FOOTNOTES:
[51] Present address: National Audubon Society, 2 Marine Way, Juneau, Alaska 99801.
[Resource Development Along Coasts and on the Ocean Floor: Potential Conflicts with Marine Bird Conservation]
by
Donald E. McKnight
Alaska Department of Fish and Game
Subport Building
Juneau, Alaska 99801
and
C. Eugene Knoder
National Audubon Society
Lakewood, Colorado
Abstract
Although development of hard mineral resources, expansion of the timber industry, and resultant increases in human pressures along the North Pacific and Arctic coasts will ultimately adversely affect northern marine bird populations, current and proposed activities of the petroleum industry are the most immediate threat to marine birds. The Federal Government's recently announced plans for oil and gas leasing on the Pacific outer continental shelf eclipse the significance of North Slope and Cook Inlet oil developments. Within a few years, onshore storage facilities and supertankers plying these waters will undoubtedly result in widespread chronic and localized catastrophic contamination of northern marine ecosystems.
Coastal and offshore waters south of the reaches of the seasonal ice pack are tremendously productive, supporting a diverse wealth of bird life throughout the year. Because these ecosystems are relatively stable and the impact of temporal oscillations on the physical environment is not as great as in the Arctic, birds in these areas are probably least susceptible to man's influence on a long-term basis.
Avifaunal associations of the Arctic are less diverse and have shorter food chains than more southerly ones; consequently they are more susceptible to environmental perturbations. Slow growth and maturation rates of arctic species and resultant prolonged population recovery periods further aggravate this situation.
Available knowledge of northern seabirds and their environmental requirements is in inverse relation to the latitude at which they are found and to the ecological stability of the ecosystems involved. Arctic bird associations and their fragile environments are least understood, but are doubtless the most vulnerable to the detrimental effects of man-caused environmental degradation. The paucity of knowledge about them limits the possibility of predicting the consequences of petrochemical exploitation and thereby safeguarding against potential problems. Existing technology and support system capabilities of the oil industry are more poorly defined for arctic areas, further compounding this problem. Regardless of information amassed in the future and precautionary measures taken during exploitation of arctic petroleum reserves, the potential for disastrous and perhaps irrecoverable losses to northern marine bird species and populations is great. Losses of major magnitude could appreciably alter the productivity of northern marine ecosystems.
Although the coastal waters of the northwestern United States and western Canada support a plenitude of marine life, including marine birds, relatively little is known about these ecosystems. Sustained interest in quantitative aspects of this area's marine bird populations has developed only within the past few years. As Sowl and Bartonek (1974) indicated, seabirds are the most visible component of a marine ecosystem and, at the same time, they are the least understood. Management information has been haphazardly gathered, and because seabirds occur in incredibly large numbers in north Pacific and arctic waters, it has been convenient to assume that, in the absence of problems, systematized data gathering and analysis were unnecessary.
The sudden emergence in the late 1960's of Alaska and portions of northwest Canada as potential major oil production areas has changed this situation dramatically. Ongoing and planned petroleum development in the North and the concurrent expansion of hard mineral extraction and logging activities now threaten to adversely affect these marine bird resources. Alaska's human population, which numbered only slightly over 400,000 in 1975, will probably double within the present decade. Doubtless, increased numbers of people, oriented toward mineral and other resource exploitation rather than toward traditional wildland values, will compound these problems. Pressures on State and local governments for increased services necessitated by increasing populations will require additional expenditures. In Alaska, at least, these demands are being imposed before revenues from minerals become available. This necessitates additional oil leases, timber sales, and other means for obtaining immediate funding, thereby adding to the acceleration and irreversibility of industrial expansion into the North.
This atmosphere of change has spawned major government-and industry-supported programs to broaden knowledge of northern marine ecosystems, including their avifauna. There has been a recent flurry of publications on seabird populations and biology and a proliferation of papers stressing the need to learn more about the biota of this area. Nevertheless, environmental impact statements on proposed developmental programs in the North still raise more questions than are being answered. Attempts are being made to apply available information on oil spills, human disturbance, and other aspects of environmental degradation gathered from experiences in other areas to expected problems in northern environments, but one must realize that much of the information gained from experience elsewhere is not applicable to these areas. It is realistic to assume that, until development-related problems occur in the North, biologists cannot estimate the magnitude or ecological dimensions of their effects. However, existing knowledge of ecological "laws" and of the biology of some species provides the base for limited predictive efforts.
