The incursion of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) into North Atlantic seabird populations: an interim report from the 15th International Seabird Group conference

Abstract

The H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreak devastated populations of North Atlantic seabirds in the 2022 breeding season. Positive cases of HPAI in seabirds were previously reported in Great Skuas Stercorarius skua colonies in the 2021 breeding season (Banyard et al. 2022). During the 2022 breeding season, major outbreaks were sequentially reported in an increasing number of species and spread generally north to south across the UK and beyond. To date 15 breeding seabird species have tested positive in Scotland and over 20,500 birds have been reported dead (NatureScot, unpublished data). By September 2022, more than 2,600 Great Skuas had died: 13% of the UK population and 8% of the world population (NatureScot, unpublished data), 1,400 on Foula, Shetland alone (Camphuysen & Gear 2022; Camphuysen et al. 2022). These figures are derived mostly from colony counts and will be a substantial underestimate of total mortality, not accounting for birds lost at sea or remote locations with limited reporting. In response to this unfolding situation, a workshop was convened in August 2022, at the 15th International Seabird Group Conference in Cork, to bring together the seabird community (researchers, ringers, volunteers, site managers, non- government organisations and policymakers) and infectious disease experts to share knowledge and experiences and recommend positive future actions. This report focuses on three key considerations addressed by the workshop, and will be followed by a full open-access report on the EcoEvoRxiv repository. All six presen- tations can be viewed online (Gamble et al. 2022). The workshop’s key points were shared at the JNCC-BTO 'UK Workshop on Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in Wild Birds' on 10 November 2022 and are being fed into ongoing policy discussions around future surveillance needs and requirements. The views expressed here reflect the wider discussion expressed by the seabird community in the workshop that followed the presentations and should not be associated with any individual author.