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).