It is the purpose of this paper to describe significant current and proposed resource development along the coasts and the ocean floors, to summarize existing knowledge of the ecology of marine birds in these areas, and to identify potential conflicts with marine bird conservation. We hope that identification of these problems will provide impetus to data gathering and management programs necessary for conservation of these valuable resources.
The Region and its Avifauna
The region discussed here encompasses nearly half of the United States and Canadian coastlines, extending from Washington to the eastern edge of the Northwest Territories. Alaska alone has two-thirds of the United States' continental shelf (Bartonek et al. 1971). This region's marine and estuarine waters are some of the most productive in the world and support a diverse wealth of bird life throughout the year. Sanger (1972), for example, estimated total summer standing stocks of some 21 million birds in an area approximating the outer continental shelf from the Bering Strait south along the coasts of the Aleutian Islands and North America to central California. Sanger and King (this volume), to whom more data were available, revised this estimate upward to 45 million. Bartonek et al. (1974) provided estimates of year-round standing stocks of 27 million birds in the Bering Sea alone.
North and east of the Bering Strait, population estimates of the bird fauna are less complete. Swartz (1966) estimated, however, that seabird populations of five colonies in the vicinity of Cape Thompson in the Chukchi Sea exceeded a total of 420,000 breeding birds in 1960. Information provided by Bartonek and Sealy (this volume) indicates that large colony complexes at Cape Lisburne and Little Diomede Island each number, in aggregate, over 1 million breeding birds, mainly alcids, kittiwakes (Rissa spp.), gulls (Larus spp.), fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis), and cormorants (Phalacrocorax spp.). Although the Chukchi Sea coast north of Cape Lisburne has no rocks suitable for cliff-nesting seabirds, large numbers of tundra-nesting species use the inshore waters as a migratory pathway, and many nonbreeding cliff nesters summer in these waters (J. M. Scott, comments by Pacific Seabird Group on U.S. Department of the Interior Draft Environmental Statement 74-90). According to Scott, sea ducks and gulls are the most numerous birds in the Beaufort Sea. Observations by Thompson and Person (1963) of an estimated 1 million eiders, mostly king eiders (Somateria spectabilis) and Pacific eiders (S. mollissima), passing over Point Barrow en route to molting areas, reflect the numbers involved. Oldsquaws (Clangula hyemalis) use coastal waters of the Beaufort Sea for postbreeding wing molts; Bartels (1973) estimated their numbers at nearly 400,000 in the fall and perhaps more during the molting period. Shorebirds, jaegers (Stercorarius spp.), gulls, and terns, most of which use coastal waters at some time during the summer season, swell bird numbers by several millions in this area (Arctic Institute of North America 1974).
As indicated by Sanger (1972), the seabirds inhabiting coastal areas south of Bering Strait are mainly members of the Procellariidae in summer and Alcidae in winter. Sooty shearwaters (Puffinus griseus) are the prevalent summer species and ancient murrelets (Synthliboramphus antiquus) and marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) are the most abundant winter species. Sanger's central subarctic domain (offshore waters including the Gulf of Alaska) had a different species composition. During the summer, procellariids—mostly slender-billed shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris) and sooty shearwaters—made up 94% of the biomass. Procellariids, including fulmars, larids (largely glaucous-winged gulls, Larus glaucescens), black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), and large alcids, including the tufted puffin (Lunda cirrhata), made up 87% of the winter biomass in this domain (Sanger 1972).
Although most of the arctic waters, including the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas, are unavailable to birds during the winter because of pack ice, they seasonally host an avifauna dominated by colony nesters, such as common and thick-billed murres (Uria aalge and U. lomvia), and tundra nesters, such as oldsquaws and eiders. In far northern waters, sea ducks (mainly eiders and oldsquaws), red phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius), and gulls are the predominant species.
Intertidal areas throughout the Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington coasts support characteristic assemblages of shorebirds, including the black oystercatcher (Haematopus bachmani), rock sandpiper (Erolia ptilocnemis), wandering tattler (Heteroscelus incanum), surfbird (Aphriza virgata), and black turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala) as reported by J. M. Scott (comments by Pacific Seabird Group to U.S. Department of the Interior Draft Environmental Statement 74-90). Perhaps the greatest concentrations of shorebirds in this whole region occur during spring and fall migrations in Prince William Sound. The tremendous numbers of migrating birds using these tidal and marsh areas are hard to imagine, but densities of up to 250,000 shorebirds per 259 hectares (ha) on portions of the more than 51,820-ha tidal flats of the Copper River Delta have been recorded (Isleib and Kessel 1973).
