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

by Unknown

• We know why this resource is in its present condition, and we know something about the ways in which it is related to other resources.

• We know a certain number of things that the birds do which make them vulnerable to changes in the environment.

• We know that the resource has already been disturbed in the past, both by human-induced and by natural changes, and we know that it has already been damaged.

• We can identify at least some of the major threats that the resource will face in the next few years.

• We know that the resource can be conserved, at least to a modest and partial extent.

• We have a fairly good idea of what we ought to do now to start conserving the resource.

• We have some ideas—so far rather rough and ill-formulated—about why we should conserve the resource.

• We know—or so I believe—that it is practicable and economically feasible to conserve the resource.

I am sure that there will be some disagreements with some of these assertions, especially with the last two, so I will give reasons why I believe that we should conserve these birds and that we can afford to do so.