TWEETS,
The story reccommended by Grant is so good that I decided that it should
be posted on the list. Probably many people are like I am, reluctant to
take the time to chase down internet sites mentioned in a post.
Anyone have a quarrel with the facts in the article?

>>>By Eric Apalategui The Daily News

CHINOOK --- A Caspian tern glides across the Columbia River estuary, swoops
around raiding seagulls and arrives on East Sand Island.

There's a silver streak clamped in its coral beak.

Doug Robinson is on fish watch duty inside a plywood blind at the edge of
the island's tern colony. He locks his binoculars on the incoming tern and
its catch, a 15-centimeter surf perch. The next tern carries a smelt to its
chick in a scrape in the sand, the next brings an anchovy, then a juvenile
salmon or steelhead.

It's that latter entree, part of the salmon family, that has the Caspian
tern perched in the middle of the Pacific Northwest's heated fish debate:
Last year alone the terns scarfed 11 million juvenile salmonids, called
smolts --- about 10 percent of those migrating down the Columbia to the
Pacific Ocean. Some of those salmon and steelhead are protected, but so are
the terns.

The argument swirling around the handsome birds may lose a little air: This
year the terns likely will eat 2 million to 5 million fewer salmonids.
That's because researchers convinced the largest Caspian tern colony in the
world to resettle on East Sand Island. That relocation could result in
20,000 to 50,000 more adult salmon returning to the river system to spawn.

"That will make a pretty substantial change compared to last year," said
Ben Meyer of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which keeps an eye on
endangered salmon and steelhead.

Last year most of the terns continued to nest about 15 miles upstream at
Rice Island. But the saltier waters around East Sand Island are home to
plenty of food fish besides salmon and steelhead smolts.

On Friday, as Robinson watched, there were some 7,000 adult terns on the
ground. The adults wear white-feathered tuxedos and hoods of black, but
they screech "kowk-kowk" and "ca-arr" as if arguing over the last cup of
beer at a hockey game. The adults stand sentinel among at least as many
tern chicks --- fluffy oblongs on wobbly legs that might blend in with the
sand if their open mouths weren't begging "whee-you, whee-you."

In recent weeks, just one of every five fish the East Sand Island terns
caught was a smolt. Because smolts were most of the birds' early-season
diet, however, salmonids will be more than half of the total colony's catch
by the time the birds leave in August. While that's still millions of fish,
it's a far cry from the diet of Rice Island terns, which eat nine times
more salmon and steelhead than other fish.

Oregon State University researcher Don Lyons, leader of a research crew
working in the lower Columbia estuary, said most of the young salmonids
that end up on the tern menu are hatchery-raised, not their threatened or
endangered wild cousins. Wild fish are stronger and savvier, while hatchery
fish --- especially larger steelhead --- are easy pickings, he explained.

In 1997 scientists proved suspicions that Rice Island terns were gobbling
salmon and steelhead by the millions. By 1999, a working group from
resource and research organizations devised a management plan for Caspian
terns.

That plan included resettling the terns to East Sand Island, just off the
community of Chinook, already home to huge breeding colonies of cormorants,
pelicans and gulls. The team fixed up the sandy plot, set tern decoys and
blared tern squawks from speakers. Researchers also shot seagulls until the
nest-raiders learned to stay away. Several thousand terns accepted the
invitation --- but most stayed put on Rice Island.

This year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to harass the Rice
Island terns into nesting on East Sand Island. That proposal snagged when
environmental groups sued the corps to halt the hazing for this breeding
season. The lawsuit is pending on federal appeal.

Despite the lawsuit, most terns moved to the better nesting grounds of East
Sand Island, and the numbers of adult terns there peaked near 20,000.

"That's as many Caspian terns as breed throughout all of Europe and most of
the Mediterranean," said David Craig, an OSU researcher. A few other small
tern colonies exist in the Pacific Northwest. "Almost all of the eggs are
in one basket here."

Meanwhile, gulls and bald eagles ravaged the remaining Rice Island nests,
which are being monitored but not protected because of the court order,
said corps spokesman Matt Rabe. Just 90 chicks had survived at last count.

"Moving the birds off Rice Island is in the best interest of the terns and
the fish," said Rabe, who hopes a federal court will agree.

However, many people who love the fish simply don't want the birds,
complicating any attempt to disperse them. Many coastal residents, for
example, oppose any plan to restore tern colonies at Willapa Bay and Grays
Harbor

"The most polarized view is we're bringing in the devil birds to kill the
fish," said researcher Craig. "There is no simple political view. There's a
lot of perspectives."

?

Issue at a glance:

The problem: Caspian terns nesting on manmade Rice Island in the Columbia
River estuary ate about 11 million juvenile salmon and steelhead (smolts)
last year.

The solution: Researchers helped relocate most of the colony downriver to
East Sand Island. Despite a court ruling against hazing terns on Rice
Island, most of the birds moved for better habitat and protection from
predators.

The result: Caspian terns will eat 20 percent to 40 percent fewer smolts
this year, possibly allowing 20,000 more adult salmon and steelhead to
return.

Caspian tern profile:

The birds: Caspian terns live on six of seven continents. They are similar
in size to seagulls, with sharp beaks and pointed wings. The adult plumage
is mostly white, with a black head and a bright orange beak. They eat
whatever small fish is plentiful. They hunt by plunging underwater.

Local history: The birds first appeared in Washington's Willapa Bay and
Grays Harbor in the 1950s. The local birds relocated to the Columbia River
in the 1980s to take advantage of ideal nest sites on dredge sands. Most
local terns winter in Mexico.

Enemies: Seagulls, bald eagles and mammals such as raccoons and mink.<<<


Bob Norton
Joyce (near Port Angeles), WA
norton36 at olypen.com