In accordance with articles 14 and 16 of the Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean, a list comprising 10 new species of marine and coastal birds to be included in Annex II of the protocol was adopted by the 16th Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its Protocols, held from the 3rd to the 5th of November 2009 in Marrakech (Morocco).

The species concerned are:

• Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis
• Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus
• Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii columbinus
• White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis
• Armenian Gull Larus armenicus
• Slender-billed Gull Larus genei
• Mediterranean Gull Larus melanocephalus
• Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus
• Caspian Tern Sterna caspia
• Gull-billed Tern Sterna nilotica

This list was proposed for the first time by the participants of the 1st Symposium on the Mediterranean Action Plan for the conservation of marine and coastal bird species, held in Villanova Geltru in 2005.

In November 2005 the 1st Symposium on the Mediterranean action plan for the conservation of marine and coastal birds took place in Villanova I Geltrú (Spain). Organized with the support of SEO/BirdLife, MedMarAvis and the Catalan and local authorities (Generalitat de Catalunya, Municipio de Villanova I Geltrú,), this symposium aimed to make the execution of the Action plan progressing, while analyzing the state of its implementation, and to plan future stages.

31 ornithologists and experts in the field of conservation from 16 Mediterranean countries attended the symposium which was organized around 5 thematic sessions dealing with the following issues:

• State of knowledge and identification of data gaps;
• Action plans and related information;
• Important Bird Areas (IBAs) at sea;
• The Mediterranean seabird monitoring network;
• Expanding the scope of the Action plan.

At the end of the symposium the participants made several recommendations to RAC/SPA, in particular concerning:

• Measures to fill the information gaps on the ecology of the species listed in Annex II of the SPA/ BD Protocol.
• The adding of 10 new threatened marine and costal bird species in the Mediterranean.
• Co-operation with countries outside Mediterranean region for what regards the migratory species of the Action plan and which are leaving the area during migration.
• The implementation of the Action plan by the Contracting Parties.

The Proceedings of the 1st Symposium on the Mediterranean Action Plan for the Conservation of marine and coastal birds.

Following the recommendation to include 10 new species of birds in Annex II of the SPA/BD Protocol, RAC/SPA put a group of experts in charge of completing information on the species and to fill for each one of these species the specific data form used in the framework of the protocol for the registration of new species. This was done in view to present these documents to the meeting of RAC/SPA Focal Points in June 2009.

After having examined the proposed amendments, the meeting adopted the list of the birds proposed for inclusion in Annex II of the SPA/BD Protocol and submitted it for adoption by the Contracting Parties.

Considering the mission of RAC/SPA, the centre was charged to assist the Contracting Parties in the implementation of this decision.