Although this region's avifauna is remarkable from the numerical standpoint, it is important to remember also that some of its species are limited in distribution to this area. According to Bartonek et al. (1971), Alaska is the only known breeding area for black turnstones, bristle-thighed curlews (Numenius tahitiensis), surfbirds, western sandpipers (Ereunetes mauri), and Kittlitz's murrelets (Brachyramphus brevirostris). Several waterfowl species, including the dusky Canada goose (Branta canadensis occidentalis), cackling Canada goose (B. c. minima), Aleutian Canada goose (B. c. leucopareia), and Aleutian common teal (Anas crecca nimia) nest only in Alaska coastal areas (Bartonek et al. 1971). Izembek Lagoon on the Alaska Peninsula annually hosts the entire population of black brant, Branta nigricans (Hansen and Nelson 1957), and many other waterfowl, seabird, and shorebird species nest or live in this region in numbers important to their worldwide welfare.
Current and Planned Resource Development
The immense nonrenewable resource wealth of Alaska and other arctic regions has remained virtually unrecognized or unexploited until recently because of the availability of these resources in more accessible locations. As supplies have diminished or been exhausted elsewhere and demands have increased, however, it has become economically feasible or necessary to tap supplies in less-accessible regions. For this reason, the petroleum industry has recently expanded its exploratory efforts in the far North with well-known success. Deposits of metallic ores, coal, and other raw materials to feed industry have likewise been discovered and plans devised for their extraction and sale. Pressed with decreased availability of commercial timber elsewhere, the logging industry has similarly begun to broaden its efforts into Alaska. Expansion of industrial activities into the North is proceeding at a rapidly accelerating pace, and these industries, their associated support industries, and expanded human populations are having and will continue to have unprecedented impact on these marine ecosystems, including their avifauna.
Petroleum Development
The existence of potentially marketable oil and gas deposits in Alaska has been recognized since the early 1900's, but it was not until the Swanson River, Alaska, oil field was discovered in 1957 and later developed that the Arctic entered the modern era of oil development (McKnight and Hiliker 1970). This field and offshore fields in the Upper Cook Inlet basin have been producing oil for nearly a decade. The discovery of petroleum reserves on Alaska's North Slope and Canada's Mackenzie River Delta is common knowledge, and a pipeline has been constructed to transport Alaska oil to a tanker facility at Valdez in Prince William Sound. Alternative proposals to pipe North Slope natural gas along the existing corridor to a facility in Prince William Sound or to build a new pipeline to take this gas to existing fields, and a planned pipeline on the Mackenzie River Delta and south through Canada, are being considered. Construction of a gas liquefaction facility in Prince William Sound and tanker traffic through the Sound and the Gulf of Alaska are potential ramifications of an Alaska gas pipeline.
As McKnight and Hiliker (1970) and Bartonek et al. (1971) pointed out, the greatest potential problem for marine bird populations from North Slope oil will be associated with the operations of the Alyeska Pipeline system's terminal at Valdez. Oil storage and ship-loading facilities at this port and heavy tanker traffic through Prince William Sound represent a pollution source that could result in significant seabird and waterfowl mortalities. Certainly, development of gas liquefaction facilities in the Sound, with inherent increases in human populations and tanker traffic, would compound this potential problem.
Although future impacts from existing petrochemical developments are cause for concern, the Federal Government's recently announced plans for oil and gas leasing on the Pacific outer continental shelf (Fig. I) eclipse the significance of North Slope and Cook Inlet oil developments. It now appears the Gulf of Alaska is the most favorable area of the outer continental shelf for oil and gas production (Council on Environmental Quality 1974). This area, covering more than 10.3 million ha, has already been subjected to extensive seismic investigations, and estimates of its undiscovered, economically recoverable crude oil and natural gas resources range from 3 to 25 billion barrels and 15 to 30 trillion cubic feet, respectively (Council on Environmental Quality 1974).
Fig. 1. North Pacific, showing portions of the outer continental shelf being considered for gas and oil leasing by the Federal Government (vertical hatching) and areas leased or proposed for leasing by the State of Alaska (cross hatching).
