Náttúrufræðingurinn - 2000, Qupperneq 74

Ævar Petersen 1979. Varpfuglar Flateyjar á
Breiðafirði og nokkurra nærliggjandi eyja.
Náttúrufræðingurinn 49(2-3). 229-256.
Ævar Petersen 1981. Breeding biology and feed-
ing ecology of Black Guillemots. University
of Oxford. D.Phil.-ritgerð. 378 bls.
Ævar Petersen 1983. Fuglatalningar að vetrar-
lagi: Saga og árangur. Bliki 2. 28^12.
Ævar Petersen 1989. Náttúrufar í Breiðafjarðar-
eyjum. Arbók Ferðafélags íslands 1989. 17-
52.
Ævar Petersen 1992. Vöktun á sjófuglastofnum
(ágrip). Bls. 19-20 í: Líffræðifélag fslands.
Fuglar. Ráðstefna í Borgartúni 6, Reykjavík
6.-8. nóvember 1992. 21 bls.
Ævar Petersen 1996. Sjófuglar, rannsóknir á
þeim og vemd. Bls. 217-224 í: Unnsteinn
Stefánsson (ritstj.). fslendingar, hafið og
auðlindir þess. Vísindafélag ísl., Ráðstefnurit
4. 279 bls.
Ævar Petersen 1998a. íslenskir fuglar. Vaka-
Helgafell, Reykjavík. 312 bls.
Ævar Petersen 1998b. Incidental take of
seabirds in Iceland. Bls. 23-27 í: V. Bakken &
K. Falk (ritstj.). Incidental take of seabirds in
commercial fisheries in the Arctic countries.
CAFF Technical Rep. No. 1. 50 bls.
Ævar Petersen. Vöktun teistustofnsins (í
undirbúningi).
Ævar Petersen & Sverrir Thorstensen 1993.
Hettumáfsvörp í Eyjafirði 1990. Bliki 13: 45-
59.
■ SUMMARY
Monitoring of Icelandic seabirds
In Iceland 23 breeding species are categorized as
seabirds, i.e. Fulmar Fulmarus glacialis, Gannet
Morus bassanus, Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis,
Cormorant P. carbo, Leach’s Petrel Oceano-
droma leuocorrhoa, Storm Petrel Hydrobates
pelagicus, Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus,
Eider Somateria mollissima, Great Skua
Stercorarius skua, Arctic Skua S. parasiticus,
Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea, Black-headed
Gull Larus ridibundus, Common Gull L. canus,
Lesser Black-backed Gull L. fuscus, Great
Black-backed Gull L. marinus, Glaucous Gull L.
hyperboreus, Herring Gull L. argentatus, Kitti-
wake Rissa tridactyla, Puffin Fratercula arctica,
Razorbill Alca torda, Common Guillemot LJria
aalge, Briinnich’s Guillemot U. lomvia, and
Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle (while the Little
Auk Alle alle has recently stopped breeding in
the country).
This paper reviews the status of monitoring of
seabirds in Iceland and argues for the develop-
ment of an integrated monitoring program. It is
hoped this will become a part of the future con-
servation policy of Icelandic environmental au-
thorities. The most recent estimates of the size
of Icelandic seabird populations are shown in
Tab. 1. Review is also given of the rationale be-
hind monitoring, the status of present monitor-
ing programs, and the responsibility of Iceland
for the future of seabird populations in the glo-
bal context.
At present, the total population of only one
seabird species, i.e. the Cormorant, is moni-
tored, although good trend information also ex-
ists for the Gannet. Other species are only moni-
tored locally, or individual colonies, including
Black Guillemot, Eider, Black-headed Gull,
Common Gull, Shag, Fulmar, and Kittiwake.
The Christmas Bird Count, carried out in mid
winter, is in essence a monitoring program, al-
though it did not start out as such. Mention
should be made of the special situation with the
Eider. Through the traditional down-collecting,
long series of counts, sometimes over a century,
is available for many colonies. For most seabird
species, however, no monitoring is presently
carried out in Iceland.
The present paper urges for (1) the develop-
ment of an official integrated monitoring pro-
gram for Icelandic seabirds, (2) continuation of
data-collecting on the location and size of Icelan-
dic seabird colonies, (3) research on the potential
threats to Icelandic seabirds. The last point in-
cludes items such as the magnitude and effects of
by-catch, human disturbance in colonies, caused
by hunters/harvesters as well as tourists, and
collecting of baseline information on contami-
nants in Icelandic seabirds.
Póstfang höfundar/Author’s Address
Ævar Petersen
Náttúrufræðistofnun Islands
Icelandic Institute of Natural History
Pósthólf/Box 5320
IS-125Reykjavík
aevar@ni.is
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