The Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds (SPEA), launched their new campaign ‘Save a Seabird’ today, which aims at creating greater awareness of the harmful affects light pollution has on birds, particularly dazzling and injury.
In their statement, the SPEA said that the initiative will last for one month and coincides with a period of time when juvenile shearwaters become more adventurous, but whose inexperience leads them to become attracted to artificial lighting causing injury and fatalities. The annual average of light pollution deaths among sea birds is around 200.
As part of their campaign, the SPEA has asked the municipalities of Madeira to reduce the amount of public lighting as a preventative measure in order to protect the birds.
Since 2009, the region has led the way in reducing this threat to the islands seabirds, having installed photometers in Santa Cruz which daily measure the amount of light pollution emitted.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
