BirdLife International Important Bird Areas Programme
The methods for identifying (and delimiting) IBAs in areas of national jurisdiction (both coastal and pelagic) are being tested to determine their utility on the high seas, and work so far shows that they are equally applicable here.
BirdLife is conducting further testing in this regard at a workshop to be held July 2009, that will bring together a number of experts working with tracking data obtained from seabirds to further refine the methods necessary to convert to IBA/MPAs on the high seas. Based on this BirdLife plans to conduct an analysis of the Tracking Ocean Wanderers dataset, which should result in a potential network of sites being identified across large areas of the worlds oceans.
(edited on 2009-05-19 13:52 UTC by Mr ben Lascelles)
posted on 2009-05-19 13:33 UTC by Mr ben Lascelles, BirdLife International