Seabirds

Coastal and marine birds spend most of their lives exactly where the sea meets the land — nesting on rocky shores, in wetlands and on sand dunes, while feeding out at sea. This is precisely why their numbers and distribution are a sensitive, fast-responding indicator of the state of fish stocks and of coastal habitats as a whole.

An Indicator, Not Just a Species to Protect

When a seabird population declines sharply or shifts its feeding grounds, it is usually a sign of a deeper problem further down the food chain — a reduced supply of small fish, pollution, or habitat loss. For this reason, monitoring birds often gives an early warning well before more expensive and slower oceanographic studies can confirm the same trend.

At the Crossroads of Two Continents

Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast is part of Via Pontica — one of the busiest bird migration routes in Europe, along which hundreds of thousands of birds travel every year between Europe and Africa. The coast is not only home to the species that nest here, but also a vital stopover for rest and feeding for birds that are simply passing through — which doubles its importance for conservation.

Threats Beyond Habitat Loss

Besides the destruction of nesting habitats, coastal and marine birds also suffer from bycatch in fishing gear, ingestion of plastic waste, and light pollution from coastal infrastructure, which disorients them during night-time migration. Species such as the Dalmatian pelican and the pygmy cormorant, both associated with the wetlands along Bulgaria’s coast, are telling indicators of how well these habitats still function.

What We Monitor

We track published data and observations on coastal and marine species along the Black Sea coast alongside our other indicators — water quality, temperature anomalies and the spread of invasive species — to build a fuller picture of the ecosystem’s condition. Much of the habitat used by these species along Bulgaria’s coast falls within the Natura 2000 network, and their protection is part of Bulgaria’s commitments under the Birds Directive.