Kinney et al. (1970) reported that in Cook Inlet, Alaska, an estimated 0.3% of the oil produced and handled in offshore platform wells is spilled. Several routine offshore operations result in discharges of oil and other materials into water, and, unlike accidental spills, the probability of their occurrence is 100% (Council on Environmental Quality 1974). During drilling operations, cleaned drilling mud and drill cuttings are discharged overboard. Drilling mud may consist of such substances as bentonite clay, caustic soda, organic polymer, proprietary defoamer, and ferrochrome lignosulfate. Waters from geological formations are often produced and discharged into the sea while the wells are in production. These waters may be fresh or saline, and often contain small amounts of oil. All of these pollutants increase the adverse effects of offshore oil production, and when potential spills are also considered, the ultimate impact on the marine ecosystem may be substantial.
The State of Alaska has already leased offshore sites in Kachemak Bay, and present considerations for future leases in the lower Cook Inlet and Beaufort Sea further reflect the widespread and massive nature of petrochemical developments in the Arctic planned for the next 2 decades (Fig. 1). Proved crude oil reserves are less than 1 billion barrels and natural gas reserves are less than 2 trillion cubic feet in Cook Inlet, but it appears that undiscovered recoverable oil and gas resources may be much greater (Council on Environmental Quality 1974). There are also indications that known onshore oil reserves along Alaska's northwest coast will soon be opened for development by the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, landowners in the area as a result of the Native Land Claims Act of 1971. This group is at least considering the transportation of these petroleum products to market in tankers, from an open-water port in the Chukchi Sea—thereby adding to the tanker traffic in northern waters.
Hard Mineral Resource Development
As indicated by Bartonek et al. (1971), there has been renewed interest in opening up Alaska's hard mineral resources to economic development as new transportation routes and modes have been developed. Plans are being completed to develop the Bering River coal field, with the eventual goal of exporting coking coal to Japan. Although mining operations might ultimately affect freshwater environments to the detriment of several waterfowl species, including the trumpeter swan (Olor buccinator), the chief cause for concern will be additional freighter traffic through Prince William Sound. Similar plans to develop Klukwan and Snettisham iron deposits in southeastern Alaska for the use of Japanese industry (Bartonek et al. 1971) may result in the imposition of further traffic in Alaska shipping lanes.
Plans are under way to strip-mine coal deposits in the Beluga field near the west side of Cook Inlet and transport a coal slurry via pipeline to a thermal electric generation plant opposite Anchorage on the Inlet. Impact on tidal areas may be minor, but thermal pollution of the waters is a possibility.
Development plans for tin and tungsten deposits in the Lost River area of Alaska's Seward Peninsula are under way after several years of faltering starts and stops. These activities and possible extraction of gold lying offshore from Nome may ultimately have some effect on these coastal areas. Methods for recovering gold, regardless of the type, would disrupt marine and estuarine environments used by marine birds (Bartonek et al. 1971), and transportation of ores would also increase freighter traffic in the Bering Sea.
Timber Resource Development
Although the timber industry has long been established along the coast from Washington north through southeastern Alaska, timber harvests are rapidly expanding on U.S. Forest Service lands in Alaska. The impact of this industry is principally on terrestrial ecosystems, but certainly log rafting in estuarine areas, disposal of wastes from pulp mills, and freighter traffic transporting wood pulp or logs to Japan and west coast markets contribute to the chronic degradation of marine bird environments. Recent meager studies on the Vancouver Canada goose (Branta canadensis fulva) in southeastern Alaska have pointed out the importance to this species of coastal timber stands for nesting and estuarine environments for brood rearing and wintering. This essentially nonmigratory goose (Hansen 1962) may be particularly vulnerable to logging activities in these areas. Similarly, recent evidence indicates that marbled murrelets may nest in large conifer trees adjacent to the coast, from northwestern California to northern southeastern Alaska (Harris 1971; Savile 1972). If this is true, logging may eventually greatly restrict the breeding of this numerically important inhabitant of northern coastal waters.
Assessment of Resource Development and Potential Conflicts with Marine Bird Conservation
Although extraction of hard mineral resources, expansion of the timber industry, and resultant increases in human pressures along North Pacific and Arctic coasts will ultimately affect northern marine bird populations, current and proposed activities of the petroleum industry pose the most immediate threat to marine birds. Chronic degradation of estuarine and marine coastal waters by logging wastes, pulp mill and sewage effluents, and bilge oils is an insidious process, the impacts of which will be difficult, at best, to quantify. Results of a major oil spill or even low-level contamination of marine ecosystems with oil will be more apparent, however. For this reason, and the fact that the industry is expanding rapidly into the North, most of this discussion will be directed at the impacts of oil development on northern marine birds.
