17 July 2012- By Gregg
Yan
The combined stench of rotting fish and
guano is incredible.
Soaked and shivering, we shelter beneath
a dripping grove of Argusia trees on Tubbataha’s
South Islet and count birds. Chilly raindrops
are the least of our concerns – more exciting
things are falling from above. I wipe steaming
gobs of fresh seabird guano from my hat,
shoulders and writing slate then trail my
partner through the dense brush.
“Nine Black Noddies
in five tree nests,” observes my partner,
Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) Ranger
Segundo ‘Seconds’ Conales. I strain to hear
above the cacophony of over 20,000 seabirds,
periodically silenced by resounding claps
of thunder. The birds are everywhere – flitting
in and out of foliage, perched atop rocks,
forming a dense cloud above the island.
Every few seconds, one leaves the safety
of its perch to snatch a damp twig, leaf
or piece of plastic from the ground. We
tread lightly, visions of Alfred Hitchcock’s
The Birds springing to mind. I jot the latest
numbers on my waterproof plastic slate and
push on.
It is a drizzling day
in May and we are back in Tubbataha. Led
by Danish ornithologist Dr. Arne Erik Jensen,
we are assessing the seabirds of Tubbataha
North and South Islets as part of a nine-year
old annual initiative by the Tubbataha Management
Office (TMO) and World Wide Fund for Nature
(WWF) to conserve the birds of the Sulu
Sea. I had last been back in 2008 and still
recalled Dr. Jensen’s advice when counting
his beloved birds.
“Never look up with
your mouth open.”
Tale of Two Islets
At the heart of the
Sulu Sea lie the twin atolls of Tubbataha,
a spectacular world brimming with wealth
both beneath and beyond the blue. Borne
of geological action but restrained by the
vicissitudes of the sea, the two isles form
the Philippines’ last great seabird rookery.
In 1911, American naturalist
Dean Worcester first set foot on Tubbataha
North Islet, also called Bird Islet. It
was then a barren sandy island of 60,000sq
m, where sea and sand danced ceaselessly.
A hundred one years later, the isle has
shrunk to 12,435sq m but now hosts over
200 trees, the tallest shredded by a recent
boom of Red-footed Boobies. At the centre
lies the Plaza – a 3690sq m open area occupied
by ground-breeding birds. The scrubby landscape
rises no higher than two metres above the
sea.
Parola or South Islet
is much smaller, at 3140sq m. A metre-high
concrete wall, cracked and pitted by the
elements, forms a protective ring against
erosion, while a solar-powered lighthouse
erected in 1980 by the Philippine Coast
Guard stands sentinel over everything. About
120 Argusia, Pisonia and coconut trees dot
the grassy landscape. East of the lighthouse
lies the rusting hulk of the Del San, an
old log carrier. Protected as a core zone,
WWF and Cebu Pacific help TMO in keeping
both islands completely off-limits to outsiders.
“The isles vary in size
each year, for the tide reclaims what geology
has proffered. Tubbataha is thus constantly
reborn,” says TMO Park Manager Angelique
Songco. “Ecologists working in mountains
or forests can wait a lifetime to see the
kind of habitat change we observe monthly.”
I agree, noting that since 2008, trees with
back-row views now had front- row seats
to the sea.
Holding Out
Prior to the Second
World War, seabirds were common throughout
Southeast Asia. But four years of ferocious
fighting followed by 60 years of extensive
human encroachment and marine pollution
have taken their toll. Remnant populations
have since retreated to a few isolated holdouts
like Tubbataha, where the lack of freshwater
bars the intrusion of predators like cats,
rats and people.
When cats were introduced
on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic
over a century ago, bird numbers dropped
from 20 million to 400,000. Guam has already
lost 60% of its bird species due largely
to the introduction of a slithering slayer,
the Brown Tree Snake. Other threats include
marine pollution, hunting, land development
and climate change.
“Six seabird species
breed here, distinguished by where they
nest,” whispers Seconds as we low-crawl
to photograph a cackling colony of Great
Crested Terns. “Ground nesters include the
Brown Booby, Brown Noddy, Great Crested
Tern and Sooty Tern while tree nesters include
the Red-footed Booby and the endemic Black
Noddy. Each has a distinct personality.”
The trip’s top priority
was to monitor populations of the Black
Noddy, a pigeon-like seabird whose 8000-strong
Philippine subspecies survives solely in
Tubbataha. Still, we count 3224 nests and
5324 screeching adults on Parola alone.
“Though still numerous
here, Black Noddies no longer have alternate
sites to breed. They are suffering from
a housing crisis,” gestures WWF Tubbataha
Project Manager Marivel Dygico to a Pisonia
tree bursting with both Red-footed Boobies
and Black Noddies. In 2001, Tubbataha saw
a massive influx of Red-footed Boobies,
which nest in the same trees as the Noddies.
“The problem is that
large flocks of Red-footed Boobies can defoliate
whole islands. They tear off leaves for
nesting and burn what greens remain with
their guano. In seven to ten years, all
of Parola’s trees might be gone – unless
we control the birds now.” Leafless, some
trees on the smaller South Islet are now
also lifeless.
