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North Atlantic seabirds
Volume 8/Number 8/August 1977
Audubon Versus Liberia For half a century the US National Audubon Society has taken the continental lead in the agitation against oil pollution through its glossy journal, whose title was eventually shortened to Audubon. Periodically it features reviews of the subject, notably in May 1975 dealing with the Metula disaster and the development of oil extraction in Alaska, and now again in March 1977 covering the development of Shetland, the risky approach to the Alaskan oil terminal at Valdez, and the bad record of tankers flying flags of convenience in general and the late unlamented Argo Merchant, wrecked off Massachusetts in December, in particular. It appears that within the same fortnight no less than five other vessels also ran into trouble, four of them also registered in Liberia. This catalogue of disaster included the explosion of the Sansina leaving 8 dead and 50 injured in Los Angeles harbour, the loss of 2000 gallons of oil by the Oswego Peace into the Thames near Groton, Connecticut and 133 000 gallons from the Olympic Games into the Delaware near Philadelphia, the grounding of the Daphne in Guayanilla Bay, Puerto Rico, and the total disappearance of the Panamanian-registered Grand Zenith with 38 crew and 8 million gallons of oil 480 km south-east of Cape Cod. They agree that most of these disasters were in fact insignificant and probably only attracted attention because of the Argo Merchant incident, remarking how the loss of the Cretan Star with 36 crew off India last year barely provoked comment. None the less 13 tankers with a combined capacity of 940 000 tons dead weight, two of them over 200 000 tons dead weight, were declared a total loss in the first 9 months of 1976, breaking all previous records. The reason for this state of affairs is illustrated by the history of the 28 691 ton Argo Merchant, elucidated by the Center for the Study of Short-lived Phenomena of Cambridge, Mass. and also discussed in the Observer magazine for 24 April. She was launched as the Arcturus in Hamburg in 1953, and apparently attracted little attention until she was purchased by the Fairplay Tanker Corporation registered in Liberia in 1964. That summer she was found to have first a damaged propellor and then damaged engines. In 1967 she had a collision, caught fire three times, and had to be repaired five times; the surveyor blamed negligence by the crew. The following year the crew mutinied, and the next year she was sold to an Indonesian company, had her name changed to Permina Samudra II! and ran aground off Borneo. In 1970 the surveyor reported that all her machinery required reconditioning, and the following year she was sold to another Liberian-registered company, renamed the Vari, and grounded again off Sicily, after which she was found to have further engine damage requiring 5 months to repair. In 1973 she was sold again to the Thebes Shipping Company registered in Liberia, finally renamed theArgo Merchant, broke down again and had to be laid up for
four months in Curaqao. In 1974 she had to be towed into New York, where it was found her boilers needed retubing, and when repairs were finished the following May the drums of the boilers were misaligned. The vessel broke down six times during 1976 and was banned from the Panama Canal, Philadelphia and Boston by the time she finally ran aground off Nantucket at 6 am on 15 December and broke up days later. At the time she ran aground she was 2 days behind schedule, 25.5 km off-course near a treacherous coast and had apparently been lost for 15 hours. Much of the time her steersmen were unqualified, her charts were out of date, her gyrocompass, engine-room indicators, course indicator and port boiler were unserviceable, she had no LORAN position indicator, a stellar fix had been inaccurate, and she was late with surveyors' inspections and due for major repairs. She had apparently spilt oil at least 11 times in the previous 2 years and had been unserviceable for 400 days during per previous 3 year charter. It is apparently impossible to identify, or anyway name, her owners. Most of the 25 000 tons of oil on board has also apparently vanished without trace into the Atlantic. W. R. P. BOURNE
Oil-Spill in the Hudson River Some of the worst problems with oil pollution along the east coast of North America are caused by barges used for the local transportation of petroleum products. The Hudson River is the latest victim. According to David M. Seymour of the National Audubon Society a barge belonging to the Hess Oil Company was grounded on a reef by a tug belonging to another company on 4 February, and lost 1500 tons of No. 6 high-pour oil. The river was frozen at the time except for the shipping channel, and the ice appears to have acted as a boom while the oil congealed. Much of it eventually came ashore along the coast to the south and east, where a number of birds were affected and about seventy reached a cleaning station; luckily another 2500 diving duck in the area escaped.
