having gone extinct since human arrival to Hawaii. Currently, 33 of Hawaii's remaining 44 endemic birds are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Eleven of those have not been seen for decades and are likely extinct.
Black storm-petrel
Black storm-petrels are an agile, burrow- or crevice-nesting colonial seabird that lay a single egg and nest on offshore islands and rocks from southern California southward along the Baja peninsula of Mexico. Storm-petrels are the smallest members of the Procellariiformes order, an oceanic long-lived seabird group that includes albatrosses, shearwaters and petrels.
Black-footed albatross
The black-footed albatross is the smallest of three north Pacific albatrosses. Populations of all three species were devastated by feather hunters during the early 20th century with many colonies extirpated in the central and western Pacific. Today 95 percent of the global population nests in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.