Rationale (Changed due to Not applicable)

The Crowned Cormorant Phalacrocorax coronatus does not meet the criteria for regionally Vulnerable. The regional population is relatively small (c. 1 900 breeding pairs) and the species would satisfy criterion C1 if the regional population shows a decline of 10% within the next 22 years (3 generations). While the regional population has fluctuated and even in­creased over the past three generations, population trends should be carefully monitored in the near future. For these reasons, the species was listed as regionally Near Threatened.

Distribution

The Crowned Cormorant is endemic to southern Africa, occurring on the coast as well as on islands from Möwe Bay, Namibia, to Tsitsikamma, South Africa (Crawford 2005). Within the region it breeds at 11 locations including 10 islands and Lambert's Bay.

Habitat View more ecological information

Population

The global population has been quantified at c. 2 900 pairs with the regional population being estimated at c. 1 900 pairs in 2011 (Crawford et al. 2012). Confidence in this regional population estimate is high.

Population trend

Based upon regular counts at breeding sites, the global population is stable. The number of cormorants breeding at ten localities in the region was stable from 1978/79 to 1990/91 before entering a period of fluctuation of between 800 to 1 200 pairs until 2002/03 (Kemper et al. 2007), before increasing sharply to the current population of 1 900 pairs. Confidence in the regional population trend is high.

Threats

The Crowned Cormorant is extremely sensitive to human disturbance and will abandon its nest easily when approached, leaving contents to opportunistic predators such as Kelp Gulls Larus dominicanus. Great White Pelicans Pelecanus onocrotalus are also known to take young chicks (Mwema et al. 2010) while African Sacred Ibises Threskiornis aethiopicus have been observed eating eggs on Malgas Island (TR Cook pers. obs). Cape Fur Seals Arctocephalus pusillus, which are increasing in numbers, are a threat to Cape Cormorants Phalacrocorax capensis and can kill up to 24% of all fledglings produced by a single breeding colony (Voorbergen et al. 2012). Predation on Crowned Cormorant fledglings is suspected, but has not been verified. Crowned Cormorants are probably limited by the availability of nesting habitat. Any reduction of accessible human artefacts, like walls, or of small trees or bushes would affect their capability to find adequate and sufficient nesting habitat. The species is very sensitive to oiling, as it depends on inshore kelp beds to forage and these are often directly affected during oil slicks.

Conservation

Underway

Current conservation actions involve only full protection of breeding colonies, i.e. mainly islands, which fall under the jurisdiction of South African National Parks, CapeNature and Robben Island Nature Reserve. Lambert's Bay, Dassen, Dyer and Vondeling islands are Provincial Nature Reserves while Malgas, Marcus, Jutten, Schaapen, Meeuw and Caspian islands are part of the National Park system and listed as Ramsar sites. Robben Island is a World Heritage Site. Research is under way at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute and the Animal Demography Unit (University of Cape Town). This research involves mainly the study of the foraging strategies of Crowned Cormorants.

Proposed

Crowned Cormorants are highly dependent on the inshore benthic zone for foraging. Full protection of the inshore marine environment within a radius of 5 km around breeding colonies should provide adequate food. The species has very specific nesting requirements and management should ensure that sufficient appropriate nesting sites are available and that there is limited human access to colonies.

Research

* Present research focuses on understanding how Crowned Cormorants explore their environment in search of food. Specifically, Temperature-Depth Recorders and accelerometers are deployed on birds to describe their foraging behaviour. This will enable characterising their foraging niche. Future research should also try to deploy GPS on this species.

* Regular population surveys should continue at known nesting sites, and potentially suitable habitat should be searched for hitherto overlooked colonies.