Marine waters along the Curonian Spit (Lithuania)

LT002

Marine waters along the Curonian Spit

Current view: Data table and detailed info

IBA Justification

The site was identified as important in 2004 because it was regularly supporting significant populations of the species listed below, meeting ('triggering') IBA criteria.

Populations meeting IBA criteria ('trigger species') at the site:

Species	Red List¹	Season	Year(s)	Size	IBA criteria
Long-tailed Duck Clangula hyemalis	VU	winter	1992-1999	68,000 individuals	A4i, B1i
Velvet Scoter Melanitta fusca	VU	winter	1988	25,000-70,000 individuals	A4i, B1i, B2, C3
Goosander Mergus merganser	LC	winter	1988	1,500-3,000 individuals	C3
Red-throated Loon Gavia stellata	LC	winter	1988	1,500 individuals	A4i, B1i, C2
Razorbill Alca torda	LC	winter	1988	1,000 individuals	A4ii, B1ii, C3

1. The current IUCN Red List category. The category at the time of the IBA criteria assessment (2004) may differ.

IBA Conservation

Ideally the conservation status of the IBA will have been checked regularly since the site was first identified in 2004. The most recent assessment (2013) is shown below.

IBA conservation assessment
Year of assessment	State	Pressure	Response
2013	very unfavourable	high	low
Whole site assessed?	State assessed by	Accuracy of information
yes	population	unknown

State (condition of the trigger species' populations)
Species	Reference	Actual	Units	% remaining	Result
Melanitta fusca	50,000	15,000	individuals	30	very unfavourable
Red-throated Loon Gavia stellata	1,000	100	individuals	10	very unfavourable

Pressure (threats to the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Threat	Timing	Scope	Severity	Result
Human intrusions and disturbance	happening now	majority/most of area/population (50-90%)	moderate to rapid deterioration	high
Residential and commercial development	likely in long term (beyond 4 years)	some of area/population (10-49%)	no or imperceptible deterioration	low
Pollution	likely in long term (beyond 4 years)	small area/few individuals (<10%)	slow but significant deterioration	low

Response (conservation actions taken for the trigger species and/or their habitats)
Protected areas	Management plan	Other action	Result
Some of site covered (10-49%)	A management plan exists but it is out of date or not comprehensive	Substantive conservation measures are being implemented but these are not comprehensive and are limited by resources and capacity	low

IBA Protection

Year	Protected Area	Designation	% overlap with IBA
1991	Kursiu Nerija	National Park	20
2013	Baltic Sea biosphere polygon	Biosferos poligonas	58
2013	Kuršių nerijos pajūris	Special Protection Area (Birds Directive)	58
2013	Baltic Sea Biosphere Polygon	Baltic Sea Protected Area (HELCOM)	58

Habitats

Habitat¹	Habitat detail	% of IBA
Marine Neritic		100

1. IUCN Habitat classification.

Land use

Land use	% of IBA
tourism/recreation	10
fisheries/aquaculture	major (>10)
urban/industrial/transport	-

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Marine waters along the Curonian Spit (Lithuania). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/marine-waters-along-the-curonian-spit-iba-lithuania on 23/11/2024.