Sooty Tern egg collection to resume despite population crash

Sooty Terns at Cosmoledo (Emma Mederic/Island Conservation Society)

Despite irrefutable scientific evidence of severe declines in Sooty Tern colonies across the islands, the Seychelles government has announced plans to resume egg collection in 2026. National surveys by the Island Conservation Society (ICS) and the Ministry of Environment since 2021 show declines of 61–70%, with some colonies down by 90%. ICS therefore recommended a moratorium of at least 10 years. Instead, a two-year ban was introduced and later extended to 2025, With no sign of any meaningful recovery, ICS has strongly objected to the decision to resume harvesting.

This move is especially alarming given the biology of Sooty Terns, which take years to reach breeding age and recover slowly even under ideal conditions. Restarting harvesting will add to pressures from climate change, overfishing, and habitat loss, pushing fragile populations closer to collapse. It also undermines the moratorium’s purpose, reducing it to a token gesture rather than a serious conservation effort.

ICS argues that when stronger protection and enforcement are urgently needed—and illegal harvesting continues even in protected areas—lifting the ban sends the wrong signal. It threatens the species’ future and risks damaging Seychelles’ reputation as a leader in environmental stewardship.

In its press release, ICS highlights the fate of the Passenger Pigeon, once numbering 3–5 billion birds and driven to extinction within a century by industrial-scale hunting. While conservation was poorly understood then, that is no longer the case. To ignore clear declines in Sooty Terns and continue harvesting regardless is to repeat past mistakes—and history will judge that failure.