The 16,000 Caspian Terns (plus or minus) on the dredge
spoil islands of the Columbia River represent 30% of the
North American population and about 10% of the world
population. That's a significant part of the gene pool,
that can't be written off with glib "not endangered like
the salmon are" hyperbole.

Banding data tell us that many of these are birds that
have been displaced from elsewhere along the Pacific Coast,
including former sites at Grays Harbor and Puget Sound.

Of the 200 million smolt above the dams that head to sea on
the Columbia River, 100 million are chopped up by Columbia
River dams. Of the remaining 100 million, 6-20 million are
caught by terns (depending on what statistical model one
uses and which special interest group does the reporting).

Hatchery fish are more likely to be captured than wild fish
and by this I mean at a higher percentage for available
hatchery fish than the percentage for available wild fish.
This has been determined by PIT and Radio tags attached
the Columbia River Salmon recovered on Rice Island. Another
example of naive (re. predator stupid) hatchery fish being
overly susceptible natural selection.



--
Mike Patterson
Expounder of Scientific Wisdom
Astoria High School, Astoria OR
http://columbia-pacific.interrain.org/ahscience/

"The thing I like best about God
is not truth or beauty, but irony..."
from the play Hapwood by Tom Stoppard