Many of us who live near the beach or spend a lot of time on it, are aware, even anecdotally, that seabird numbers seem to have dropped dramatically over the last decade or so. There are a lot of reasons this is happening, from small things like dogs allowing to roam the beach daily on walks, to more large scale issues, like the recent findings of the derelict net program. And here’s another more likely wide spread variable, overfishing.This article follows the one I brought up last week about the law suit against NOAA for allowing overfishing of bait stocks.
Overfishing hurts seabirds not only by entangling them in fishing gear but by depriving them of prey. When the amount of forage fish drops below one-third of its maximum, seabirds of many species start to have fewer chicks.
Seabird-fish research shows threshold for danger http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/01/1965290/seabird-fish-research-shows-threshold.html
Filed under: Puget Sound
We just returned from seeing a friend in New Zealand where dogs are treated as dogs not as people. They are not allowed on beaches nor allowed to roam freely because of wild life and their quest to preserve the struggling bird life.
It was quite refreshing not to see dogs in grocery stores, in cars, and wandering around being doted upon.
Overharvesting of forage fish stocks do more than just threaten sea bird populations. The loss of forage fish also threatens the future of both commercial and recreational fishing and the communities that depend upon both. While it might be tempting for some to see concern about sea birds as just the ramblings of “environmental wackos”, nothing could be farther from the truth. Sea bird population numbers reflect the health of our regions ocean environment and rather or not they are being used in a sustainable fashion.