Mortality of Migratory Birds from Marine Commercial Fisheries and Offshore Oil and Gas Production in Canada

Ellis, Joanne I.; Wilhelm, Sabina I.; Hedd, April; Fraser, Gail S.; Robertson, Gregory J.; Rail, Jean‐François; Fowler, Mark; Morgan, Kelly

doi:10.5751/ace-00589-080204

Cited by 31 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Seabird bycatch in the Northwest Atlantic has long been thought to occur mostly in gillnets (Benjamins, Kulka, & Lawson, 2008;Ellis et al, 2013;Forsell, 1999;Moore et al, 2009;Piatt & Nettleship, 1987;Soczek, 2006;Warden, 2010), a finding that is further corroborated by the results presented here (Table 4b). Estimated seabird-fishery interactions involving gillnets were an order of magnitude higher than any other gear type considered (Table 4b), representing~84% of the total estimate.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Comprehensive estimates of seabird–fishery interactions for the US Northeast and mid‐Atlantic

Hatch

2017

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Relatively little is known about seabird-fishery interactions (i.e. bycatch) for the U.S. Northeast and mid-Atlantic, despite concerted efforts to document observed interactions since 1989.2. Fisheries observer data were used to estimate seabird-fishery interactions for 10 species and six gear types that operated within the US Northeast and mid-Atlantic from 1996 to 2014.3. Hierarchical Bayes estimation was used and accounted for temporal, spatial, and operational considerations inherent in the data through post-stratification. 4. Over the 19-year study period, 48 821 (coefficient of variation [CV] = 0.03) seabirds were estimated to have interacted with commercial fishing gear, resulting in an average of 2570 interactions per year. 5. Trends in estimated interactions were explored using the marginal posterior distributions, with the majority of interactions pertaining to gillnets and shearwaters/fulmars. 6. Comparison with previous work highlighted the need for consistency in data preparation, making it easier to compare relative trends in seabird bycatch estimates for the region.7. Future assessments should focus on providing context for the interaction estimates, so that population-level impacts can be inferred and the necessary conservation measures enacted.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Comprehensive estimates of seabird–fishery interactions for the US Northeast and mid‐Atlantic

Hatch

2017

Aquatic Conservation

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“…By the same token, Canadian net-drowned recoveries took place in the 1980s, a period when bycatch in the Atlantic cod Gadus morhua fishery off Newfoundland was high (Piatt and Nettleship, 1987). There have been no recoveries from fishing nets since the moratorium on groundfish fishing off Newfoundland in 1992, and almost all of the murres in the bycatch of the reduced fishery off Newfoundland are breeding Common Murres (U. aalge) (Ellis et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Thick-Billed Murre Banding in the Canadian Arctic, 1950–2010

Gaston¹,

Robertson²

2014

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. Banding of Thick-billed Murres Uria lomvia in the Canadian Arctic was initiated by L.M. Tuck in the 1950s, when he visited three of the largest breeding colonies in Canada. Up to 2010, banding had been carried out at eight of the 10 major breeding colonies, with totals of more than 1000 birds banded at Coburg Island and Cape Hay, Bylot Island, in the High Arctic and at Digges Sound and Coats Island in northern Hudson Bay. Because murres are long-lived birds, large-scale banding can continue to provide useful results for decades. A total of about 89 000 bandings in Arctic Canada resulted in 1757 usable recoveries up to 2010, the vast majority of which were birds killed by hunters in West Greenland or Newfoundland and Labrador. There was no apparent change in the large-scale geographical pattern of recoveries over the period reviewed, but the proportion of bands recovered has fallen. Several periods of higher-or lower-than-expected recoveries can be attributed to particular events: anomalous ice conditions, intensive gill-net fisheries, and oiling at sea. Thus, banding provided a useful tool not only for identifying migration and wintering areas, but also for identifying transient sources of increased mortality.

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“…Additionally, specific Canadian data for predation rates by cats, pesticide use, and mortality from power generation were also lacking (Blancher 2013; Appendix 1), so the estimates presented here are derived in part using data from other countries or continents. Extrapolations for marine oil and gas were based on untested assumptions, with few data available to inform these estimates (Ellis et al 2013). …”

Section: Uncertainties and Caveatsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Synthesis of Human-related Avian Mortality in Canada

Calvert¹,

Bishop²,

Elliot³

et al. 2013

ACE

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110

100

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ABSTRACT. Many human activities in Canada kill wild birds, yet the relative magnitude of mortality from different sources and the consequent effects on bird populations have not been systematically evaluated. We synthesize recent estimates of avian mortality in Canada from a range of industrial and other human activities, to provide context for the estimates from individual sources presented in this special feature. We assessed the geographic, seasonal, and taxonomic variation in the magnitude of national-scale mortality and in population-level effects on species or groups across Canada, by combining these estimates into a stochastic model of stage-specific mortality. The range of estimates of avian mortality from each source covers several orders of magnitude, and, numerically, landbirds were the most affected group. In total, we estimate that approximately 269 million birds and 2 million nests are destroyed annually in Canada, the equivalent of over 186 million breeding individuals. Combined, cat predation and collisions with windows, vehicles, and transmission lines caused > 95% of all mortality; the highest industrial causes of mortality were the electrical power and agriculture sectors. Other mortality sources such as fisheries bycatch can have important local or species-specific impacts, but are relatively small at a national scale. Mortality rates differed across species and families within major bird groups, highlighting that mortality is not simply proportional to abundance. We also found that mortality is not evenly spread across the country; the largest mortality sources are coincident with human population distribution, while industrial sources are concentrated in southern Ontario, Alberta, and southwestern British Columbia. Many species are therefore likely to be vulnerable to cumulative effects of multiple human-related impacts. This assessment also confirms the high uncertainty in estimating human-related avian mortality in terms of species involved, potential for population-level effects, and the cumulative effects of mortality across the landscape. Effort is still required to improve these estimates, and to guide conservation efforts to minimize direct mortality caused by human activities on Canada's wild bird populations. As avian mortality represents only a portion of the overall impact to avifauna, indirect effects such as habitat fragmentation and alteration, site avoidance, disturbance, and related issues must also be carefully considered.RÉSUMÉ. Au Canada, de nombreuses activités d'origine anthropique entraînent la mort d'oiseaux sauvages, mais l'ampleur relative de la mortalité selon les diverses sources et leurs conséquences sur les populations d'oiseaux n'ont pas été évaluées systématiquement. Nous avons compilé des estimations récentes de mortalité aviaire au Canada causée par des activités industrielles et d'autres origines anthropiques afin de mettre en contexte les estimations calculées pour chacune des sources de mortalité présentées dans ce numéro spécial. Nous avons évalué la var...

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Mortality of Migratory Birds from Marine Commercial Fisheries and Offshore Oil and Gas Production in Canada

Cited by 31 publications

References 48 publications

Comprehensive estimates of seabird–fishery interactions for the US Northeast and mid‐Atlantic

Comprehensive estimates of seabird–fishery interactions for the US Northeast and mid‐Atlantic

A Review of Thick-Billed Murre Banding in the Canadian Arctic, 1950–2010

A Synthesis of Human-related Avian Mortality in Canada

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