Conservation of marine birds of northern North America: / papers from the international symposium held at the Seattle Hyatt House

by Unknown

Social and Economic Values of Marine Birds

by

David R. Cline[51] and Cynthia Wentworth

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Anchorage, Alaska

and

Thomas W. Barry

Canadian Wildlife Service
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Abstract

Throughout history, marine birds have provided tangible and intangible benefits to human societies. Unregulated exploitation of some species by explorers, mariners, and colonists led to the extinction of the great auk (Pinguinus impennis) and near extinction of others, including the Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow) and the North Pacific albatrosses (Diomedea spp.). Marine birds continue to provide commercial, subsistence, recreational, scientific, and educational values to people of many nations, while playing critical roles in the economies of the world's oceans.

Annual harvest of slender-billed shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris) known as "muttonbirds" in Australia, sooty tern (Sterna fuscata) eggs in the Caribbean, murres (Uria spp.) and eiders (Somateria spp.) in Greenland and the Soviet Union, and guano in Peru and Africa represent the principal commercial uses of marine birds and their products. Residents of the Faeroes Islands and thousands of native people in Greenland and arctic Canada and Alaska use various species for subsistence. The annual rituals of bird hunting and egg gathering are deeply ingrained in the sociocultural traditions of these peoples and continue to be important to their social welfare.

Most countries of the world are currently providing at least some protection to their marine bird resources. However, the destruction of bird habitats by man's developments and the contamination of marine environments by industrial pollutants are posing increasingly serious threats to many species. If managed and used in accordance with scientific principles of sustained yield, some of the more abundant species of marine birds can continue to provide long-term social and economic benefits to man.

Increasing numbers of people are expending considerable sums of money to reach marine bird viewing areas off the coasts of North American States and Provinces. Preliminary evidence indicates such nonconsumptive pursuits are contributing significant amounts of money to regional economies and helping businessmen earn a living. An accurate evaluation of both biological and economic impacts resulting from these nonconsumptive activities is urgently needed.

The possibility of establishing an excise tax on designated outdoor recreational equipment appears to hold considerable potential for more adequately funding marine bird programs, as well as those for other nongame wildlife.

Greater citizen involvement in sociopolitical processes will, to a large extent, determine the success of marine bird conservation programs. Sound conservation legislation that insures adequate protection of habitat and provides for enlightened and innovative thrusts in conservation, education, research, management, and law enforcement will help insure the survival of all species of marine birds and, in turn, provide social and economic benefits to people across generations.

In its 17 March 1975 issue, Time magazine reported battalions of observers from all over the country flocking to Salisbury, Massachusetts, armed with telescopes, cameras dwarfed by huge telephoto lenses, sketch pads, and binoculars. There, 1,500 strong the first weekend alone, they took up vigil along the seawall of the Merrimack River. A local businessman circulated among the chilly bird-watchers with free coffee and hot chocolate, while handing out a pamphlet advertising his restaurant.

The cause of the commotion was the appearance of a single, unassuming, pigeon-like seabird called a Ross' gull (Rhodostethia rosea), almost never seen south of the Arctic Circle and never before in the contiguous 48 States. Time stated that "for those who care about such matters the event was as electrifying as the descent of a Martian spaceship."

Meanwhile, far above the Arctic Circle at Point Barrow on the Arctic Ocean, Eskimo hunters probably puzzled at the strange ways of the white "birdmen," as they recalled the savory dishes Ross' gulls provided many of them during the previous fall hunting season. This particular gull is considered a delicacy by the Eskimos, and the birds are actively sought each year as they fly near shore during their fall wanderings from Asian breeding grounds.

Perhaps this dichotomy of people's interests in a single species is indicative of the broad spectrum of social and economic values man derives from marine birds. Perhaps, too, it represents the challenge that wildlife professionals, administrators, and citizen conservation leaders face in today's complex world in striving to sort out priorities in allocation of such common property (amenity) resources among beneficial users.

As with the Ross' gull, socioeconomic values of marine birds involve both consumptive and nonconsumptive uses. Consumptive uses may provide socioeconomic values in the form of meat, eggs, oil, feathers, down, and guano. Cultural and recreational benefits may also be involved. Nonconsumptive uses benefit the tourist and recreation industries as well as providing less tangible social values, such as esthetic appreciation and environmental education and scientific study opportunities.

