| Summary: | This is the fourth monitoring report of the Beached Bird Surveys along the Flemish coast. The study was conducted under the authority of the Flemish Government, Agency for Maritime and Coastal Services (AMDK-AK) and in close cooperation with the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). This report presents the results of the Beached Bird Surveys conducted during the winter 2009/10. During the last winter remarkably low numbers of beached birds were found. In total 162 birds, 2 Harbour Porpoises and 1 Grey Seal were counted (Table 3). The density (expressed in numbers per km of beach) amounted to 0.36, which is the second lowest density since the onset of the surveys in 1961/62. Especially true seabirds such as auks, divers and seaducks were found in very low numbers. The numbers of Guillemots were even too low to compute a reliable index of the oil-rate. This coincided with low densities of most seabirds at sea. During the surveys it was also noted whether or not a bird was entangled in fishing gear or other plastic material. In this report we show some preliminary results regarding entanglement of seabirds. It shows that species are not equally sensitive to entanglement. Northern Gannets and Brent Geese were relatively often found entangled, followed by deep diving species (such as divers, grebes and auks) and most gull species.
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