Peruvian Seabird Populations Crash - Down 75% In Last 50 Years

[hatrack]

SAN DIEGO, California May 3, 2004 (ENS) - In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the tens of millions of marine birds living in the "Bird Islands of Peru" became famous around the world. This was due to their appeal as a visual spectacle and because they became economically important as high producers of guano, droppings that the country mined and exported around the world for fertilizer.

But these populations have declined dramatically in the last 40 years, scientists say in a new study. The researchers blame this decline largely on the severe reduction of the birds' main food supply - anchovies - by the Peruvian fishery.

EDIT

The study shows that wind forces in the early part of the 20th century caused a significant rise in the nutrient supply off the Peruvian coast and thereby led to a boom in the anchovy population. With more food available, the numbers of guano producing seabirds, including cormorants, boobies and pelicans, similarly increased from 1925 to 1955.

But in the decades that followed, the seabird populations declined significantly. "The decrease," the authors note, "appears to be due to the depletion of their food by the fishery, which grew to catch about 85 percent of the prey otherwise available to the seabirds." All told, the latter half of the 20th century saw a dramatic decline - from about 20 million seabirds to about five million, according to the paper. Today, many of the so-called bird islands of Peru are largely devoid of seabirds."

EDIT

http://www.forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=31323

[BayCityProgressive]

1. sad...

and yet we cannot get voters in the US involved in environmental issues.

[Sinistrous]

2. Compounding the tragedy, of the anchovy-seabird link is the fact that

up to 90% of the anchovies caught are used for amimal feed and fertilizer.

www.seafoodchoices.com/seasense/anchovy.shtml