In this paper we examine some social and economic indicators that are believed to demonstrate people's growing awareness and interest in marine birds. These indicators involve a broad spectrum of values and illustrate the critical need for adoption of a strong North American marine bird conservation program.

Historical Perspective

Since earliest times, marine birds have accompanied the evolution of human societies in coastal and insular environments of the world. Their social value is in part recorded in kitchen middens of ancient campsites and villages. From the time man first inhabited the seacoasts and ventured out in ships, the company of seabirds has added life and inspiration to what otherwise would be a bleak and desolate landscape. Fishermen long ago learned to use seabirds to show them where the rich fishing grounds were located, and the cries of birds were often used to guide mariners away from dangerous cliffs during foggy weather.

At the time of the first contact with Europeans, native peoples of arctic Canada and Alaska reportedly took birds with bolas, snares, spears, arrows, and nets; they herded flightless waterfowl and gathered eggs as well. Brandt (1943) said that Alaskan Eskimos would have been destitute if eiders (Somateria spp.) had not been available for food and clothing, and Ekblaw (1928) believed the dovekie (Plautus alle) saved the polar Eskimo from extinction.

Marine birds have often served as an emergency food supply for explorers, sailors, and others: according to Tuck (1960) "The accounts of early arctic explorers and marooned whalers describe many instances in which starvation was averted by eating murres" (Uria spp.). One burrowing petrel of Australia was given the title "the bird of providence" because it saved the lives of shipwrecked mariners and convicts when supply ships from Sydney failed to reach them between March and August of 1790 (Serventy 1958).

Marine birds have also been taken because of the economic values of their feathers and oil. When economic overutilization has occurred, entire species were sometimes totally destroyed. This in fact happened to the great auk (Pinguinus impennis). When Jacques Cartier visited the Funk Islands off Newfoundland in May 1534, he and his crew filled several barrels with great auks and salted them down for future consumption. So severe was the slaughter in the next 3 centuries that the species became extinct in its known breeding haunts, which originally extended from Newfoundland through Greenland and Iceland, to the Hebrides. The last one was killed at a stack rock off Iceland in 1884 (Lockley 1973).

Other species have been almost totally destroyed. Colonization of Bermuda by Spain in the 17th century resulted in the near annihilation of the Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow) there. Ships' crews found the birds to be fat and delicious, and they dried and salted those that could not be eaten fresh. Today, only about 20 breeding pairs remain, and are under strict protection by the Bermudan government (Lockley 1973).

The North Pacific albatrosses (Diomedea spp.) were nearly exterminated by Japanese feather hunters near the end of the 18th century. The short-tailed albatross (D. albatrus) was also nearly wiped out at its breeding colonies west of the Hawaiian Islands (Bourne 1972).

Other species that were carelessly exploited for their meat and plumage in the past, but which have since regained their numbers, include the fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis) on St. Kilda Island in the North Atlantic; and the North Atlantic, South African, and Australian gannets (Morus bassanus, M. capensis, and M. serrator) (Bourne 1972; Lockley 1973). In some instances entire breeding colonies of a species have been destroyed while others have survived. On the Abrothos Islands in western Australia, for example, large nesting colonies of sooty terns (Sterna fuscata) and common noddies (Anous stolidus) appear to have been wiped out on Rat Island by indiscriminate "egging" for food, whereas similar-sized colonies survive on other islands, where they are now controlled by the Fisheries and Fauna Department (Serventy et al. 1971).

Historically, it has probably been man's unregulated harvest of marine birds that has been the primary cause of their destruction. Generally, the loss of a species because of unregulated harvest is no longer a matter of major concern, because most countries of the world are providing at least some protection for their marine birds. However, other factors such as habitat destruction and contamination of the marine environment by industrial pollutants are posing increasingly serious threats to many.

Social and Economic Indicators

Economic indicators concerning consumptive uses of wildlife, including marine birds, are frequently misunderstood. In a dollar-oriented and over-consumptive society like ours, economic values are usually seen as being in conflict with esthetic values. "Economic use" usually conjures up images of man's overutilization and, hence, long-term depletion of wildlife resources. However, when speaking of economic use, it is important to distinguish between such overuse and sustained-yield management.

