Dalmatian Pelican - Status

Status

More so than the White Pelican, this species has declined greatly throughout its range. Once, millions of Dalmatian Pelicans could be reportedly found in the country of Romania alone. Through the 20th century, the species has undergone a dramatic decline, the reasons for which are not entirely understood. The most likely culprit appears to be habitat loss, in connection to drainage of wetlands and development. Colonies are regularly disturbed by human activity and, as in all pelicans, the parents may temporarily leave their nest if threatened, which in turns endangers the chicks to predation. Occasionally, the Dalmatian Pelican may be shot by fishermen, in a misplaced sense of competition over resources. Today, such killings are generally at a small scale but local over-exploitation of fishing stock is a continued concern. These pelicans are killed by local people in Mongolia, due to the use of pelican bills as pouches. Despite the clandestine nature of Mongolian poaching for pelican skulls, up to 50 pelican bills can be found in a commercial market there and its known (due to the species' rarity) that a single pelican is considered a fair trade for 10 horses and 30 sheep. Dalmatian Pelicans also fly into and are killed by power-lines with some regularity. In Greece, pelicans are often disturbed by power boats, usually ones bearing tourists, so much so that they are basically unable to feed on the fish they need. As of 1994, in Europe there are over a thousand breeding pairs, most of them in Greece, but also in Ukraine, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania (Karavasta Lagoon). They have been considered extinct in Croatia sinces the 1950s, although a single Dalmatian Pelican was observed there in 2011. The largest single remaining colony is at Lake Mikri in Greece, with around 1,400 pairs, with approximately 450 pairs left in the Danube Delta. The country with the largest breeding population today, including about 70% of pairs or possibly over 3,000 pairs, is Russia. Worldwide, there are an estimated 3,000–5,000 breeding pairs. Due to exploitation at all stages of the life cycle, the species is critically endangered in its Mongolian range, with a total population of fewer than 130 individual birds. It is possible that up to 10,000–20,000 pelicans exist at the species level. One report of approximately 8,000 Dalmatian Pelicans in India turned out to be a congregation of misidentified Great White Pelicans.

The Dalmatian Pelican is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. Conservations efforts have been untaken on behalf of the species, especially in Europe. Although they normally nest on the ground, Dalmatian Pelicans have nested on platforms put out in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania in order to encourage them to breed. Rafts over water have also been set up for the species to use in Greece and Bulgaria. Power-lines have also been marked or dismantled in areas adjacent to colonies in these countries. Additionally, water level management and educational programs may be aiding them at a local level. Although efforts have been undertaken in Asia, there is a much higher rate of poaching, shooting and habitat destruction and implementing conservation efforts may be more difficult. In 2012, when unusually frigid winter conditions caused the Caspian Sea to freeze over, it resulted in the death from starvation of at least 20 of the Dalmatian Pelicans that overwinter there. Despite local authorities initial attempt to prevent it, many locals turned out with fish and hand-fed the birds, apparently allowing the huge pelicans to survive the winter.