Fellow Tweeters, wanted to share the following article from the
Anchorage Daily News. Paul Chamberlin, Everett.


Thursday, August 7, 1997
Copyright 1997 Anchorage Daily News

Dead seabirds baffle experts

Warmer Bering Sea, Gulf of Alaska among suspects, scientists say

By STEVE RINEHART
Daily News reporter

Murres and puffins, kittiwakes and bald eagles are washing
up dead on beaches along parts of the Bering Sea and the Gulf of
Alaska, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Just how many is not known, biologist Vivian Mendenhall said,
and the cause is a mystery, although biologists are wondering if the
deaths are related to unusually warm temperatures in the northern
ocean this summer.

Reports from fishermen and mariners suggest the number of dead
birds is significant. "People are reporting they have seen 'a lot'
of birds," she said.

The agency is trying to get a reliable count, or a good
estimate, and is asking people
to report dead bird sightings.

Seabird die-offs are not uncommon and don't usually threaten
overall bird populations, Mendenhall said. This is the first
widespread occurrence since one near Seward in 1993.

The murres and puffins have been reported between Gambell and
Savoonga and parts of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, the
agency said. Dead kittiwakes and eagles have been reported along the
Alaska Peninsula from Chignik to False Pass.

It is unclear yet how eagles, with different habits than sea
birds, fit into the pattern, she said.

Fish and Wildlife is collecting carcasses suitable for
scientific analysis. But there may not be a simple answer, even after
the birds have been inspected.

Something different or some different combination of things may
be causing each die-off, Mendenhall said. Lack of food due to ocean
conditions is one possibility. Some natural or man-made toxin may be
poisoning the birds. Disease may be at work. Oil spills, which can
kill hundreds or thousands of birds, are not suspected this time, she
said.

One suspect getting scientists' attention is the water
temperature. Since 1989 the central Bering Sea has averaged about 39
to 45 degrees this time of year, according to Russell Page, an ice
and sea-surface temperature analyst with the National Weather
Service. In recent days it has been about 48 degrees.

Near shore the water is usually warmer, and more so this year,
Page said. This week, coastal waters in Bristol Bay measured nearly
61 degrees, more than 10 degrees above normal.

Page said the water in the central Gulf of Alaska registered
nearly 63 degrees recently, as warm as the Pacific Ocean usually is
south of Vancouver Island in summer.

Page draws his information from ships and satellites. The
temperature records are spotty, depending on vessel traffic and cloud
cover, he said.

Water temperature directly affects marine plant and animal life,
said Bruce Wing, a biologist and oceanographer with the National
Marine Fisheries Service in Juneau.

When it warms up, he said, "primary production goes down and
reduces food for subsequent steps up the food chain."

Wing said it's too soon to know whether temperature or food
supply is causing the current die-off. But here's an example of how
it could: When the water warms, the small fish that seabirds eat swim
deeper, where some birds can't reach them.

The cause of the die-off may be indirect and may prove difficult
to pin down, Wing said.

The seabirds are part of an enormously rich North Pacific
ecosystem, which supports a number of commercial fisheries and feeds
many coastal people. Even if seabird die-offs have happened with some
regularity, it is important to find out why, according to Francine
Bennis of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council.

The council is an organization of coastal residents, fishermen
and others whose lives and livelihoods are tied to the ocean, she
said. The die-off may be a signal that something has gone awry. Or
it may simply prove to be a chance to learn about another piece of a
complex biological system, Bennis said.

"The bottom line, to me, is that it is all connected," she said.