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Marine Ecosytem Health Program in San Juan Islands

Two local seabird species gain support

posted 11/30/05
As part of a larger enquiry into declines of regional seabird and seaduck populations, the SeaDoc Society is teaming with Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife efforts to advance scientific investigation into the issues facing seabird populations.

With the help of a generous financial gift from private citizens the SeaDoc Society will assist state scientists with needed technology and veterinary medicine expertise as it studies the habits of local Surf scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) populations. Additionally, the SeaDoc Society will enable a status review for the pressured Western grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis).

"The SeaDoc Society's efforts complement and support on-going work at the state level," said Harriet Allen, Endangered Species Manager at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. "It's a public-private partnership that benefits wildlife and, ultimately, the residents of the state."

"The whole of this effort is greater than the sum of its parts and we are excited to partner with the state in applying quality science to the needs of seabirds," said Dr. Joe Gaydos, Regional Director of the SeaDoc Society, "We are uniquely able to connect private citizens' dollars with critical science that makes a difference in marine wildlife and ecosystem health."

It is believed that the future of effective philanthropy will increasingly feature public-private partnerships like this. Sonya Campion, CFRE, Principal and Vice President of The Collins Group, the Northwest's premier fundraising consulting firm, agrees. "This direct and leveraged application of donor dollars represents a strategic way to ensure gifts have a real and powerful impact."

The SeaDoc Society ensures the health of marine wildlife and their ecosystems through science and education and is a satellite program of the University of California, Davis, Wildlife Health Center.

Sharp decline in seabird population

Top seabird and seaduck experts gravely concerned about declining marine bird populations;
SeaDoc Society convenes regional scientists

posted 10/20/05
PRESS RELEASE: A regional colony of Glaucous-winged gulls had 4,000 fledglings last year. Although the same number of adults was present this year, only 88 birds fledged. Top bird experts in the region are gravely concerned, not only about gulls, which are often considered a nuisance species, but about the status of other marine birds in the Puget Sound region. Overall, the total number of marine birds in the region has dropped by 47 percent since the 1970s and 30 percent of our regional seabird and seaduck species are listed as threatened or endangered, or are candidates for listing. What's going on?

On September 29, 2005, the SeaDoc Society convened a group of leading scientists that study and manage the region's marine bird populations. Specialists from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and numerous academic institutions and non-profit organizations had no trouble listing over 20 species that were likely declining and required more attention to better understand why they were disappearing and what could be done to bring about their recovery.

Joe Galusha, a professor of biology at Walla Walla College, has spent the last 25 years studying glaucous winged gulls at Protection Island and was startled by the massive reproductive failure he found this year.

"This is a dramatic single-year event, but also there are data showing dramatic long-term declines in numerous species including Western grebes, surf scoters and rhinoceros auklets," noted Joe Gaydos, SeaDoc Society Regional Director and wildlife veterinarian. "These birds are not as flashy as killer whales, but they do reproduce slowly and feed high in the food chain and they tell us a lot about what is happening in our marine waters."

The reasons for declines in so many seabird and seaduck species were discussed at this one day meeting and included the availability of prey resources like forage fish, the disturbance of birds by boats, the impact of toxins, and the degradation of important breeding and over-wintering habitat. The SeaDoc Society is making seabird and seaduck health one focus of the program's research and education work. Meeting notes are posted at www.seadocsociety.org on the Sponsored Science Events page.

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