National Species Recovery Programme for the Sandwich tern

During the breeding season of 2022, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus clade 2.3.4.4b became enzootic to European coasts. For the first time, breeding colonies of several seabird species were affected by HPAI, causing mass mortality among young and adult individuals at various sites. Among those species, the Sandwich tern was particularly impacted.
In order to properly understand the consequences of the 2022 HPAI outbreaks among Sandwich terns of the NW European breeding population, test methods for monitoring colonies sites and measures for impact mitigation as well as recovery, the Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority and partners developed a project financed as part of the National Species Recovery Programme (nAHP) by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) with resources provided by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN).
Now that this project is about to end, it is time to take stock of what we learned from HPAI outbreaks in seabird colonies and discuss how we move forward regarding Sandwich tern conservation.
The Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority thus invites all interested scientists, conservationists and other stakeholders to join our closing meeting.