Potential sources of adverse environmental degradation affecting these birds resulting from oil and gas exploration, development, and production include: (1) oil discharges into marine waters, both chronic and catastrophic, (2) gravel excavation and dumping in coastal areas, (3) seismic activities, (4) discharge of drilling mud and drill cuttings into marine waters, including toxic heavy metal constituents of drilling mud, (5) disturbance resulting from petrochemical activities, and (6) increased human populations resulting in interference with critical life processes and increased hunting of game species. Each source of environmental change will vary by latitudinal and seasonal factors in their effects upon the birds. We consider herein only coastal and ocean floor developments and their anticipated generalized impacts on populations.
Although this is a discussion of "northern" marine birds, it is important to remember that we are considering a diverse avifauna existing in an environmental gradient from temperate to polar regions. In general, the more southerly portions of this marine environment are characterized by a greater diversity of species, more complex food chains, and a resultant greater stability (Dunbar 1968). Arctic marine ecosystems, on the other hand, are characterized by numerical dominance by a few species, relatively simple food chains, and an inherent instability or fragility (Dunbar 1968). According to Dunbar, arctic systems are regulated primarily by temporal oscillations in the physical environment, whereas biological interactions (e.g., competition, predation) are considered more significant in the maintenance of temperate and tropical ecosystems.
Because of their relative instability, arctic ecosystems are more susceptible to alteration by extreme environmental perturbation, either natural or man-imposed (Burns and Morrow 1973). Slow growth and maturation rates of the avian constituents of these ecosystems and resultant long recovery periods (Ashmole 1971) further aggravate this situation.
Regardless of their seasonal availability, these arctic waters constitute some of the most productive areas for seabirds in the western hemisphere (Bartonek et al. 1974). Upwelling, nutrient-rich waters, combined with intense and prolonged incident radiation, result in lush phytoplankton "blooms" that form the foundation of relatively simple but numerically strong plant and animal communities (Ashmole 1971). A relatively small number of avian species have evolved to take advantage of this seasonally available food supply, and the ability to migrate to lower latitudes in winter is a characteristic of most arctic-nesting species. Because summers are short in arctic regions, early arrival and a synchronous breeding schedule are necessary to enable the young to leave the breeding grounds before severe weather conditions prevail (Ashmole 1971). Arrival of these birds generally coincides closely with the earliest availability of nesting habitat and food (Williamson et al. 1966). Migration, molting, and reproduction place tremendous stresses on these birds, and as a result, arctic-nesting species tend to reproduce less often and at older ages than do those of more temperate regions (Ashmole 1971).
In spite of these adaptations, arctic bird species tread a thin line between extinction and survival, and natural disasters take a heavy toll. Bailey and Davenport (1972) reported a massive mortality in a pelagic population of common murres in Bristol Bay, Alaska, during April 1970. They felt that this disaster, resulting in the death of probably 100,000 or more birds, most likely resulted from starvation precipitated by severe weather. Barry (1968) reported a similar loss to starvation of about 100,000 eiders along the Beaufort Sea coast during the extremely cold spring of 1964. Observers along Alaska's Beaufort Sea reported finding eiders and oldsquaws dead and dying from the effects of cold weather in 1970 (Bartonek et al. 1971). It is readily apparent that the tenuous existence into which these birds have evolved leaves them particularly vulnerable to the man-induced stress of developments during the arctic summer.
Direct Effects of Oil Pollution
The most obvious, and perhaps the most disastrous consequence of petrochemical development on northern marine bird populations is that of a major oil spill or a well blowout into marine waters. Although temperate and tropical waters are apparently able to assimilate oil spills and chronic pollution from petroleum and its products (Nelson-Smith 1972), this has not been demonstrated to be true for arctic waters. In fact, studies in the Beaufort Sea have shown that the bacteria that degrade oil do not use hydrocarbons at the ambient temperatures of the Arctic (Glaeser and Vance 1971). Therefore, a large oil spill in the Arctic could persist for many years. As demonstrated by Campbell and Martin (1973), the diffusion and transport mechanisms generated by the pack-ice dynamics of the Beaufort Sea and the slow rate of oil biodegradation under arctic conditions would combine to diffuse an oil spill over the sea and eventually deposit oil on the ice surface. This, in turn, would lower the natural albedo over a large area and melt the ice in the area of the spill. This pack ice supports an under-ice community which is an important food source for phalaropes, jaegers, gulls, terns, and other seabirds (Watson and Divoky 1972).