W. R. P. BOURNE
N orth Atlantic Seabirds Several seabird species have undergone dramatic population changes in the North Atlantic in the last few decades and this important topic was discussed by about 200 delegates at a meeting in Aberdeen earlier this year. They came from many countries including North America, the North Sea States, Faeroes and Iceland, and the concluding discussion of the meeting will be published in Ibis this autumn. Most attention was given to the gulls, which were generally agreed to be increasing except in New England where Dr I. C. T. Nisbet of the Massachusetts Audubon Society reported they have reached a ceiling following the adoption of more careful methods of human waste disposal including"resource recovery facilities". Dr J. C. Coulson of Durham University reported that in Britain 171
Marine PollutionBulletin they were all still increasing at a rate of several percent annually, reaching a maximum of 29% with Herring Gulls on the north-east coast. Attempts to control their numbers on the Isle of May, south-east Scotland have merely led to a general dispersal and the return of birds to breed in their third year instead of waiting until their fifth year. Such activities may also have an influence on the increasing habit of nesting on roofs in towns, where they show a greater than average rate of increase of 17-18 °70. Five papers were devoted to the auks, which in contrast are decreasing around the southern border of their ranges. Dr C. M. Perrins of Oxford University reported that Razorbills nest younger at a successful colony in the north of Scotland than at one which is barely holding its own in South Wales, and that there are variations in the extent to which young birds start to breed in different years. There may also be variations in breeding success; in the disastrous autumn of 1969 many young birds were recovered, but few of that year-class have appeared since then. Dr M. P. Harris of the NERC Institute of Terrestrial Ecology reported that while the small Puffin colonies on the east coast of Britain are increasing fast, the large colonies on the west coast where serious declines were noticed in the late 1960s are now increasing again more slowly. The bird in the first group are comparatively large and apparently have little difficulty feeding their young, while those from the west coast are smaller like more southerly populations and appear to have difficulty finding sufficient food so that the young are hungry in some years. Dr Arne Norrevang of Copenhagen University described traditional fowling techniques in the Faroes, and reported that long-term fluctuations in the Puffin catch can be distinguished there, with minima about 1800 and 1900 and maxima up to six times as large about 1750, 1860 and in the 1950s. Rather little was said about other species except the terns, which were dealt with in four papers. A local ornithologist, A. J. M. Smith, discussed his long-term studies of Sandwich Terns and their movements between colonies; he has been able to trace some wing-tagged birds to the winter quarters in West Africa, where many are trapped by children. C. J. Mead of the British Trust for Ornithology (and chairman of the organising committee) reported ringing evidence for the serious consequences, especially in Roseate Terns, whose numbers in Europe have fallen by half since 1969. Miss Helen Hays of the American Museum of Natural History and D. C. Duffy of Princeton University described studies of terns in Long Island Sound, where there was a transient outbreak of feather-loss in young birds in the early 1970s and there is still a low incidence of congenital malformations which may or may not be associated with toxic chemical pollution. The only papers on the petrels were an account by Professor G. M. Dunnet of Aberdeen University of the extreme longevity of the Fulmar, which theoretically could run into hundreds of years though he is still waiting to confirm this, and M. S. W. Bradstreet on its feeding ecology in Lancaster Sound, a subject otherwise distinuished more for wild speculation than solid contributions. Dr J. B. Nelson reported that Gannets are still increasing everywhere except in the Gulf of the St Lawrence, where there is still too much DDE derived from spraying 172
