INSEAD Annual Report 2023-20143 test - Flipbook - Page 37
Our Impact in 2022
70°
Marine Science 2023
70°30’E
71°E
70°30’E
72°E
70°30’E
35
73°E
2°S
N
N
5°
Solomon Islands
4°S
5°30’S
Eastern Peros Banhos
Island Group
Chagos
Archipelago
Nelson’s Island
6°S
6°
Western Great Chagos
Bank Island Group
Danger Island
6°30’S
8°S
Egmont Islands
Eastern Diego Garcia
Island Group
7°
10°S
0
100
68°E
200km
70°E
72°E
74°E
76°E
7°30’S
0
80
160
320km
Figure 1. The Chagos Archipelago in an Indian Ocean context
showing the four terrestrial Important Bird and Biodiversity
Areas (in red) within the five atolls of Peros Banhos, Solomon
Islands, Great Chagos Bank (includes Nelson’s Island), Egmont
Islands and Diego Garcia. The black circular border in the inset
box shows the boundary of the marine protected area.
This year, the seabird team investigated two
previously proposed marine IBAs, based on seaward
extensions to breeding colonies, and assessed the
potential for open ocean marine IBAs for the first
time (Carr et al., 2022). The study used up-to-date
seabird status and distribution information and
global positioning system tracking from red-footed
booby – one of the most widely distributed breeding
seabirds on the archipelago – to identify any open
ocean marine IBAs (figure 2). Due to overlapping
boundaries of the seaward extension to breeding
colonies and pelagic areas of importance, there is
a single marine IBA in the central Indian Ocean that
lays entirely within the Chagos Archipelago Marine
Protected Area (figure 3). Covering 62,379 km2
it constitutes ~10% of the MPA and if designated,
would become the 11th largest marine IBA in the
world and fourth largest in the Indian Ocean. The
paper recommends that BirdLife International assess
the proposed Chagos Archipelago marine IBA and
confirm if appropriate.
Figure 2. The 511 foraging trips conducted by 194
Red-footed Booby from the three largest breeding
colonies in the Chagos Archipelago. Tracking took
place during 2016, 2018 and 2019 in both monsoon
seasons. White triangles denote breeding colonies.
DG = Diego Garcia, DI = Danger Island, NI = Nelson’s
Island. Grey circular line indicates the marine
protected area boundary. Inset, Red-footed Booby.
Colony
DG
DI
NI
N
Peros Banhos
Three Brothers
Solomon Islands
Nelson’s Island
Eagle Island
Danger Island
Egmont Islands
Diego Garcia
0
100
200km
Figure 3. The proposed Chagos
Archipelago marine Important Bird
and Biodiversity Area (62,379 km²).
References: Carr, P., Votier, S., Koldewey, H., Godley, B., Wood, H., Nicoll, M.A.C. (2020) ‘Status and phenology of breeding seabirds
and a review of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in the British Indian Ocean Territory’ - Bird Conservation International.,
22. 1017/S0959270920000295
Carr, P., Trevail, A.M., Koldewey, H.J., Sherley, R.B., Wilkinson, T., Votier, S.C. (2022) ‘Marine important bird and biodiversity areas
in the Chagos Archipelago’ – Bird Conservation International. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0959270922000247
