Hundreds of fulmars starved to death last year

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is monitoring the number of dead birds on the UK's coastline in order to assess the health of the population.

The survey follows a disastrous breeding season last year, in which thousands of birds starved to death.

Without action, time is running out for the birds, the charity warns.

Hundreds of volunteers will check 1,560 miles of coastline, starting in the north of England on Saturday, looking for the bodies of birds washed ashore.

The RSPB will then try to assess how the birds died.

Starving to death

In 2004, hundreds of fulmars - a gull-like seabird - were washed up on North Sea beaches after dying of starvation.

The breeding season saw hatchings fail and chicks starving to death.

A shortage of sand eels, an important part of many seabirds' diet, was blamed for the crisis.

But the RSPB said the growth of industrial fishing, where factory ships harvest millions of tonnes of small shoaling fish to become feed for fish farms and other livestock, will worsen an already difficult situation.

The charity welcomed government proposals, announced last month, aimed at regulating fishing.

But the organisation's North of England conservation manager, Nick Mason, said action was needed before it was too late.

"We welcome the government's commitment for new legislation to help safeguard our seas, but this needs to be implemented rapidly and the content needs to be robust enough to tackle some major issues.

"If the government does not fulfil its promise quickly, sea life will decline, fishermen will have little left to catch and conservationists and industry will battle over proposals for any form of development."