Exhibition „Future for sea birds“ opened

Photographs of three endangered birds – Yelkouan shearwater, Scopoli’s shearwater and Audouin’s gull, with accompanying texts in Croatian and English are on display. Visitors also have the opportunity to see the environmental threats that endanger these rare birds, such as photos of the beach covered with plastic waste.

The organizers have tried to even answer the questions like why is the research on these birds needed and is their protection crucial.

From a global perspective, the survival of these birds is endangered by the spread of predators (ship rats) destroying their eggs and young ones, by marine litter that animals often mistake for food, by noise and artificial lights that effects them during nesting period, by Yellow-legged gull that they have to fight for the living space with, by fishing tools, primarily longlines due to their bycatch and the decrease in number of small blue fish to feed.

Croatian albatrosses – Yelkouan and Scopoli’s shearwaters, shy birds with unusal calls, with long and curved wings adapted to long flights on strong wind currents. Linked to the legend of the Greek hero Diomedes. They come to land only for the purpose of raising their young, so we can see them on uninhabited islands as they walk clumsily around their nests. When young mature, both species fly into new ventures, as if they can hardly wait to sail above the waves again.

Audouin’s Gull in Croatia can only be found on the islands of the Lastovo and Mljet archipelago. Smaller, but graceful Audouin’s gull with its unusually red beak and dark eyes is endemic species for the Mediterranean. Only sixty couples, sometimes even much less, are spending their summer vacations in Croatia, and then move to the southern Mediterranean, to the north-western coasts of Africa where they spend the winter. They are coming back here because they know they have a safe harbour for their young and the desired peace that is only broken by the noise of the waves and the calls of other birds.

The exhibition is opened until Aug 24, 2019, when „The night of albatross“ event will be held.

Project LIFE Artina – “Seabird Conservation Network in the Adriatic” is co-financed by the LIFE Programme of the European Union under contract number LIFE17 NAT/HR/000594. The project started on September 1, 2018 and will end on August 31, 2023.

Total project budget: 1,921,387 EUR

EU LIFE Programme financial contribution: 1,152,832 EUR (60.00% of the total project budget)

Project co-financing: Office for Cooperation with NGOs, Government of the Republic of Croatia, The Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund

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