Although both types of use have provided economic benefits over the years, overharvest that results in long-term resource depletion is not usually the most or best economic use in the long run; obviously a "harvest" cannot be sustained at a given level when the resource base is constantly being depleted. On the other hand, when certain species of marine birds are used in accordance with principles of sustained yield, they can provide long-term economic values to society in conjunction with the social, esthetic, and intangible values that their preservation insures. Of course, for many species esthetic values far outweigh economic ones derived through commercialization.

Commercial Uses

Muttonbirds

The muttonbird industry of Australia is an excellent example of the commercial use of marine birds on a sustained-yield basis. Fledgling Tasmanian muttonbirds, or slender-billed shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris), are commercially harvested each year from their colonies on islands of Bass Strait, mainly in the Flinders Island group.

These muttonbirds are marketed as fresh or salted "Tasmanian squab." Various by-products, including oil, body fat, and feathers, are also sold. In 1968, a total of just under one-half million young birds were taken. Prices to the producers varied from $12 to $14 (Australian dollars) per hundred salted birds and $16 per hundred fresh birds. Stomach oil brought 75¢ per gallon. Assuming the average price per hundred birds to be $14, the meat alone was worth about $70,000 per year to the producers. The retail value was of course much higher. Although the muttonbird harvest is no longer the mainstay of the Flinders Island economy, according to Serventy (1969) it is still a picturesque and important annual social event.

Serventy et al. (1971) believed the commercialization of the muttonbird preserved its numbers: "Had there been no vested interests to preserve the 'birding islands' as such, many of them would in the course of time have been 'improved' as sheep stations and the shearwater populations would have declined and vanished."

Sooty Terns

The Caribbean is the home of the world's most important wild egg producer—the sooty tern. In some years about 2 million sooty tern eggs from the Seychelles and 0.6 million from Morant and Pedro bays have reached Caribbean markets (Tuck 1960).

Eiders and Murres

Although the shooting of birds is not as important economically to Greenland's approximately 50,000 residents as are sealing, whaling, and fox hunting, the harvest of seabirds is an ancient tradition that still means production of an important food source that the many Greenlanders could not exist without. About 30 species of marine birds are harvested for human consumption, eider ducks and murres being by far the most important. In west Greenland about 750,000 birds (equivalent to about 825 tons of meat) and 10,000 eggs are harvested annually. Murres constitute the main dish in summer at small coastal outposts with access to rookeries. Great quantities are also dried and salted for use in winter. Murre canneries at Upernavik have supplied southern cities with the frozen meat of about 25,000 to 30,000 murres annually. However, this commercial activity would be prohibited by a proposed new Greenland game law (Salomonsen 1970).

Banding has shown that about 22% of Greenland's eider population, or about 150,000 birds, is shot annually. Collecting of eider eggs is now prohibited except in the Thule District, where 10,000 are taken annually. Eider down is still collected from nests for sale to a trading company for the manufacture of much demanded eider-down coverlets (Salomonsen 1970).

A growing human population, the widespread use of modern firearms, and the increasing use of speedboats in hunting have resulted in serious declines in many of Greenland's marine bird populations. The Greenland government has demonstrated its concern by instituting protective measures in response to Danish expert advice. For example, the common puffin (Fratercula arctica) was given 10 years of total protection in 1961 after bird numbers had seriously declined as a result of over-harvesting of the birds and their eggs (Lockley 1973). This protection was extended in 1970. Also, it is now illegal to discharge firearms at most marine bird rookeries in Greenland.

With protection of bird habitats from human intrusion and toxic environmental pollutants, adequate enforcement of sound conservation laws, greater efforts in conservation education, and scientific regulation of harvests, Greenland's valuable marine bird resource could probably withstand intensive utilization indefinitely (F. Salomonsen, personal communication). Salomonsen has been quick to point out, however, that people should not be encouraged to believe that the value of seabirds for food is the only reason they should be saved.

Although several species of marine birds serve as sources of food in the Soviet Union, down of eider ducks and eggs of murres are considered to be the most important to the economy. These birds are referred to as trade birds due to their commercial importance (Belopol'skii 1961).