forests. Nothing was said about such important groups as the cormorants and skuas. There were several accounts of investigations at sea, which tended to concentrate on the occurrence of bird concentrations around trawlers and along the fronts between water masses, which have recently received much attention from oceanographers. Drs R. S. Bailey and J. R. G. Hislop of the DAFS Aberdeen Marine Laboratory provided a useful review of the current situation of north-east Atlantic fisheries, which are still sufficient to feed a good many birds. The contributions dealing directly with pollution were rather disappointing. Dr E. Kuyken of Ghent State University described the development by the Belgians of the international beached bird surveys, which showed a progressive increase in mortality and the proportion of oiled birds on the northwest European coast during the 1960s, with a marked improvement (possibly associated with milder winters) since 1971. The mortality of different species varies from year to year, with many grebes in 1965 and 1970, Fulmars in 1972, and Common Gulls in 1974. Dr James Cadbury of the Royal Society for the Protection of Brids described how that organisation is attempting to 'monitor' mortality by organising regular beach surveys five times each winter and sample counts at the breeding colonies; personally I doubt whether it is easy to achieve much accuracy here and question whether it would not be more useful to concentrate on tracing specific pollution incidents and broader population trends. The most surprising contributions came from the Natural Environmental Research Council Institute of Terrestrial Ecology's research station at Monks Wood. J. L. F. Parslow (who has now moved to the RSPB) described past work on toxic chemicals there, which demonstrated considerable levels of pollution of seabirds with heavy metals, especially mercury, and organochlorines, especially PCBs, around south-west Britain and up the west coast, reaching a climax in the northern Irish Sea, but lower levels where cleaner Atlantic water flows down the east coast of Britain into the North Sea, and questioned whether it is worth investigating stray bodies further. Dr R. K. Murton, who has now moved from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to take over the toxic chemical unit also questioned the reliability of investigations of dead birds and went on to discuss the well-known occurrence of high cadmium levels in pelagic seabirds among other marine animals. In the final discussion he declared he knew of no complete proof that seabirds had been harmed by toxic chemicals, a statement instantly disputed by Dutch and American visitors who have suffered massive losses of terns and pelicans among other species. Of course, if you never test dead birds it is a little difficult to demonstrate the cause of the damage.
Treated Sewage Ruining Norfolk Broads New research findings indicate that treated sewage is very largely responsible for the explosion of phytoplankton
Audubon Versus Liberia For half a century the US National Audubon Society has taken the continental lead in the agitation against oil pollution through its glossy journal, whose title was eventually shortened to Audubon. Periodically it features reviews of the subject, notably in May 1975 dealing with the Metula disaster and the development of oil extraction in Alaska, and now again in March 1977 covering the development of Shetland, the risky approach to the Alaskan oil terminal at Valdez, and the bad record of tankers flying flags of convenience in general and the late unlamented Argo Merchant, wrecked off Massachusetts in December, in particular. It appears that within the same fortnight no less than five other vessels also ran into trouble, four of them also registered in Liberia. This catalogue of disaster included the explosion of the Sansina leaving 8 dead and 50 injured in Los Angeles harbour, the loss of 2000 gallons of oil by the Oswego Peace into the Thames near Groton, Connecticut and 133 000 gallons from the Olympic Games into the Delaware near Philadelphia, the grounding of the Daphne in Guayanilla Bay, Puerto Rico, and the total disappearance of the Panamanian-registered Grand Zenith with 38 crew and 8 million gallons of oil 480 km south-east of Cape Cod. They agree that most of these disasters were in fact insignificant and probably only attracted attention because of the Argo Merchant incident, remarking how the loss of the Cretan Star with 36 crew off India last year barely provoked comment. None the less 13 tankers with a combined capacity of 940 000 tons dead weight, two of them over 200 000 tons dead weight, were declared a total loss in the first 9 months of 1976, breaking all previous records. The reason for this state of affairs is illustrated by the history of the 28 691 ton Argo Merchant, elucidated by the Center for the Study of Short-lived Phenomena of Cambridge, Mass. and also discussed in the Observer magazine for 24 April. She was launched as the Arcturus in Hamburg in 1953, and apparently attracted little attention until she was purchased by the Fairplay Tanker Corporation registered in Liberia in 1964. That summer she was found to have first a damaged propellor and then damaged engines. In 1967 she had a collision, caught fire three times, and had to be repaired five times; the surveyor blamed negligence by the crew. The following year the crew mutinied, and the next year she was sold to an Indonesian company, had her name changed to Permina Samudra II! and ran aground off Borneo. In 1970 the surveyor reported that all her machinery required reconditioning, and the following year she was sold to another Liberian-registered company, renamed the Vari, and grounded again off Sicily, after which she was found to have further engine damage requiring 5 months to repair. In 1973 she was sold again to the Thebes Shipping Company registered in Liberia, finally renamed theArgo Merchant, broke down again and had to be laid up for