As indicated by Nelson-Smith (1972) many investigators have stated that a spot of oil "no bigger than a dollar" on the breast of a bird is enough to bring about death by exposure, at least in the colder seas. It is easy to see the relative vulnerability of already stressed birds in arctic areas to a spill, and because of the concentration of these birds in available open-water areas, possibilities for catastrophic mortalities are evident.
Such disasters already have occurred in north Pacific waters. Dickason (1970) reported an incident in which diesel oil reaching the Alaska coast, probably from the sinking of two Japanese freighters some distance offshore, affected an estimated 90,000 murres. J. G. King, Jr. (cited in Bartonek et al. 1971) estimated that at least 100,000 birds, mostly alcids and waterfowl, died in the vicinity of Kodiak Island during winter 1970 as a result of oil pollution (probably ballast dumped by tankers entering Cook Inlet). It must not be forgotten that chronic pollution in similar areas where oil development and transport activities are taking place probably kills more birds every year than die after a single catastrophic spill. Total annual losses due to oil in the North Sea and North Atlantic, excluding disasters, amount to 150,000 to 450,000 seabirds (Nelson-Smith 1972).
That oil pollution, both chronic and catastrophic, can dramatically affect populations of marine birds has already been demonstrated elsewhere. Uspenskii (1964) reported that more than 30,000 wintering oldsquaws perished from oil pollution near Botland Island in the Baltic and that in later years this species had almost disappeared from Swedish Lapland. Jackass penguins (Spheniscus demersus), found only in South Africa, have suffered losses from pollution caused by oil traffic around the Cape of Good Hope (Stander and Venter 1968). Their total population was estimated at 100,000 in 1960, and in two separate but not isolated incidents 1 to 2% of this number were known to have been killed by oil. Unknown but considerable numbers were uncounted or were lost at sea. Colony nesters, including puffins (Fratercula arctica), razorbills (Alca torda), and murres in the southerly portions of the North Sea are declining rapidly (Nelson-Smith 1972). Puffins, which numbered 100,000 on Annet in the Scilly Isles in 1907, were reduced to 100 birds by 1967; by then, colonies farther east on the Great Britain coast were already extinct. Pollution from the Torrey Canyon disaster alone killed five-sixths of the puffins in the main French colony on the Sept Isles in Brittany and reduced the razorbills to a mere 50 birds, one-ninth of previous numbers (Bourne 1970).
There is every reason to believe that similar reductions in numbers could occur along the tanker route from Valdez to Puget Sound, with localized extirpation of colonies. Even more disastrous, however, would be an inopportune well blowout or other major spill in arctic waters. Massed concentrations of birds, already stressed by severe weather and food shortages, would be extremely vulnerable to this type of situation.
As pointed out by Nelson-Smith (1972), peculiarities of bird behavior determine, to some extent, the vulnerability of a species to oil spills. Auks, murrelets, and puffins (all Alcidae), loons (Gavia spp.), grebes (Podiceps spp.), and diving ducks may be most susceptible to oiling. Auks and loons, because they float low in the water, may more readily become completely covered by oil. Diving species that become flightless during their molt, such as alcids and waterfowl, or which do not fly because of social bonds between adults and flightless young (common murre) and spend most of their lives on the water, would be particularly vulnerable (J. M. Scott, comments by Pacific Seabird Group on U.S. Department of the Interior Draft Environmental Statement 74-90). All divers can easily surface into oil, and their reaction is to dive again, which in a large spill could result in surfacing into more oil. Phalaropes (Phalaropus spp.), which flock to feed in eddies which concentrate drift, may similarly be vulnerable to adverse effects of oil that would also concentrate in these areas. On the other hand, gulls swimming along the surface are likely to take wing before becoming seriously contaminated.
Nelson-Smith (1972) reported that gannets (Morus bassana), which collected oiled sea-weed for building nest mounds, contaminated themselves and their eggs. Behavioral problems associated with oil spills can be more subtle, however, and Darling's (1938) conclusions that the display of adjacent males contributes to stimulation of the female during courtship in seabirds breeding in massed colonies, is a good example. If Darling was correct, this behavioral characteristic could further impede the recovery of a population of auks, for example, from mortalities resulting from catastrophic losses to spills.
