Magnitude and Importance of the Resource
The papers in the first half of the conference which reviewed the abundance and distribution of the birds in the northern North Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, and adjacent seas suggested that we are dealing with numbers of birds of the order of 100 million. That is 100 million birds at sea plus some unknown number of millions of birds along the shore. We do not have to take these numbers literally—I am sure that the persons who produced them did not mean them to be taken literally—but certainly we are talking about something on the order of tens of millions and not much more than some hundreds of millions. At least, it is on the order of a hundred million rather than ten million or a billion. I do not think it an exaggeration to say that this is one of the great neglected biological resources of the world.
Characteristics of the Resource
Three important aspects of this resource have not been identified clearly in the papers delivered at the conference, in part because the papers summarizing the biological surveys did not include much of the detail that was available in the maps posted in the conference hall. [Maps in this volume do not show the detail of those posted.] These are the numerical abundance of the birds, their diversity, and their unique characteristics.
As to abundance, figures have been mentioned on the order of 50 million for shearwaters (Puffinus spp.) and 25 million for murres (Uria spp.). For other species the quoted numbers have been less specific, but I would estimate from what I have read and heard that the total population must run into millions for eiders (Somateria spp.), kittiwakes (Rissea brevirostris), and fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis), and doubtless for other species. The numbers of the smaller alcids, in particular, must be very great.
As to diversity, there is an impressive number of species and a wide variety of habitats. We have been shown in the photographs some spectacular island colonies, particularly in the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands, some of which have a remarkable variety of species. Several different definitions of "seabird" have been used at this conference, but certainly there are dozens, and probably scores, of genuine marine species that either breed in the area or use it as a major nonbreeding area. The collection of birds in the area of the North Pacific and the Bering seas seems more impressive in terms of both abundance and diversity than anything in the north Atlantic Ocean, which has been so much more fully studied.
As to the uniqueness, there has been almost no mention of the endemic species at the conference. It is therefore important to emphasize in this summary that a significant group of marine or coastal birds is endemic to this area. These birds include the red-legged kittiwake (Rissa spp.), the Aleutian tern (Sterna aleutica), the spectacled eider (Somateria fischeri), the emperor goose (Philacte canagica), and the red-faced cormorant (Phalacrocorax urile); a number of alcids, including the whiskered (Aethia pygmaea), parakeet (Cyclorrhynchus psittacula), crested (A. cristatella), and least auklets (A. pusilla); the horned puffin (Fratercula corniculata); and Kittlitz's murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris). In addition, we should not forget some migrants that make exclusive use of this area in their nonbreeding season. These include the short-tailed albatross (Diomedea albatrus), the scaled petrel (Pterodroma inexpectata), and I believe also Cook's petrel (P. cookii), which has not previously been mentioned. From the little we know about its off-season distribution, the short-tailed albatross appears to use these waters exclusively; hence it has as much claim to be regarded as an endangered species of the United States as the whooping crane (Grus americana).
Perusal of the lists of species presented at the conference brings out one important point. Although we are meeting in the United States and have been looking at the birds from a United States-Canadian viewpoint, this is truly an international resource in almost every respect that I have mentioned. The most abundant species, in terms of both numbers and biomass, is probably the short-tailed shearwater, a migrant from the southern hemisphere. The rarest species, and the most endangered, is the short-tailed albatross, which breeds only on one island in Japan. There are migrants in large numbers from Chile, Australia, New Zealand, and especially the Soviet Union. All of these use the area of ocean and shallow sea that we have been considering as a major area for a substantial part of their annual cycle.
What more do we need to know about the extent of this resource? In my opinion we should not place high priority on determining the exact numbers of the birds—whether there are 25 million or 26 million murres, for example. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to determine such numbers in the kind of geographical and climatic area we are considering. Moreover, even if we were to measure the populations with great accuracy and to determine in a few years that they had changed by 10%, we would not be able to draw any conclusions about the reasons for the change or what should be done about it.
To set priorities for further exploration, I think it is more important to survey in greater detail the general distribution of the breeding colonies. So far, we know the location of only the largest colonies; we know almost nothing about the colonies of a mere 10,000 pairs or less. So I think future surveys should concentrate on locating the medium-sized colonies and getting some impression of roughly how many smaller colonies there are. It is important to locate and be sure that we know of all the major colonies that have a considerable number of species; these large, diverse colonies should be given priority for conservation. Most important of all, we need to locate and survey the endemic species with some precision. This need is especially great for the species that we suspect are limited to small areas or that may otherwise be particularly vulnerable.