Scottish seabird conservation - action plan: consultation

Implementation

Overseeing Delivery - Next Steps

Once the action plan is finalised and published, taking account of the responses to the consultation, it is anticipated that a Seabird Conservation Delivery Partnership will be established, which will oversee the delivery and review of progress on the action plan. Through this process, the final list of actions will be subject to ongoing review and adjustment to take account of emerging scientific evidence and other factors. It is anticipated that the Delivery Partnership will operate within the governance framework of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, ensuring alignment and accountability following publication of the action plan.

Measures of progress and success

Once finalised, progress in delivering the action plan will be determined by monitoring and reviewing measures of progress and success. Ultimately, however, the true success in achieving the vision of this action plan will be determined by the conservation status of Scottish seabirds in 2045. Progress to achieving this vision therefore needs to be measured by positive changes in seabird populations and their conservation status. Recognising that seabird species are mostly long-lived and slow to reproduce, we need to be realistic about what can be considered improvements, seabird populations are unlikely to bounce-back in the short-term and, recovery will take time. Added to this are the uncertainties around the impacts of climate change on seabirds, as well as recognising that seabirds are affected by pressures outside of UK waters too.

There are four critical existing assessments which we consider will be instrumental in determining the success of this Action plan:

• UK Marine Strategy Part 1^[14]: The UK Marine Strategy assessments will need to demonstrate some increases in seabird abundance and breeding success to provide confidence in any positive changes reflective of seabird population recovery and increased resilience in terms of achieving GES.
• Scotland’s Marine Assessment (SMA)^[15]: Future SMAs, or equivalents, will need to demonstrate increases in seabird abundance and breeding success to provide confidence in any positive changes reflective of seabird population recovery and increased resilience.
• National seabird census: A fifth national census will need to demonstrate positive trends in Scottish seabird breeding populations.
• Birds of Conservation Concern (BoCC): Future BoCC assessments will need to demonstrate improved conservation statuses of all seabird species currently on the red and amber lists.

Emerging evaluation frameworks associated with the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and proposals to establish statutory targets for nature restoration through a Natural Environment Bill may also provide suitable means of monitoring progress.