A tiny albatross chick on a remote island in the Southern Ocean has no idea it will one day cross three ocean basins. But now, conservationists have finally mapped the invisible highways these birds travel—and found that 54 countries share responsibility for keeping them safe.
A new study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology offers what researchers call a "transformative framework" for seabird conservation. By analyzing tracking data from long-distance pelagic species, a team from BirdLife International, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and multiple universities identified six marine flyways that span the world's oceans—from the Atlantic to the Pacific, Indian, and Southern basins. These routes don't just show where birds go; they reveal where international cooperation can make the most difference.
The findings are both sobering and hopeful. Nearly half of migratory seabird species are in decline, and seabirds are among the most threatened groups of birds on Earth. The study identifies 151 seabird species that rely on these connected marine corridors—about 40 percent of all seabird species—and 42 percent of them are globally threatened. Yet the very connectivity that makes seabirds vulnerable may be their greatest asset for recovery.
"Seabirds face threats that cross every border," the researchers note, "and their conservation requires coordination across places and seasons." The flyway framework offers a path forward by grouping migration into recurring routes, a concept that has already proven effective for waterbirds on land. Now adapted for the ocean, it aligns governments, focuses research, and guides investment toward the sites and seasons that matter most.
France, for example, touches all six of the newly mapped flyways—through its overseas territories scattered across the Pacific, Indian, and Southern oceans. Many of the 54 countries overlapped by these routes are already parties to the Convention on Migratory Species, meaning existing policy frameworks can be leveraged immediately. The researchers point to more than 1,400 Key Biodiversity Areas already identified as important for seabirds—sites that could form the backbone of coordinated protection.
The threats are real and varied: invasive species decimate breeding colonies on remote islands, bycatch in longline fisheries drowns millions of birds annually, and climate change disrupts food availability across entire regions. But the study argues that the tools to address these problems exist. Eradication of invasive mammals on islands has become standard conservation practice. Measures to reduce fisheries bycatch can be highly effective when applied consistently. And some conservation groups are even establishing new colonies in more suitable locations as conditions shift.
What the flyway approach offers is a way to apply these tools systematically, across a species' full range—connecting the dots from breeding ground to feeding ground to migration corridor. In a world where birds don't recognize national boundaries, this atlas of their journeys may be exactly what conservation needs to take flight.