four months in Curaqao. In 1974 she had to be towed into New York, where it was found her boilers needed retubing, and when repairs were finished the following May the drums of the boilers were misaligned. The vessel broke down six times during 1976 and was banned from the Panama Canal, Philadelphia and Boston by the time she finally ran aground off Nantucket at 6 am on 15 December and broke up days later. At the time she ran aground she was 2 days behind schedule, 25.5 km off-course near a treacherous coast and had apparently been lost for 15 hours. Much of the time her steersmen were unqualified, her charts were out of date, her gyrocompass, engine-room indicators, course indicator and port boiler were unserviceable, she had no LORAN position indicator, a stellar fix had been inaccurate, and she was late with surveyors' inspections and due for major repairs. She had apparently spilt oil at least 11 times in the previous 2 years and had been unserviceable for 400 days during per previous 3 year charter. It is apparently impossible to identify, or anyway name, her owners. Most of the 25 000 tons of oil on board has also apparently vanished without trace into the Atlantic. W. R. P. BOURNE
Oil-Spill in the Hudson River Some of the worst problems with oil pollution along the east coast of North America are caused by barges used for the local transportation of petroleum products. The Hudson River is the latest victim. According to David M. Seymour of the National Audubon Society a barge belonging to the Hess Oil Company was grounded on a reef by a tug belonging to another company on 4 February, and lost 1500 tons of No. 6 high-pour oil. The river was frozen at the time except for the shipping channel, and the ice appears to have acted as a boom while the oil congealed. Much of it eventually came ashore along the coast to the south and east, where a number of birds were affected and about seventy reached a cleaning station; luckily another 2500 diving duck in the area escaped.
W. R. P. BOURNE
N orth Atlantic Seabirds Several seabird species have undergone dramatic population changes in the North Atlantic in the last few decades and this important topic was discussed by about 200 delegates at a meeting in Aberdeen earlier this year. They came from many countries including North America, the North Sea States, Faeroes and Iceland, and the concluding discussion of the meeting will be published in Ibis this autumn. Most attention was given to the gulls, which were generally agreed to be increasing except in New England where Dr I. C. T. Nisbet of the Massachusetts Audubon Society reported they have reached a ceiling following the adoption of more careful methods of human waste disposal including"resource recovery facilities". Dr J. C. Coulson of Durham University reported that in Britain 171
Marine PollutionBulletin they were all still increasing at a rate of several percent annually, reaching a maximum of 29% with Herring Gulls on the north-east coast. Attempts to control their numbers on the Isle of May, south-east Scotland have merely led to a general dispersal and the return of birds to breed in their third year instead of waiting until their fifth year. Such activities may also have an influence on the increasing habit of nesting on roofs in towns, where they show a greater than average rate of increase of 17-18 °70. Five papers were devoted to the auks, which in contrast are decreasing around the southern border of their ranges. Dr C. M. Perrins of Oxford University reported that Razorbills nest younger at a successful colony in the north of Scotland than at one which is barely holding its own in South Wales, and that there are variations in the extent to which young birds start to breed in different years. There may also be variations in breeding success; in the disastrous autumn of 1969 many young birds were recovered, but few of that year-class have appeared since then. Dr M. P. Harris of the NERC Institute of Terrestrial Ecology reported that while the small Puffin colonies on the east coast of Britain are increasing fast, the large colonies on the west coast where serious declines were noticed in the late 1960s are now increasing again more slowly. The bird in the first group are comparatively large and apparently have little difficulty feeding their young, while those from the west coast are smaller like more southerly populations