Wings of Change
Seabirds play a crucial
role in fighting climate change, particularly
the threat of rising sea levels, by helping
develop island ecosystems. They provide
vital fertilizer for nutrient-poor sandbars,
allowing the first waves of pioneer plants
to survive. Drifting in from nearby islets,
seeds of trees eventually take root – further
binding the sand, increasing land size and
trapping organic sediments – the first steps
in producing soil.
Fossilized bird droppings
also form Phosphorite, a type of rock used
for agricultural fertilizer. Phosphoritedeposits
have for centuries been mined on small islands
and is now of great value for food production.
After three days of
research under the scorch of sun, the chill
of rain and omnipresence of guano, we record
a grand tally of 30,100 breeding birds –
the highest ever recorded. In comparison,
24,300 were counted last year and 28,000
in 2010. It is estimated that from March
to November, an additional 14,000 seabirds
roost on Bancauan, Bancoran, Cawili and
Basterra Isles – the main hub still being
Tubbataha.
Ablaze with sunset hues
of scarlet and crimson, Bird Islet descends
into night. As the isle prepares for a fresh
cycle of rebirth, I whip out my camera and
snap a picture of four boobies against the
red sky. One soars off and leaves behind
a lone egg, bearing a world of promise.
Staring at the speckled orb, I consider
what Jensen told me that morning.
“Tubbataha is the last
refuge for many Philippine seabirds. Islands
like Bancauan and Cawili once had thousands
of them. When people came, they brought
with them dogs, rats and cats – all of which
eat both ground-breeding birds and their
eggs. Today Bancauan only has eight Brown
Boobies – and 25 very fat cats.”
Before it was declared
a National Marine Park in 1988, Tubbataha’s
residents had long suffered from exploitation,
with generations of fishermen gathering
not just fish, but turtles and bird eggs
as well. Without continued protection, the
sun would probably set permanently on the
Black Noddies, Brown Boobies and Tubbataha’s
many other winged treasures.
Glancing a last time
at the dying rays of the sun, I wish the
unborn bird luck – and pray that its kind,
which has long endured sea-storms and summers
for centuries – can weather the winds of
change too.
+ More
Solomon Islands at centre
of “captive breeding” shenanigans
16 July 2012 - Singapore
— Tens of thousands of wild birds exported
from the Solomon Islands have been laundered
into the global wildlife trade by declaring
them as captive-bred, a new TRAFFIC study
has found.
Between 2000 and 2010,
more than 54,000 birds, mainly parrots and
cockatoos, were imported from the Solomon
Islands and declared as captive bred. Yet
local authorities confirmed to TRAFFIC that
the Solomon Islands is not known to have
substantial bird breeding facilities and
registered bird breeders in the islands
primarily use their facilities as holding
sites for wild-caught birds bound for export.
All the birds were of
species listed in the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora
and Fauna (CITES), which restricts trade
in wild-caught individuals, but has less
stringent rules if they are captive-bred.
Native species exported
included 18,444 Yellow-bibbed Lories, 15,994
Solomons Cockatoos, 8,050 Eclectus Parrots,
5,803 Cardinal Lories and 4,957 Rainbow
Lorikeets. 12,820 of these birds were declared
as wild-caught and 40,428 were reportedly
captive-bred.
“Declaring exported birds as being captive-bred
has all the hallmarks of a scam to get around
international trade regulations,” said Chris
R. Shepherd, Deputy Regional Director of
TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and an author of
the new report.
More than 13,000 non-native
birds, mostly species naturally occurring
in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, were
exported, yet no export records exist that
could explain how any stock for captive-breeding
operations had reached the Solomon Islands.
They included Critically
Endangered Yellow-crested Cockatoos, which
cannot be commercially traded under CITES
regulations even if captive-bred, plus other
threatened parrots, such as Pesquet’s Parrot,
Chattering Lory, Blue-eyed Cockatoo and
White Cockatoo, all claimed to be captive-bred.
Even more extraordinary
was the claim that in 2005, 76 birds-of-paradise
of seven species, including the threatened
Blue Bird-of-paradise, were captive-bred
in the Solomon Islands. Birds-of-paradise
are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity,
and only a few specialized centres have
ever succeeded. No records of birds-of-paradise
being imported into the Solomon Islands
exist.
In August 2006, the
Solomon Islands government suspended trade
in the country’s native wildlife, to allow
new legislation to be drafted. Although
bird exports have fallen sharply since,
expired permits are revalidated to allow
existing stock possessed by traders to be
exported, creating an obvious loophole for
the captive-breeding scam to continue.
Over the past decade,
Singapore and Malaysia combined have accounted
for 93% of all birds imported from the Solomon
Islands, with significant numbers being
re-exported, especially to Taiwan.
Because of concerns
over the trade, Malaysia has suspended bird
imports from the Solomon Islands. Now TRAFFIC
considers Singapore should do the same.
“Singapore should follow
Malaysia’s lead in suspending bird imports,
not only from the Solomon Islands but anywhere
else if there is a lack of clarity as to
their legal origin,” said Shepherd.
The report recommends
an investigation into captive breeding operations
in the Solomon Islands is carried out through
CITES processes. If irregularities are found,
CITES ultimately has the authority to suspend
all trade in CITES-listed species from the
island archipelago.
Later this month, a
CITES meeting takes place in Switzerland,
where a report into the use of captive-breeding
to circumvent CITES trade regulations is
on the agenda for discussion.
