Opportunities and challenges for new technologies in seabird population monitoring

Frederiksen, Morten; Layton-Matthews, Kate; Bennett, Sophie; Funder Castenschiold, Johan H; Cruz-Flores, Marta; Edney, Alice J; Fauchald, Per; Franklin, Kirsty A; Guímaro, Hugo R; Hereward, Hannah F R; Johnston, Daniel T; Merkel, Benjamin; Molværsmyr, Sindre; Sauser, Christophe; Snell, Katherine R S; Humphreys, Elizabeth M

Opportunities and challenges for new technologies in seabird population monitoring

Frederiksen, Morten ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5550-0537; Layton-Matthews, Kate; Bennett, Sophie; Funder Castenschiold, Johan H; Cruz-Flores, Marta ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9905-4727; Edney, Alice J; Fauchald, Per; Franklin, Kirsty A; Guímaro, Hugo R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9418-3439; Hereward, Hannah F R; Johnston, Daniel T; Merkel, Benjamin; Molværsmyr, Sindre; Sauser, Christophe; Snell, Katherine R S; Humphreys, Elizabeth M. 2025 Opportunities and challenges for new technologies in seabird population monitoring. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 82 (9). 10.1093/icesjms/fsaf115

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsaf115

Abstract/Summary

Monitoring of seabird population size and demography has for decades relied on observer-based methods. While such methods have allowed the accumulation of extensive, standardized time series, while typically involving both volunteer and professional observers, they often suffer from uneven coverage across species and locations, as well as limited replicability. Technological advances, in the form of, for example, visual and/or thermal imagery collected either by permanently situated automated cameras or remote-sensing technology, acoustic data loggers, or automated presence/absence biotelemetry systems, show great potential for overcoming the limitations of observer-based methods and extending coverage of monitoring programmes to more difficult circumstances and species. However, there are challenges and risks associated with the introduction of technology-based monitoring such as initial costs, data storage, post-processing of the large amounts of data, and potential alienation of experienced fieldworkers. We review the issues that agencies responsible for seabird monitoring should consider before introducing technology-based monitoring to complement existing methods, and we provide a set of recommendations and potential future research directions.

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1093/icesjms/fsaf115

ISSN:

1054-3139

Additional Keywords:

seabirds; monitoring; technology

NORA Subject Terms:

Electronics, Engineering and Technology
Zoology

Date made live:

25 Sep 2025 10:37 +0 (UTC)