and appear to have difficulty finding sufficient food so that the young are hungry in some years. Dr Arne Norrevang of Copenhagen University described traditional fowling techniques in the Faroes, and reported that long-term fluctuations in the Puffin catch can be distinguished there, with minima about 1800 and 1900 and maxima up to six times as large about 1750, 1860 and in the 1950s. Rather little was said about other species except the terns, which were dealt with in four papers. A local ornithologist, A. J. M. Smith, discussed his long-term studies of Sandwich Terns and their movements between colonies; he has been able to trace some wing-tagged birds to the winter quarters in West Africa, where many are trapped by children. C. J. Mead of the British Trust for Ornithology (and chairman of the organising committee) reported ringing evidence for the serious consequences, especially in Roseate Terns, whose numbers in Europe have fallen by half since 1969. Miss Helen Hays of the American Museum of Natural History and D. C. Duffy of Princeton University described studies of terns in Long Island Sound, where there was a transient outbreak of feather-loss in young birds in the early 1970s and there is still a low incidence of congenital malformations which may or may not be associated with toxic chemical pollution. The only papers on the petrels were an account by Professor G. M. Dunnet of Aberdeen University of the extreme longevity of the Fulmar, which theoretically could run into hundreds of years though he is still waiting to confirm this, and M. S. W. Bradstreet on its feeding ecology in Lancaster Sound, a subject otherwise distinuished more for wild speculation than solid contributions. Dr J. B. Nelson reported that Gannets are still increasing everywhere except in the Gulf of the St Lawrence, where there is still too much DDE derived from spraying 172
forests. Nothing was said about such important groups as the cormorants and skuas. There were several accounts of investigations at sea, which tended to concentrate on the occurrence of bird concentrations around trawlers and along the fronts between water masses, which have recently received much attention from oceanographers. Drs R. S. Bailey and J. R. G. Hislop of the DAFS Aberdeen Marine Laboratory provided a useful review of the current situation of north-east Atlantic fisheries, which are still sufficient to feed a good many birds. The contributions dealing directly with pollution were rather disappointing. Dr E. Kuyken of Ghent State University described the development by the Belgians of the international beached bird surveys, which showed a progressive increase in mortality and the proportion of oiled birds on the northwest European coast during the 1960s, with a marked improvement (possibly associated with milder winters) since 1971. The mortality of different species varies from year to year, with many grebes in 1965 and 1970, Fulmars in 1972, and Common Gulls in 1974. Dr James Cadbury of the Royal Society for the Protection of Brids described how that organisation is attempting to 'monitor' mortality by organising regular beach surveys five times each winter and sample counts at the breeding colonies; personally I doubt whether it is easy to achieve much accuracy here and question whether it would not be more useful to concentrate on tracing specific pollution incidents and broader population trends. The most surprising contributions came from the Natural Environmental Research Council Institute of Terrestrial Ecology's research station at Monks Wood. J. L. F. Parslow (who has now moved to the RSPB) described past work on toxic chemicals there, which demonstrated considerable levels of pollution of seabirds with heavy metals, especially mercury, and organochlorines, especially PCBs, around south-west Britain and up the west coast, reaching a climax in the northern Irish Sea, but lower levels where cleaner Atlantic water flows down the east coast of Britain into the North Sea, and questioned whether it is worth investigating stray bodies further. Dr R. K. Murton, who has now moved from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to take over the toxic chemical unit also questioned the reliability of investigations of dead birds and went on to discuss the well-known occurrence of high cadmium levels in pelagic seabirds among other marine animals. In the final discussion he declared he knew of no complete proof that seabirds had been harmed by toxic chemicals, a statement instantly disputed by Dutch and American visitors who have suffered massive losses of terns and pelicans among other species. Of course, if you never test dead birds it is a little difficult to demonstrate the cause of the damage.
Treated Sewage Ruining Norfolk Broads New research findings indicate that treated sewage is very largely responsible for the explosion of phytoplankton