A BAN on sand eel fishing in the British waters of the North Sea could help support the Island’s seabird population, according to a conservationist.
In January, the UK government announced the permanent closure of sand eel fisheries from April, one of a number of measures intended to help boost declining seabird populations, particularly puffins and kittiwakes.
Although the measure has been challenged by the EU, environmentalists have heralded it an important step for marine conservation.
Cris Sellarés, a project officer with Birds on the Edge, said: “It is one of the greatest [pieces of] news for seabird and marine conservation in the past few years. Whole ecosystems are supported by them, so this is a big step in restoring marine food webs.”
Birds on the Edge is a joint initiative between the National Trust for Jersey, the government’s Environment Department and Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust.
Jersey has no commercial sand eel fisheries and Ms Sellarés said she would not suggest that any action was taken locally except trying to find ways of monitoring sand eels.
“I myself encounter large shoals when snorkelling, and the razorbills and puffins that breed on our cliffs are regularly seen fishing sand eels near Plémont, surfacing with beakfuls of very large sand eels.
“The UK ban will probably have a positive effect for our seabirds. Directly, as ‘our’ seabirds will have more food if they forage in UK waters where the ban is in place, and also indirectly.
“By allowing UK populations to recover, we might have a ‘spillover effect’ with some young birds from these colonies ending up here looking for mates and new breeding grounds.
“Seabirds are threatened everywhere, by a variety of issues, so anything that helps them somewhere else, will be helping our colonies too,” she said.
Last month, the UK’s ban received a judges’ special award in the 2024 Ocean Awards, sponsored by Blue Marine Foundation and BOAT International.
Commenting on the award, Charles Clover, co-founder of Blue Marine Foundation and co-chair of the judges, said: “As our citation shows, years of good science and strong ecological reasons were behind this decision to ban sand eel fishing to save seabirds and it needs to be defended staunchly.”
