Canada's Conservation Plan for Seabirds and Colonial Waterbirds

Canada is home to a vast diversity of bird life that uses its ocean habitats and inland waters. Although many seabirds and colonial waterbirds are quite numerous, their colonial breeding nature and relatively low reproductive output make them extremely sensitive to habitat and population level impacts.

Wings Over Water (WOW), Canada's Waterbird Conservation Plan, outlines the steps needed to conserve the broad array of species of seabirds, inland colonial waterbirds, marshbirds and other water-related species that are addressed in this plan. Of the 93 species covered by the plan, 30% show negative population trends while another 10% are not well enough known to determine their trend.

Waterbird biologists have made a preliminary list of those species where monitoring, research and conservation should be a priority (Appendix 1). They have also identified the most important factors affecting waterbird populations in Canada. These include, for example, habitat change, oil spills and fisheries by-catch and competition.

Image of a CraneMany waterbird species are shared with other nations, so Canada has chosen to work in a broad continental framework in order to increase the potential for conservation success. To this end, Wings Over Water forms the Canadian component of Waterbird Conservation for the Americas: North American Waterbird | Conservation Plan (NAWCP). Accordingly, the Vision of WOW is to ensure populations of waterbirds are sustained or restored throughout their historical range, in Canada and globally.

In order to attain this Vision, WOW outlines four Goals that need to be followed. They address population and habitat conservation, information exchange and coordinated action. More specifically they are:

  1. Sustain the natural distribution, diversity and abundance of waterbirds within Canada, and restore populations of priority species and those in decline;

  2. Secure and enhance sufficient high quality habitat to support robust populations of waterbirds throughout their ranges in Canada;

  3. Ensure that information for the conservation of waterbirds is widely available to decision makers, the public, and all those whose actions affect populations of these birds; and

  4. Ensure that coordinated conservation efforts for waterbirds are guided by common principles, and are in place throughout the range of those species that occur in Canada.

Gannets in flightThe implementation of WOW and its Goals will be overseen by a National Working Group of partners dedicated to the conservation of waterbirds. They will be assisted by a Science Technical Committee who will provide the technical support and background information needed to make informed conservation actions.

Together with the Waterbird Conservation for the Americas (NAWCP), Wings Over Water will be a component program of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) to integrate bird conservation efforts on the continent.