On the basis of this information it is possible to predict that alcids, which make up the bulk of the birds inhabiting the coastal areas during winter (Sanger 1972), would be very susceptible to oil spills from future tanker traffic in these waters. The potential exists, therefore, for a tremendous impact (from a single inopportune oil spill) upon these species and upon the entire ecosystem. Sea ducks too, because of their diving behavior, propensity for flocking, and flightless molt period, would be very vulnerable to oil spills. Wintering flocks of oldsquaws and several species of scoters along the coasts of Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington can be expected to dwindle as North Slope oil begins to be transported to Puget Sound ports.
It is recognized now that seabirds transfer and recycle nutrients and energy between trophic levels and between regions of an ocean (Sowl and Bartonek 1974). Although the significance of this role in the marine ecosystem can only be surmised at present, conservative estimates by Sanger (1972) indicated that birds consume from 0.6 to 1.2 million tons of food and return from 0.12 to 0.24 million tons of feces into the subarctic Pacific region annually. G. A. Sanger's (personal communication) revised estimates of these bird populations indicated that his 1972 estimates should be doubled. Regardless, it appears that the disastrous effects of such a spill would extend beyond the bird populations involved.
Indirect Effects of Oil Pollution and Petrochemical Developments
By no means would direct losses attributable to contamination by oil be the only threat to marine bird populations as a result of petrochemical expansions into these waters. Some water birds that become contaminated with nonlethal doses of petroleum during the breeding season are not likely to breed (J. M. Scott, comments by Pacific Seabird Group on U.S. Department of the Interior Draft Environmental Statement 74-90). Viability of embryos is greatly reduced when the eggshell becomes smeared with oil from the contaminated plumage of the female (Hartung 1965). Degradation of habitat, particularly to nesting areas and food supplies, will certainly occur, and its most pronounced effects will be felt in the Arctic. Gravel removal for construction of offshore drilling pads, causeways, and onshore production facilities would displace nesting birds and, combined with subsequent discharge of drill cuttings, perhaps have an adverse impact on bottom food organisms. Nesting habitat loss through destruction or the inability of birds to accept disturbance could be substantial, particularly along the Beaufort Sea coasts of Alaska and Canada, where offshore barrier islands and tundra-covered islands provide protection from mammalian predators for nesting by Pacific eiders, Sabine's gulls (Xemia sabini), Arctic terns (Sterna paradisaea), black guillemots (Cepphus grylle), and other species (Arctic Institute of North America 1974). Flaxman Island near the mouth of the Canning River is a tundra island supporting a nesting population of whistling swans (Olor columbianus), and the only nesting colony of the Alaska snow goose (Chen caerulescens) is on Howe Island in the Sagavanirktok River Delta (Arctic Institute of North America 1974).
Although there would probably be little actual nesting habitat loss for cliff-nesting species, human disturbance to colonies during the nesting period, particularly from helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft flybys, could have considerable impact (Sowl and Bartonek 1974). The "living waterfall" effect of thousands of seabirds pouring off a rookery is truly spectacular, but each such occurrence during incubation and brooding periods causes a rain of eggs or young to fall from the cliffs (Sowl and Bartonek 1974). Temporarily abandoned chicks and eggs are susceptible to predation by gulls or jaegers.
Even for species nesting on level ground, aircraft overflights close to breeding colonies may cause major losses to young and eggs. Sladen and LeResche (1970) reported that flights by an LH-34 helicopter (at 305 m altitude) over an Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colony caused some egg loss. Landing this aircraft 183 m from the colony caused 50 to 80% of the birds to flee territories, resulting in egg and chick loss. Disturbance caused by visitors walking through or near nesting areas of the South African gannet (Sula capensis) on Bird Island, Lamberts Bay, South Africa, caused desertion of nesting sites (Jarvis and Cram 1971). Studies of disturbance on breeding black brant, Pacific eiders, glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus), and arctic terns at Nunaluk Spit and Phillips Bay, Yukon, in July 1972 indicated that human presence was the most critical form of disturbance affecting incubating behavior of these species (LGL Limited 1972a). Disturbance by aircraft—especially helicopters—affected the normal incubating behavior of all species except Pacific eiders. Nesting success of black brant and arctic terns was reduced by this disturbance.
Disturbance can adversely affect molting birds. The process of molting places heavy energy demands on birds, and particularly on waterfowl whose molt results in a flightless period; few areas provide adequate protection from predators necessary during this period. Prime molting areas are scarce along the arctic coast, yet are vital to the welfare of thousands of sea ducks and seabirds. Studies conducted by LGL Limited (1972b) indicated that aircraft traffic over sea duck molting areas altered normal behavior, and therefore had a detrimental effect. Recommendations resulting from these studies were that air traffic be suspended over these areas during the molting season.
