A six-year project with 17 partners has begun to protect three globally threatened diving duck species along their migration route. The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) formally launched the project, called Diving Ducks LIFE. It covers the white-headed duck, the ferruginous duck and the Baer's pochard, project leader Dr Nikolay Petkov said.
The project's full name is "Conservation of globally threatened diving duck species along their migration flyway". Its 17 partners come from 13 countries. Representatives of European and national institutions, conservation groups, scientists and diplomatic missions attended the launch.
"These are three globally threatened duck species, and in recent years, especially with climate change, their numbers have fallen sharply," Petkov said. He said the main threats to the birds are the destruction of wetlands and fishing nets.
The Burgas area has the same problem. "Although commercial fishing is banned in the lakes, such as Lake Burgas and Lake Vaya, poaching of this kind continues," Petkov said. He said abandoned nets remain a problem in the lakes even after fishing with them is stopped.
In Bulgaria, BSPB will work with the Executive Agency for Fisheries against illegal fishing. In many of the countries, partners will monitor poaching, tackle net fishing and pull abandoned nets out of the lakes.
The work differs from country to country. In some, partners will only collect new data on the numbers and condition of the three species. In others, they will restore wetlands. Croatia, also a partner, will restore a large wetland area in Kopački Rit Nature Park.
By the end of the project, more than 20,000 hectares of wetlands should be restored across all the countries. In total, more than 217,000 hectares will have better conditions for nesting, wintering or resting during migration.
The Baer's pochard was recently declared a globally threatened species, and in many countries it is still hunted, Petkov said. Its decline is so steep that the EU is discussing measures to stop it.
Petkov hopes LIFE will continue in the EU's next planning period. He believes migratory species are hard to protect with national measures alone, even when countries set aside national funding for the environment. He said countries need to act together across borders, including with non-EU states such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey and the Western Balkans.
The European Commission and its Directorate-General for Environment coordinate the LIFE programme.