Britain's Seabirds Starve

[Jaffa]

Press release from the JNCC

 

Britain's seabirds starve

The cliffs fall silent as hungry mouths are left un-fed

 

13 December 2005

 

Widespread seabird starvation has occurred in some of our largest and most renowned colonies, a report by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), the Government's advisers on UK nature conservation, has revealed.

 

On St Kilda, one of the UK's largest seabird colonies and a designated World Heritage Site, puffin chicks starved to death in their burrows, as their parents failed to find sufficient food for them. A pitiful sight confronted seabird biologists, as adults brought back beak-fulls of inedible pipefish in a vain attempt to nourish their offspring.

 

The reason for this mass starvation was a widespread shortage of the lesser sandeel Ammodytes marinus. This energy-rich fish is the staple diet of many seabirds, and is key to their breeding and survival. But in 2005 shoals of this usually abundant species were largely absent from the seas around western Scotland. While other fish were taken as an alternative, few provide the energy required to raise the growing chicks.

 

Poor breeding seasons have occurred before; for many parts of the UK, 2004 was the worst on record, sparking fears that global warming had fundamentally affected the ecosystem of the North Sea, the area most badly affected. However, seabird colonies on Scotland's north-west coast, which hold internationally important numbers, have up to now been unaffected.

 

A reversal of fortune took place in 2005, however, when food shortages struck the west coast colonies with dramatic effect. Black-legged kittiwakes raised only a handful of chicks from a colony of 1,000 pairs on the isle of Canna in the inner Hebrides; this was the lowest number during the 37 years of seabird study carried out on the island. In contrast, seabird colonies along the North Sea coast that failed to raise any young in 2004 fared better this year, but still produced fewer chicks than usual. It appears that in many parts of the North Sea, sandeels were still in short supply, since those birds that bred successfully supplemented their chicks' diet with other fish not normally taken.

 

The reasons for the shortages of sandeels in recent years are complex and not fully understood. However, as sandeels feed on plankton, it is on these tiny floating organisms that many scientific studies have focused. There have been striking changes in the abundance, species composition, and timing of occurrence of plankton in our seas over the last few years. These changes are related to an increase in the surface temperature of the sea, which have occurred over the past three decades, particularly in the North Sea.

 

Although no causal link has been identified between seabird breeding performance and the industrial sandeel fishery off south-east Scotland, the fishery has recently been closed due to concerns about its potential effect on kittiwake breeding success.

 

Dr Matthew Parsons of JNCC, who co-ordinates the UK's Seabird Monitoring Programme, said "the seas around the British Isles are changing, and it is clear that its seabird populations are providing a barometer with which we can measure how these changes work their way up the food chain. It is imperative that we continue to monitor our seabird populations in the future, and so contribute to a better understanding of how to conserve the diversity of life around our coast."

[maidstonemike]

Very worrying stuff. Something is very wrong. I have a feeling we are all about to pay for our lifestyle.

When I say' about to', I mean in the next ten years plus. So many indicators point to a global disaster, and we just sail merrily on.

Countries argue about how much filth they are allowed to pump into the air. Ignorant selfish motorists keep buying petrol guzzling Land Rovers to take a little child two miles to school in, just because it makes them feel better than a poorer motorist.

Oops! Must stop, it's not fishing.

[chesters1]

they arn't starving round here ,the fattest seagulls there are by the thousand live just a few miles away

[Simon Everett]

But you are right.

[chesters1]

i know i am

[Jaffa]

i know i am

 

Ach, Herring gull, black legged kittiwake, Puffin or Fulmar is all the same to those on a mission

[chesters1]

i dont know them personally

[DoubleShotDamo]

Very worrying stuff. Something is very wrong. I have a feeling we are all about to pay for our lifestyle.

When I say' about to', I mean in the next ten years plus. So many indicators point to a global disaster, and we just sail merrily on.

Countries argue about how much filth they are allowed to pump into the air. Ignorant selfish motorists keep buying petrol guzzling Land Rovers to take a little child two miles to school in, just because it makes them feel better than a poorer motorist.

Oops! Must stop, it's not fishing.

 

Here here, Mike.

 

As for fat seagulls, they are scavengers and eat virtually anything. That's why they have wings....to beat the Peduncles to the rubbish tips!!

[wurzel]

But Ken the climate has done it before, and a lot more dramatic, long before land rovers or any engine was ever thought of.

 

Any thoughts on why?

[Ken Davison South Wales]

As I understand it man made polution is only 5% of the total the earth naturally produces, i.e volcanic activities etc.

 

But that 5% is in addition to natures efforts and could be more that enough to tip the scales the wrong way.