The project’s other objectives were to reduce the direct and indirect human-caused threats by managing them through informed concrete conservation actions increase the number of breeding pairs by approximately 10% and the reproductive output of the majority of the breeding colonies by 25% and address relevant policies, such as Malta’s National Strategy and Biodiversity Action Plan (2014-2020), the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, EU Birds Directive, and the Integrated Monitoring Programme of the Barcelona Convention. The LIFE Arcipelagu Garnija project aimed to ensure the long-term recovery of the Yelkouan shearwater ( Puffinus yelkouan) in the central Mediterranean islands of Malta, by increasing the knowledge of colony sites, number of breeding pairs and reproductive output, and prevalent terrestrial threats. In the light of previous achievements, it has become necessary to prepare the ground for a long-term recovery of the species in the central Mediterranean islands of Malta. The LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater project (LIFE06 NAT/MT/000097) secured the largest colony in Malta, and the LIFE+ Malta Seabird project (LIFE10 NAT/MT/000090) helped identify marine SPA sites for the species and other seabirds. To date, BirdLife Malta and partners have made various efforts to understand and tackle the main threats causing the decline of the species, both at land and at sea. More than 10% of the world’s Yelkouan shearwater population breeds in Malta.
Due to drastic population declines, the status of the Yelkouan shearwater was recently downgraded to ‘vulnerable’ according to IUCN criteria. The Yelkouan shearwater ( Puffinus yelkouan), which is endemic to the Central and Eastern Mediterranean region, is listed in Annex I of the EU Birds Directive and Annex II of the Bern Convention, and is subject to special conservation measures across Europe.
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