Thanks to Mike Patterson for excellent information on this issue. Indeed,
although studies indicate that native salmon smolts are eaten by these
terns - the data rests on the assuption that the native smolts are a certain
percentage of the fish taken by the terns. The real question should be
wheather or not that has any effect on the numbers of returning adult
salmon. I am unaware of any data that shows that disrupting and moving the
terns will increase the returning adult native salmon.
Heidi Brunkal