and
R. Wayne Campbell
British Columbia Provincial Museum
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Abstract
British Columbia Provincial agencies are given authority for protecting marine birds and their habitats by the Provincial Wildlife Act, the Parks Act, and the Ecological Reserves Act. The Provincial Museum Act accommodates research on marine birds. The Fish and Wildlife branch has protected over 30,000 ha of intertidal estuarine habitat in the form of reserves and has conducted limited inventories of birds on the Queen Charlotte Islands and northern mainland coast. The Provincial Museum has conducted inventories and life-history studies of marine birds and maintains a repository for information on seabirds, including a catalog of colonies. Pollution from oil and chemicals, improper logging practices, and disturbance by boating recreationists are the most apparent threats to the well-being of birds. Additional inventories and the determination of seasonal distribution are among the information needed to better protect the marine birds of British Columbia.
Most marine-associated birds in Canada are covered by the Migratory Birds Convention Act and are therefore federally protected. In British Columbia additional protection is provided by the Provincial Wildlife Act. Several other provincial acts provide authorities related to seabirds. The Provincial Museum Act permits research related to natural history; the Parks Act and Ecological Reserves Act provide for the protection of habitat and prohibit harassment of wildlife within park and reserve boundaries; and the Firearms Act permits the closure of areas frequented by selected wildlife to the discharge of firearms. The fact that several authorities for the protection and conservation of marine birds are available does not mean that they have been used to full advantage.
British Columbia's irregular shores provide thousands of kilometers of coastline, much of which is used by marine birds for nesting and wintering as well as during migration. Through legislation of different types, some of the more ecologically important and unique sites have been protected. Twelve "ecological reserves," which are basically inviolate preserve areas, provide habitat for and protection to a number of major breeding colonies. Over 30,000 ha of intertidal estuarine habitat has been protected by the provincial Fish and Wildlife Branch in the form of reserves. Less than half of the total area is in Order-in-Council reserves (passed by the Provincial Cabinet), which afford strong protection; the rest is in departmental map reserves, which merely means other agencies must inform the branch before they disturb them; they are hardly secure. Provincial Parks Branch protects other areas used by marine birds by incorporating them within parks.
Research and conservation of seabirds in British Columbia have not been a high priority in the Fish and Wildlife Branch, basically because seabirds are not consumed by people. Our primary interest in seabirds has been in their role as a life support system for the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus). Most Fish and Wildlife Branch reserves have been established to protect estuarine habitat for fishes, waterfowl, and shorebirds rather than for true seabirds. That situation is not likely to change in the near future unless additional funds become available to the Branch. About the most we can expect to do is designate key areas as sanctuaries or wildlife management reserves. Under the folio and referral systems now operational among resource agencies in British Columbia, we have the opportunity to advise other disciplines against approving practices that would adversely affect wildlife. By those methods we are attempting to protect critical seabird habitat. It must be stressed, however, that we can only advise; we cannot force other agencies to follow procedures we suggest.
The only significant work relating to seabirds in which the Fish and Wildlife Branch is presently engaged involves inventory of specific sites on the Queen Charlotte Islands and the northwest mainland coast. Those areas are ones on which we expect to find seabird colonies and where applications for logging are pending. To enable us to advise the Forest Service on the wildlife values of those sites, we began field work in the summer of 1975.
The Federal Government, in comparison to what it has done on the east coast and in the north of Canada, has been negligent in its support of seabird conservation on the west coast. By far the most seabird research by a government agency in British Columbia has been accomplished by the staff at the Provincial Museum in Victoria. In the past, beginning in the 1940's, museum personnel (mainly C. J. Guiguet) explored and inventoried seabird colonies along the British Columbia coast. Most work then was exploratory, and little quantitative information was gathered. More recently, precise counts have been obtained of seabirds nesting in the Strait of Georgia, Juan de Fuca Strait, the central west coast of Vancouver Island, the northern mainland coast, and the east coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands. That information, along with quantitative data gathered in the summer of 1975, will be used to update the "Catalogue of British Columbia Seabird Colonies" published in 1961 by the museum.