Seabird Monitoring assessment for Hawai`i and the Pacific Islands

Abstract

This document is an assessment of the seabird monitoring program for the United States Pacific Islands (USPI) within the Pacific Region of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). This area includes America Samoa, the Phoenix Islands, Palmyra Atoll, Johnston Atoll, Wake Atoll, the Mariana Islands, and the Main and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This report was requested by the USFWS to assist in the development of a scientifically sound seabird monitoring program for this region. In this report, we review monitoring methods, analyze existing USFWS data to evaluate the statistical power of current monitoring, and propose recommendations for statistically rigorous seabird monitoring protocols.