MARE investigators make part of the team that is saving seabirds in Cape Verde

As part of an international project led by BirdLife International financed with € 2.4 million, eight researchers from MARE and the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC), under the coordination of Vítor Paiva, are studying nine species of seabirds in the archipelago of Cape Verde to prevent their extinction. 

The project, that started in 2017, is focused on "the production of scientific knowledge about the seabirds of the archipelago, namely their distribution, phenology and their threats, and protection and conservation of species through the creation of Marine Protected Areas", according to FCTUC. 

In order to observe all the movements and behaviors of the species that are very unknowledge in Cape Verde, the researchers put tracking devices (GPS Logger) on birds and on artisanal fishing vessels (that showd available to collaborate with the project) to understand bird interactions with local communities.