Fewer migratory birds stop in S'pore as thousands killed by nets, hunters

Researchers estimate over 47,800 killed a year in 19 stopover sites along China's coasts

- Shabana Begum Correspondent

Far fewer migratory birds fleeing harsh winter environments have made a stop in Singapore over the years, partly because of threats that had been less well studied until now - hunters, anti-bird nets and fishing nets in China, as well as in Southeast Asia.

At Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, ornithologist Yong Ding Li has noticed a drastic decline in a few voyaging shorebird species such as the curlew and marsh sandpipers between the 1990s and now.

"In 1994 and 1995, I would easily count 200 to 400 Arctic-born curlew sandpipers yearly, but nowadays, to see a small group of three to five would be rare," said Dr Yong, head of flyways and species conservation for Asia at nongovernmental organisation BirdLife International.

While the decline in the number of migratory birds is largely attributed to habitat loss and climate change, scientists have recently confirmed the worrying threats of hunters, anti-bird nets and fishing nets in China.

Researchers estimate that more than 47,800 birds were killed each year in 19 stopover sites along China's coasts where the feathered travellers stop to refuel during their great migration to escape the harsh winter.

After surveying those sites, the researchers analysed the number of birds trapped in the nets using a series of statistical models to estimate the death toll, and to what extent these losses affect the overall populations of each species.

Their findings were published in scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution on Sept 9.

Anti-bird netting over razor clam farms were responsible for more than 60 per cent of the deaths in 39 species, said ecology and evolutionary biology expert David Wilcove from Princeton University, who oversaw the research.