The rocky islets off Cyprus’s Karpasia peninsula have been designated a conservation priority under a new EU action plan for one of the Mediterranean’s rarest seabirds, as monitoring data shows the colony’s population is declining.
The European Union adopted the International Action Plan for Audouin’s gull in 2025, according to BirdLife Cyprus. BirdLife International and SPEA Portugal prepared the plan based on the latest scientific data.
The plan draws on evidence from 15 countries including Cyprus, mapping the bird’s distribution areas and the pressures it faces whilst setting targeted conservation priorities. One of those priorities is in Cyprus.
The Kleides islets at the northeastern tip of the Karpasia peninsula host the island’s only breeding colony of Audouin’s gulls, a site that BirdLife Cyprus described as vital not only for Cyprus’s seabirds but for conserving the species across the Mediterranean.
BirdLife Cyprus has collected systematic data from the Kleides since 2007 in cooperation with Turkish Cypriot organisation Kuşkor, contributing to knowledge about the species’ status, the organisation said.
Active nests and young birds are still recorded, but long-term trends show population decline, making protection of the colony more urgent than ever, according to BirdLife Cyprus.
The new plan transforms collective scientific knowledge into coordinated and targeted action, the organisation said. For Cyprus, it represents a critical tool for securing the Audouin’s gull’s future at the Kleides, which hosts the species’ easternmost breeding colony in the world, BirdLife Cyprus said.