£1.6m funds a resilient future for Scotland’s globally important seabirds - NatureScot

The Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (SMEEF) is excited to announce a new Seabird Resilience Fund to help safeguard the future of Scotland’s precious seabirds. This significant £1.6m investment, funded by voluntary donations from a group of offshore renewable energy developers, aims to fund practical projects to protect seabirds from the many threats they face, both at sea and on land.

Under pressure from a range of factors including climate change, invasive species and food availability, seabird numbers have fallen dramatically between 1986 and 2023. The number of birds on our coastal breeding grounds is now nearly half of what it was in 1986.

But there are signs of a brighter future for seabirds, with short term trends showing increased populations of black-legged kittiwake, European shag and common guillemot. With renewable energy helping Scotland work towards net zero targets, this fund will support more direct action to help recover healthy seabird populations.

Thriving populations of seabirds are not only important for Scotland but globally. Twenty-four species have their regular breeding grounds here, approximately 60% of the world’s breeding population of great skua, 46% of the world’s northern gannet and 16% of the world’s Manx shearwater. This unique fund has the chance to support recovery and resilience that can contribute to global conservation goals.

To kick start the work of this valuable programme, SMEEF will fund biosecurity survey work on vulnerable island habitats in the 2025 season. Our island seabird populations are under real threat from invasive species, both animal predators, such as rats, and introduced plants that can cause habitat loss. Following development work over the summer SMEEF will announce a call for wider applications to the fund.