Guano

Peruvian guano beds are currently being managed on a sustained-yield basis; the harvest, as in the days of the Incas, depends entirely on the amount of guano deposited each year. Conservation and management policies have resulted in a steady increase in the amount extracted, from around 20,000 tons in 1900 to over 200,000 tons in 1971 (Lockley 1973).

The islands off south and southwest Africa are also commercial producers of guano. The annual yield from these breeding colonies averaged 3,971 tons in the 12-year period, 1961-72. In 1969, guano brought 4.75 Rands (equivalent to $7.11) per 200-pound bag. South African gannets are apparently depositing guano that is worth twice as much as the fish they consume to produce it (Jarvis 1971).

Indirect Commercial Benefits

Marine birds also play significant roles in the economies of the world's oceans, where algae, invertebrates, fish, seabirds, mammals, and man interact in complex ways. The bioenergetics and nutrient cycling in ocean ecosystems is even less well understood than the contributions seabirds make to man's dollar economies.

Sanger (1972) has conservatively estimated that in the subarctic Pacific region alone, birds consume from 0.6 to 1.2 million tons of food and return from 0.12 million to 0.24 million tons of feces each year.

Marine bird excrement is especially rich in nitrates and phosphates, which phytoplankton, the basis of ocean food pyramids, requires. Marine birds then, at least to some extent, help to sustain the northern commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing industries. The fisheries in turn sustain seals and certain other mammals which are also essential elements of northern subsistence and recreational economies. Thus, marine birds contribute economic benefits indirectly as well as directly by serving as critical links in ecosystem food chains (Tuck 1960).

Subsistence Uses

The use of marine birds and their products does not have to be commercial to be economic. Economics is the science of the allocation of scarce resources. Any resource, regardless of whether it is bought or sold, has value to people and is therefore an economic commodity. Thus, any society has an economy whether or not it uses cash, and when the meat, feathers, or oil of marine birds are used, the birds have economic value. The problem, of course, is that of trying to determine just what this value is when a cash medium does not exist.

One of the ways to estimate this value is to assign implicit gross dollar values to seabirds, based on what it would cost to replace products derived from them with store-bought items of a similar, or substitutable, nature (this is a gross rather than a net value because it does not include the cost of guns, ammunition, transportation, etc., required to harvest and process the resource).

There have been many occasions in the past when it would have been physically impossible to find substitutes for seabird products. In such cases, and where seabirds may well have meant the difference between life and death, the economic value of the resource could be considered a plus infinity.

There are probably few, if any, places in the world today where people would starve if they could not obtain marine birds. However, there are still many situations where available substitutes are poor, or very expensive. And there are others where, even though the birds are no longer necessary for economic survival, they are still very important in terms of sociocultural traditions. According to Tuck (1960), "Wherever a wild animal is important to the economy of a people, its capture and use become part of the tradition of that people." Thus, while economic values can be measured in terms of substitutable store-bought foods, social and cultural values cannot be. To force complete dependence on a people by flying in foods from "Outside" is often socially intolerable because it tends to remove pride, a sense of worth, and therefore the reasons for living.

Marine birds have served as important sources of food in the Faeroes Islands for centuries, the puffin being unquestionably the most valuable. Williamson (1945) reported that in a good year the total puffin catch may be between 400,000 and 500,000. In addition, as many as 120,000 murres are snared or shot annually by the Faeroese, and at least twice that many eggs are taken and Tuck (1960) stated, "The economic necessity of 'fowling' in the Faeroes has by virtue of long centuries of usage become part of the national life, affecting folklore and customs, and providing outlets for the sporting instinct inherent in the people." A Faeroese guidebook even suggests that its importance to the Faeroese culture has been in no way diminished by the influence of modern civilization. Current Faroese game laws appear to be effective in assuring a sustained yield of marine birds while guaranteeing their long-term survival.

Seabirds and their eggs constitute a small, but still very important, part of the total diet of the Eskimos and Indians living along the Arctic coast of the Northwest Territories and Alaska. In spite of the many changes occurring in the North, there is, even for the wage earner, a strong psychological attachment to the land and sea and the free life it represents. In spring, the release from the long monotonous winter is marked by the rites of ratting, fishing, sealing, whaling, or marine bird hunting and egg gathering, according to village tradition.

