The annual number of seabirds caught by fowling in the early 1900's (summarized in Table 5) were reported in Salomonsen (1935). This large harvest of birds, taken by fowling year after year for centuries, did not appear to influence the seabird populations, as bird numbers remained stable. However, in recent years, shooting and a special form of snaring of murres have increased dramatically and seem to have endangered the murre population. The annual number of murres killed is estimated to be about 120,000, of which 70,000 are snared and at least 50,000 shot (estimates of birds shot range from 50,000 to 100,000). This total is almost double the number of birds caught during fowling, and because of an apparent decline in murre numbers the provincial government decided to investigate the matter, and in 1972 the Danish Ornithological Society agreed to conduct the study. Figures from the 1972 census of murres (Table 6) show that almost 600,000 birds were counted, from which an estimate of more than 393,000 breeding pairs was calculated (Dyck and Meltofte 1975). In spite of this large number, Dyck and Meltofte (1975) concluded that the Faroese murre population has declined by about 20% during the last 10-15 years. Investigations are under way to monitor further changes in murre numbers, and to determine the trend, and whether reductions in shooting and snaring are necessary to maintain the population.

Oil pollution is practically unknown in Faroese waters, but since drilling for oil will probably take place in the near future, the importance of oil to birds in this region may change. Toxic chemicals do not appear to be involved in the decline in murres. Investigations of concentrations of chemical pollutants in their eggs show that levels of DDE (mean 1.1 ppm), PCB (mean 2.0 ppm), and mercury (mean 0.2 ppm) (Dyck and Meltofte 1975) are relatively low and unlikely to affect reproduction (Dyck and Meltofte 1975). Levels are much smaller than those found in seabirds in Britain, the Baltic, or in albatrosses in the Pacific (Fisher 1973).

ColonyNumber of birds observed Number of pairs[72]
Suderoy 73,945 49,500
Lítla Dímun 13,2208,800
Stóra Dímun 68,050 45,600
Sandoy 101,710 68,100
Hestur17,290 11,600
Mykines 14,5009,700
Vágar 4,2242,800
Streymoy 27,214 18,200
Eysturoy 10,5207,000
Kalsoy14,1509,500
Vidoy 5,9804,000
Fugloy22,730 15,200
Totals587,333 393,200[72]

Greenland

Greenland, which has an area of 2,175,600 km2 and extends for a distance of 2,670 km from the northernmost to the southernmost point of the country, is almost a continent by itself. The range of the different species of seabirds, therefore, is greatly varied, and it is necessary to classify them according to the relation between their distributions and the marine zones. A description of the zones of the marine environment in the North Atlantic was given by Salomonsen (1965), and the breeding distributions of seabirds in Greenland based on this system are given in Table 7. The terrestrial area of southernmost West Greenland belongs to the subarctic zone of the boreal province, and one boreal bird species, the black-headed gull, has bred there in recent years. It is, however, as much a freshwater bird as a marine one.

Fig. 1. Breeding range in Greenland of four boreo-panarctic seabirds, Fulmarus glacialis, Somateria mollissima, Rissa tridactyla, and Fratercula arctica.