SEO/BirdLife has concluded the bird census campaign in Banco de la Concepción, after two rounds in which the entire Bank, located about 100 kilometers north of Lanzarote, has been prospected. The results obtained between October 22 and 29 reinforce the value of this enclave, which SEO/BirdLife has ratified as an "Important Bird Area" (IBA), thanks to the work carried out within the framework of the European LIFE+ INDEMARES project.
Banco de la Concepción was already identified as a potentially important area for birds during the preparation of the inventory of marine IBAs in Spain, published by SEO/BirdLife in 2009. At that time, satellite tracking data indicated that this seamount was the main feeding area for the Balearic shearwater in the waters of the Canary Islands, and suggested that other species of seabirds could also frequent the area in significant numbers. However, "it was not possible to carry out censuses that ratified this importance, due to the logistical complications of accessing this remote and inhospitable area", according to the NGO.
Thanks to the LIFE+ INDEMARES project, SEO/BirdLife has now been able to remedy this information gap. During the project there have been more remote monitoring works (with GPS) and it has been possible to carry out shipments with the Spanish Institute of Oceanography, although the work plan was the most suitable for bird censuses. Therefore, the last step has been to organize a specific campaign to census birds.
The campaign has been developed in two rounds, of 3 days each, between October 22 and 29 of this year. Both rounds have been carried out aboard the Hasibi III, a 15-meter-long sports fishing boat, based in Playa Blanca, south of Lanzarote. In both rounds, censuses have been carried out using transects covering the entire Bank.
"A festival of storm petrels"
The October censuses reveal "an exceptional abundance of storm petrels, a group of seabirds with very little known habits at sea, due to their small size (25-100 grams) and their discreet habits, and whose conservation status is unfavorable".
During the October campaign, 5 different species of storm petrels have been detected, which represents the totality of species regularly present in Spanish waters: European storm petrel, Madeiran storm petrel, Leach's storm petrel, Wilson's storm petrel and white-faced storm petrel. But not only the diversity, but also the abundance of these birds has been very remarkable.
As expected for the dates, the two most common species have been the Leach's storm petrel and, especially, the Madeiran storm petrel. Of this last species, several hundred birds have been detected in the transects, "which suggests, pending analysis of the data, that the estimate for the entire Bank will be several thousand specimens". This would be "the area of maximum known abundance for the Madeiran storm petrel in Spanish waters, and possibly in the world".
"Unprecedented diversity"
In addition to the storm petrels, Banco de la Concepción represents an outstanding enclave to observe a great diversity of seabirds, including some species considered extremely rare in European waters. Among them are the Bulwer's petrel, the black-bellied storm petrel, the red-billed tropicbird and the pomarine jaeger.
Some of these species were detected by SEO/BirdLife observers in previous campaigns, and others in ornithological outings carried out in the area by amateur observers, motivated by the observations of SEO/BirdLife.
Why the Bank?
Bird observations are spread throughout Banco de la Concepción, but the highest densities were detected on the edges of this seamount, where ocean currents, when colliding with the cliff, give rise to upwelling processes that enrich surface waters.
With the existing information, SEO/BirdLife considers that "there is no doubt that Banco de la Concepción meets the criteria to be a marine IBA", and anticipates that it will advocate for it to receive effective protection as a Special Protection Area for Birds (SPA), and thus be included in the Natura 2000 Network.
Likewise, the important populations of cetaceans and the value of the Bank's seabed, also studied in the INDEMARES project, suggest that the area will also be proposed as a Site of Community Importance (SCI), the other protection figure of the Natura 2000 Network.