For those living off the land in such remote coastal outposts as Sachs Harbor on Banks Island, Holman Island on the Mackenzie Delta, Point Hope and Point Barrow in northern Alaska, Inalik on Diomede Island in the Bering Strait, or Hooper Bay on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, the spring marine bird hunt represents a change of diet and activity. It offers opportunity to renew age-old traditions and continues a cultural bond among those confined to jobs in the settlements—vacationing and absenteeism from jobs and schools are always highest during late May and early June.

Marine birds yield between a few grams and 2 kg of meat, depending on the species. Usually the birds are either consumed soon after they are taken or stored in an icehouse for use throughout the summer. Most often the meat is cooked into a soup or stew with rice, noodles, and onions. A few birds may be dried or salted so that they can be used for special holiday feasts during the winter. Sometimes feathers are saved for the manufacture of parkas, ceremonial fans, and masks. In some areas of the Yukon Delta, goose and duck down is still saved and used in quilts that can be found in nearly every home. In the spring 1975 issue of the catalog of a Seattle, Washington, outfitter, down quilts for single beds were listed at $95. Thus, there is a substantial cash savings by home manufacture of such items.

The Yukon Delta in western Alaska is the area where the use of marine birds is most extensive and significant. Klein (1966) provided harvest data by village for the entire area and showed that, in general, geese were more important than ducks, representing about two thirds of the take in both the spring and the fall. The average numbers of ducks (mostly pintails, Anas acutus) and geese (primarily white-fronted geese, Anser albifrons); emperor geese, Philacta canagica; cackling Canada geese, Branta canadensis minima; and black brant, Branta nigricans, taken per household were 77 by the Yukon River villages, 69 by the Kuskokwim River and tundra villages, and 94 by the Bering Sea coastal villages. Although eggs gathered by Yukon River villagers averaged less than a dozen per household, Kuskokwim people took about 3 dozen and coastal people about 6.5 dozen on the average. Eggs of black brant and cackling Canada geese were especially favored, but even those of small passerines were acceptable. The average size of households for all areas was believed to be between 5.5 and 6.5 persons.

A 1968 survey of waterfowl taken in the Mackenzie Delta region, made by the Canadian Wildlife Service, showed an average take per household of about 70 birds, a figure comparable to that for the Yukon Delta. In the Mackenzie region, however, ducks were more important than geese, representing about 60% of the harvest.

More recent data on Alaska waterfowl harvest per household is available for other coastal regions. Data provided by two regional native corporations for the Joint Federal-State Land Use Planning Commission for Alaska in 1973 showed an average per-household waterfowl harvest of 33 ducks and geese for Kotzebue area villages, 68 for Norton Sound villages, 24 for northwest Seward Peninsula villages, and 37 for St. Lawrence, Diomede, and King Island villages.

A 1974 subsistence survey carried out jointly by the University of Alaska and the Bristol Bay Native Corporation showed that, in 20 Bristol Bay villages, 57% of the households harvested waterfowl. The average kill was 32 birds per household.

Eider ducks are the most important marine birds taken by residents of Barrow, Alaska. Johnson (1971) interviewed 31 adult hunters with average kills of 88 birds per hunter. Barrow people also take substantial numbers of geese at Atkasook, a summer camp on the Meade River 80 miles southeast of Barrow.

Point Hope, Alaska, villagers also favor eider ducks above all others. Pederson (1971) indicated that each household that hunted took about 150 eiders in the summer of 1971. Each summer, Point Hope and Kivalina residents travel to the Cape Thompson and Cape Lisburne cliffs to gather murre eggs. Both Pederson (1971) and Kessel and Saario (1966) showed an average harvest of 5 to 10 dozen eggs per household (equivalent in weight to 10 to 20 dozen chicken eggs).

To our knowledge, there is no available evidence to indicate that the number of migratory birds taken in the North in spring and fall is a significant factor in the survival of a particular species. The birds are, however, a significant factor in the economy and culture of the people of the Mackenzie Delta region and much of coastal Alaska. This may not always be true, for their social and economic conditions are changing rapidly.

