A chain that saves

SPEA (Portuguese society for the study of birds) in 2010 conducted a study on the impact of power lines on three species of seabirds Madeira Island, and concluded that it has a negative effect on the level of their populations. A project in partnership with the Madeira electricity company already has given fruits and whose second phase now provides total cable burial in the Caniçal.

A study was made for Eurasian woodcocks (suolopex rusticola).
Cátia Gouveia: The study has been carried out and was inserted in the draft of the impact of power lines in some species of birds of Madeira. We did some work on the Paul da Serra which included censuses of the Eurasian woodcocks. The other part was included the power lines Caniçal and then the object of the study was directed to the Madeiran storm-petrel and Bulwer's petrel which are marine species. The project is finished and was funded in partnership with Madeira Electricity Company from the island.

Tell me a little bit of the findings, there is a great impact of power lines on birds or not?
CG: Yes, there are two types of occurrences that may arise from power lines, birds can die from the collision and the problem lies in the small species, especially in places with poor visibility such as the Paul da Serra, which is an area of strong winds and quite often very foggy, hence the difficulty on the part of the birds in view the power lines and end up colliding with them. In Ponta de São Lourenço in Caniçal, the issues is with the seabirds, are animals that spend the day at sea and only return at night to the earth as it is dark and also has difficulty in visualizing the cables and eventually collide, because it is also a very windy area. Unfortunately we found that these two areas had a very negative impact on these species. At the end of the project we suggested some measures that could be implemented in order to decrease the mortality of these animals.

What measures have been suggested?
CG: The ideal is always putting lines underground. And in that sense , part of the grid Caniçal was buried thus ceases to have any kind of influence Another measure that can be implemented is the placement of devices on the power lines that eventually emit light or sound, which helps them become increasingly visible and make the birds do not collide with them so easily. However , the problem of electric shock to the Common Buzzard is an issue relatively important and so these devices are necessary to place between the protective posts and power lines, because the electric shock occurs when the bird touches two different wires , or between the pole and the wire and in this case it is necessary to put the insulator so that the animal does not acquire electric charge from these two points of support.

This negative impact jeopardizes the survival of these same species or not?
CG: The data that we do not mean that the species may be destroyed because of this, it is not a concerned; however, the mortality associated with this type of infrastructure may have an effect on their populations. We did this study with three species that do not have a conservation status which is very favorable the Eurasian woodcock, the Madeiran storm petrel and the Bulwer's Petrel and it is important to implement these measures, since populations are relatively fragile and for which we do not have a lot of data about its distribution, then it becomes important to have this concern and try to minimize any threat that may endanger these animals.

Returning to the question some of the suggestions was accepted.
CG: Yes, as I mentioned part of the line suffered a burial and now there is a new project that is being implemented, a new action that aims to bury the whole network of Caniçal. Referring to Paul da Serra, the burial of the line is not to be equated, due to costs, as it is very large, but the power company was receptive to the implementation of the provisions on the lines. We suggest, but we are waiting.