Priority conservation objectives and actions

Objective 1: Enhance data collection and data input into habitat protection initiatives 

• Action 1. Raise awareness and facilitate protection of key marine bird habitats that intersect with human activities using various regulatory and planning processes as appropriate to protect marine birds while they are at-sea
• Action 2. Support country participation in circumpolar collaborations on collection and synthesis of marine bird tracking data (including Ivory Gulls)
• Action 3.  Knowledge gap analysis of circumpolar seabird tracking studies

Objective 2: Harvest assessments and mitigation of unsustainable harvest

• Action 1.  Work with CBird to promote dialogue with authorities for management plans to combine the knowledge of status of hunted species between countries
• Action 2.  Assess the population-level impact of harvest in relation to other stressors
• Action 3: Conduct/update holistic harvest studies for circumpolar regions of interest using approaches tailored to regional contexts as appropriate

Objective 3: Mitigate seabird and seaduck bycatch

• Action 1.  Initiate an overlap analysis for seabird bycatch in circumpolar region
• Action 2: Continue discussions about mitigation measures with fisheries partners
• Action 3: Support efforts to develop best practices for bycatch data collection
• Action 4: Assess gill net bycatch for key species and regions

Objective 4: Address environmental pollution issues

• Action 1.  State of knowledge assessment for plastics in wildlife
• Action 2: Work with Arctic Council countries and Permanent Participants, PAME, and AMAP to begin to address knowledge gaps

Objective 5: Support the activities and priorities of the International Snowy Owl Working Group (ISOWG)

• Action 1. Publish a more precise global population estimate and assessment of population trends
• Action 2. Implement wider-scale tracking of Snowy Owls throughout their range

Priority species in 2019-2025 work plan

Ivory gull	Thick-billed murre
Common eider	Snowy owl
Northern fulmar

 Skimming the Surface: Using Seabirds to Monitor Plastic in the Arctic