With the native birthrate twice the national average and with hunting technology improving yearly, the day will undoubtedly come when marine birds and other wildlife resources are not able to withstand intensified harvest pressures without more regulation and control. An obvious need exists for government conservation agencies to work more closely with the native people of northern regions in conservation education and development of sound harvest regulations.

Recreational Uses

No attempt was made in this evaluation to affix dollar values to every marine bird enjoyed by recreationists. Goldstein (1971), in his economic study of wetlands, found it impossible to fix the value of the production and harvest of migratory waterfowl in Minnesota.

The amount of money spent by recreationists in seeking enjoyment from marine birds does not measure the values they derive; it measures only their costs to participate in such ventures. The analogy that could be made is that the value of a diamond is equal to the cost of mining it. Nevertheless, expenditure data for services and goods provided by air-taxi and charter boat operators and merchants selling bird guides, binoculars, and other outdoor recreational equipment are useful indicators in establishing the secondary or indirect benefits of recreational activities associated with marine birds.

The normal economic concept of net benefits from marine bird recreation would include only those accruing to individuals who provide goods and services to the recreationists, gross revenues minus the costs (Wollman 1962; Pearse and Bowden 1969). This economic return, however, in no way measures direct benefits of marine bird resources to the recreationists.

Another important consideration in evaluating recreational use of marine birds is to recognize that many of the nonparticipants either value the option of being able to take advantage of them in the future, or simply believe that the availability of such resources benefits society (Stegner 1968). Such benefits are difficult, if not impossible, to quantify yet may be exceedingly important due to the uniqueness of the marine bird resource and because many decisions affecting it may prove irreversible.

Increasing numbers of bird enthusiasts throughout North America are discovering the excitement and pleasures derived from visiting marine bird rookeries. As pointed out by Sowl and Bartonek (1974), and as anyone can attest who has ever had the privilege of watching the antics of tufted puffins (Lunda cirrhata) near their colonies on a day when the sun is obscured and the air buoyant, watching seabirds is fun.

We have found that organizations and businesses in practically every North American coastal State and Province, from Nova Scotia to Florida and Alaska to California, are busy scheduling boat or airplane excursions to marine-bird viewing areas off their shores. The Alaska and Washington State ferry systems have for years been providing passengers opportunity to enjoy seabirds of the North Pacific coast. Audubon chapters in San Diego, Los Angeles, Monterey, Seattle, Anchorage, and other cities sponsor annual excursions to seabird colonies.

In 1975 a charter airline service in Anchorage, Alaska, booked 530 people in 51 tours to fly to the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea to view the outstanding seabird and fur seal colonies there. Included in the bookings were three National Audubon Society International Ecology Workshops, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, and Canadian Nature Federation. Participants paid from $1,500 to $2,000 for these tour packages to Alaska. At $300 to $380 per person, depending on the length of the excursion, the air charter service grossed about $160,000 from these tours (Reeve Aleutian Airways, personal communication).

Fairweather Outings, a small cruise business based in Sitka, Alaska, takes people on wilderness excursions in the west Chichagof-Glacier Bay area of the southeastern part of the State. The seabird rookeries are one of the principal attractions for the 90 people taking these trips each year. Over one-third of the clientele has been from outside Alaska; thus their dollars are new dollars to the State's economy. Fairweather Outings grossed about $11,000 in 1974 (Charles Johnstone, personal communication).

These examples illustrate how seabirds, both directly and indirectly, help small coastal businessmen earn a living. It is also important to recognize that the multiplier effects generated by the expenditures in all of the above examples ripple through the regional and State economies.

Despite the great social and economic significance of such activities along our coasts, apparently no attempt is being made to determine the number of people involved in such pursuits and how much they are spending. A study of the phenomenon would undoubtedly produce startling results.

The Wildlife Management Institute (1975) revealed that the national estimated value of manufacturers' shipments in 1972 was $157 million for camping equipment, $5 million for binoculars, and $19.9 million for bird feed. Sales of wild bird feed have been increasing 5 to 10% per year recently. These are all economic indicators of recreation trends of which enjoyment of marine birds is a part.

A major use of photographic equipment and related products and services is in the natural and scenic areas of the nation. Manufacturers' shipments of photographic equipment, and photofinishing, were valued at $2.3 billion in 1972. A 5% excise tax on these items would have generated nearly $118 million (Wildlife Management Institute 1975).

