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Publication - Strategy/plan

Scottish seabird conservation action plan

Published
13 August 2025
Directorate
Marine Directorate
Topic
Marine and fisheries
ISBN
9781836919735

Plan setting out a series of priority actions for building seabird resilience and focusing collaborative seabird conservation action.

View supporting documents Supporting documents

Scope

The action plan covers 24 species of seabird (Table 1) that frequently occur in Scottish waters. In the context of this plan, ‘seabirds’ consist of petrels and shearwaters (Procellariiformes); gannets and cormorants (Suliformes); skuas, gulls, terns and auks (Charadriiformes)[4]. Further information on each species, is provided in the Species Accounts that accompany this action plan.

Table 1 Seabird species included in this action plan and their UK and Scottish conservation status. Note: The trends pre-date the impact of HPAI.
Species UK conservation status[5] % of GB breeding population in Scotland[6] Trend in Scottish breeding population % of GB wintering population in Scotland
Northern fulmar Amber 98% Declining 89%[7]
European storm petrel Amber 89% n/a n/a
Leach's storm petrel Red 100% Declining n/a
Arctic skua Red 100% Declining n/a
Great skua Red 100% Increasing <1%7
Black-legged kittiwake Red 61% Declining <1%7
Little gull Green n/a n/a Unknown
Lesser black-backed gull Amber 21% Declining 8%7,[8]
Herring gull Red 63% Declining 37%
Great black-backed gull Red 71% Declining 24% 7,[9]
Black-headed gull Amber 11% Declining 9%7,11
Common gull Red 97% Declining 29%11
Little tern Amber 16% n/a n/a
Sandwich Tern Amber 9% Stable n/a
Common tern Amber 39% Declining n/a
Arctic tern Red 66% Declining n/a
Manx shearwater Amber 38% n/a n/a
Northern gannet Amber 84% Increasing <1%7
European shag Amber 84% Declining 82%7,[10],[11]
Great Cormorant Green 42% n/a 35%7,9,[12]
Atlantic puffin Red 78% Declining 3.7%7
Black guillemot Green 100% Declining 95%
Common guillemot Amber 73% Declining 28% 7,[13]
Razorbill Red 69% Declining 45%7
Figure 1 Area covered by the action plan (the Scottish continental shelf limit).
Map of area covered by the Scottish Seabird Conservation Action Plan. This includes Scotland shaded in grey, a dotted line indicating the 12 nautical miles limit of inshore waters, and a bold solid line indicating the Scottish continental shelf limit.

Contact

Email: marine_species@gov.scot

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