Critical-habitat protection order for the Roseate Tern

What is the Roseate Tern, and why is it at risk?

The Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) is a medium-sized, graceful seabird. It is found on coasts and islands along the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, with important North Atlantic nesting sites on islands off the coast of Nova Scotia. During breeding, the adults are recognizable by a black cap and black bill with red at its base and a long white and forked tail that resembles long streamers during flight. The Roseate Tern has shorter wings, a longer tail, and paler grey plumage than the Common Tern and the Arctic Tern.

In 2003, the Roseate Tern was listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act (SARA). One of the main threats to roseate-tern populations in Canada is from gulls. Gulls displace roseate terns (and other co-nesting terns) from preferred islands and eat eggs and chicks. Other known threats include predation by other species; breeding-habitat loss due to erosion; and invasive vegetation; and, as yet, unidentified sources of nonbreeding mortality.

For additional details on the Roseate Tern, please visit the recovery strategy.

How does SARA protect the Roseate Tern?

The Roseate Tern is a migratory bird afforded protection under both SARA and the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 (MBCA), and it is protected under both of these acts everywhere it is found in Canada.

As a species listed as endangered, on Schedule 1 of SARA, the Roseate Tern benefits from legal protection (also known as the general prohibitions). The legal protections prohibit the following:

• the killing, harming, harassing, capturing, or taking of an individual of the species;
• the possession, collection, buying, selling, or trading of an individual or any part or derivative of such an individual; and
• the damage or destruction of a residence (the residence of a roseate tern is a nest).

The MBCA and its regulations prohibit the following:

• the disturbance, destruction or taking of a migratory bird, its nest, eggs or nest shelter; and
• the possession, trade, or exchange of a migratory bird (alive or dead), its nest or eggs.

What is critical habitat? How does this order help the roseate-tern population in Canada?

The Critical Habitat of the Roseate Tern (Sterna dougallii) Order will support the survival and recovery of the Roseate Tern through the protection of the species’ critical habitat on federal lands. The Order came into force on October 28, 2016.

Critical habitat is defined in SARA as “the habitat that is necessary for the survival or recovery of a listed wildlife species and that is identified as the species’ critical habitat in the recovery strategy or in an action plan for the species.” Protecting critical habitat is an essential component of recovery efforts that strive to arrest or reverse the decline of a species.

Roseate terns nest in colonies almost exclusively on small coastal islands. They nest together with other tern species to take advantage of the benefits of living within a colony, which include protection from predators and collective identification of foraging sites. The Order will protect the critical habitat of the Roseate Tern from destruction by human activities. This measure will contribute to the Roseate Tern’s survival and increase in population numbers by protecting the Roseate Tern’s nesting sites in Canada so they remain available for the tern colonies to use during the breeding season.

The Roseate Tern’s critical habitat, as well as planned projects and activities for the recovery of the species, are described in detail in the amended recovery strategy (2010) and the action plan (2015), both available on the Species at Risk Public Registry.

For more information

You can find more information on SARA, the Roseate Tern, the amended recovery strategy, and the critical-habitat order by visiting the Species at Risk Public Registry online.

Link to News Release