Since inadequate funding plagues most nongame management initiatives, the Wildlife Management Institute (1975) recommended that Congress authorize a matching grant-in-aid program to benefit nongame fish and wildlife. Funds would be obtained from new manufacturers' excise taxes on designated outdoor recreational equipment to initially yield at least $40 million annually.

The Executive Committee of the International Association of Game, Fish and Conservation Commissioners and the Council of the Wildlife Society have already endorsed model legislation for a State program for nongame wildlife conservation (Madson and Kozicky 1972). We urge that these proposals be given serious consideration in terms of future funding of marine bird conservation programs in North America.

It is encouraging to note that several States, including Washington, Oregon, and California, have recently initiated nongame wildlife programs that have resulted in substantial benefits to their citizens. The California legislature, for example, enacted a law in 1974 to provide a means for individuals and organizations to donate funds for supporting nongame species management. The California Department of Fish and Game has increased its nongame staff and appointed a citizen Nongame Advisory Committee to help develop and implement nongame programs.

Because most species of marine birds are not hunted by sportsmen in North America, this increased emphasis on nongame species may eventually benefit research and management programs for seabirds substantially.

Scientific Research

Even now, marine-bird research studies and inventories require the expenditure of several million dollars annually along our coasts. In Alaska a multimillion dollar Federal effort has been initiated to assess the environmental risks of developing offshore petroleum potential in the Gulf of Alaska and five other key areas of the State. These areas represent 60% of the nation's total continental shelf and support some of the largest marine-bird populations in the world. The program to examine life-forms and the physical environment of the petroleum lease areas will require 4 to 5 years to complete. Approximately $1.5 million has been allocated to conduct an environmental assessment of marine bird resources in the first 18 months alone.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is spending about $40,000 to determine the seasonal occurrence, density, and distribution of marine birds in coastal waters adjacent to new national wildlife refuges in Alaska being proposed pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, and almost $200,000 to study and manage migratory birds—including marine birds—on existing refuges.

Although generated by external events (including requirements pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) rather than by the resources themselves, these expenditures at least indirectly reflect a social concern for the welfare of marine birds.

Citizen Involvement (Social Indicator)

Another encouraging aspect of seabird conservation and its meaning to society is the increasing involvement of citizens in the issue. Although agencies have not been as responsive as many would like, administration of government at all levels has been shaken and stimulated by citizen participation. As Russell W. Peterson, Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, has stated, "Citizen action is the essence of democracy. Citizen movements should be encouraged and expanded. The involvement of people is necessary to counterbalance the disproportionate influence of the professional lobbyists and public relations operators hired to further the special interests of their clients." Mr. Peterson further emphasized that government thrives much better on citizen concern and attention than on indifference and neglect.

Therefore, it is highly significant that the Pacific Seabird Group has many nonprofessional, as well as professional, members and that the 1975 International Symposium on Conservation of Marine Birds of Northern North America had strong citizen involvement and participation. As everyone recognizes, nothing works in government unless people, be they doctors, lawyers, college professors, students, environmentalists, or Indian chiefs, make it work.

Educators must upgrade training in environmental sciences so that an environmental awareness (conservation ethic) is instilled in young people. In this regard, an Alaskan bird study program proposed for Alaska schools by J. G. King, Jr., of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1962 deserves close scrutiny. This highly innovative and practical environmental education proposal apparently arrived before its time, for nothing was ever done to institute it. Possibly, now would be a good time to give it a closer look.

Conclusions

Success in more adequately recognizing and using social and economic indicators to strengthen and broaden seabird programs will depend on the ability of the resource management agencies to blend the old with the new. It is obvious to most that new alignments, programs, authorities, and sources of funds are needed, but by themselves, they will not be enough to overcome the continuing massive losses of wildlife habitat due to population growth and technological impacts resulting from various developmental programs.

No marine bird programs will be successful without a strong political base. If this is to be assured, resource agencies must be more responsive to the needs of both consumptive and nonconsumptive users and involve them in their programs from early in the planning process. Because marine birds and the natural environments they inhabit are jointly valued over time and are jointly owned, it is important to ask not only what is efficient from the point of view of the present generation but also what is equitable across generations.

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