For some arctic-nesting waterfowl, premigration staging activity, during which fat reserves to sustain southward migration are stored, is a very important component of the annual cycle (Delacour 1964). Snow geese, breeding mainly in arctic Canada, concentrate in large numbers on staging grounds along the Beaufort Sea coast of eastern Alaska and the Yukon. Because gas compressor stations would be required along the proposed arctic gas pipeline route, experimental studies were conducted in September 1972 to determine the effect of disturbance from sounds generated by compressors (LGL Limited 1972c). These studies indicated that compressor noise was disruptive to staging geese.
Indirect effects on marine bird resources resulting from development activities may ultimately prove to be more detrimental than the aforementioned direct factors. It is conceivable that the impact of these industries, mainly on the benthic and demersal fauna of the coastal areas, could greatly lower the carrying capacity of this habitat for marine birds (Bartonek et al. 1974). Because of the simplified and short arctic food chains and the lack of alternative food sources in these areas, arctic ecosystems would be particularly vulnerable to this type of problem (Burns and Morrow 1973).
Ecological or toxic influences on several food species could result in substantial declines in bird populations. In the Arctic, where temperatures are low, and bacterial and other decompositional activities are consequently slow, spilled oil would persist for many years, with concomitant deleterious effects on the marine organisms of the area (Burns and Morrow 1973). Reduced recruitment of young would no longer balance inevitable or density-independent population mortality (Ashmole 1971). Although indications are that arctic species are the most vulnerable to this type of impact, the lack of knowledge of the feeding niches of most seabirds discourages further evaluation of this potential problem. It is obvious, however, that ecology of arctic birds is least understood, and these species are the most vulnerable to the detrimental effects of man-caused environmental degradation.
Conclusions
Predictability of the impact of resource development on marine birds in northern waters is limited by our relative ignorance of these birds and their ecology. Just as there exists a latitudinal gradient in the ecological stability of the ecosystems involved, available knowledge of these ecosystems is in inverse relationship to the latitude at which they occur. Arctic bird associations and their fragile environments are least understood but are doubtless the most vulnerable to the detrimental effects of man-caused environmental degradation. Existing technology and support system capabilities of the oil industry are poorly defined for Arctic areas, further compounding this problem (Arctic Institute of North America 1974).
Although activities associated with the extraction of hard minerals and the timber industry will ultimately affect northern seabirds, petrochemical developments pose the most immediate threat to this resource. Exploration and development of many coastal and offshore sedimentary basins with a potential for oil or gas production are proceeding rapidly. Within a few years, oil storage and loading facilities at Valdez, Alaska, and supertankers plying northern waters will probably result in widespread chronic and localized catastrophic contamination of northern marine environments. Experience in other areas has demonstrated that oil spills are a considerable potential threat to these bird populations, directly through widespread mortality and indirectly through effects on the environment. This threat is of such magnitude that entire populations or species could be lost to a single spill if it occurred at the wrong place at the wrong time of year. Because many of these species require 3 to 4 years for maturation and may rear only one or two young per year, recovery time for their populations is great (Ashmole 1971). For these and other reasons, the Council on Environmental Quality (1974) concluded that the Gulf of Alaska appeared more vulnerable to major environmental damage from outer continental shelf oil and gas development than sites off the Atlantic coast.
As Bartonek et al. (1971) pointed out, it would be a national tragedy if the great nongame bird populations along Alaska's coast were decimated during the "Environmental Decade" without even being properly described. Regardless of information amassed in the future and precautionary measures taken during exploitation of arctic petroleum reserves, the potential for disastrous and perhaps irrecoverable losses to northern marine bird species and populations is great. Losses of major magnitude could appreciably alter the productivity of northern marine ecosystems, to the detriment of other renewable resources.
Knowledge of northern marine birds, their environments, and their ecology must be greatly expanded if the consequences of petrochemical exploitation are to be predicted and safeguards established against potential problems. To the extent possible, oil exploration and development activities should be limited to temperate, more stable, marine ecosystems, at least until more northerly areas are better understood. Similarly, these activities must be conducted in such places and at such times that impact on the environment will be minimized. State and federal governments and the petroleum industry are ultimately answerable for this responsibility.
The Nation must be aware of the potential costs of energy independence set forth as a goal of proposed oil and gas leasing of Alaska's outer continental shelf. We must ask ourselves if we are willing to risk extermination of species to reach this goal, or if we can afford the luxury of reducing the biological productivity of these waters.
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