Hi all,

Glaucous-winged Gull numbers in the Strait of Georgia have declined over
the last fifty years, in part because of a general positive change in waste
management. Some partial solutions such as the one that you mentioned Bruce,
and also the use of falconry birds, taped calls of predators, Kites,
streamers, bangers, and trained dogs, are being attempted at a number of
dumps in the Georgia Basin. The most effective tool though, is to change the
management of the dump itself. The "solid waste disposal site" in Parksville
has been cleaned up to the point that gulls are rarely spotted there at all
anymore. This has been acheived by an aggresive campaign to limit solid
waste, encourage composting of those edibles that would encourage gulls and
such, and rapid transfer or covering of the types of things that would
attract gulls.
Sadly though, the most common form of gull management in the province, is
still shooting. At the Burns Bog fill, and at the Nanaimo Regional Landfill,
this is still fairly common. These activities are legally permitted, and in
many cases, are a requirement of the Workers Compensation Board to protect
workers from diseases carried in gull droppings. However, these activities
are for the most part wholly unsupervised. They are generally carried out by
locals, desireous of a little target practice. Birders would likely shudder
and weep at the numbers, and species of gulls shot. The horror shows
described on this site, with wounded gulls wandering about, are all too
common. And to make matters worse, these gulls are often full of lead shot,
which inevitabely ends up causing secondary mortality in Bald Eagles or
Common Ravens.
There is a proposal right now in Nanaimo to change the way gulls are
managed. Lets hope others follow suite. With certain species of migratory
gulls declining, this should be a priority.
thanks for bringing up an important topic,
Guy L. Monty
Parksville, BC


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Whittington" <fieldnat at pacificcoast.net>
To: <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2004 9:03 AM
Subject: Gulls under the gun


> Hi all -
> At the landfill in Victoria, the regional district installed a network
> of overhead wiring (steel cables crossed by monofilament lines) to
> deter gulls from landing on the face of the landfill. I was hired to
> monitor gull numbers, and after a little fine tuning (they had to
> shorten up wire spacing as gulls learned to manoeuvre through it), they
> had winter gull numbers down from 5000 - 7000 at any one time, to about
> 300. Other landfills have done it too, but the point is it is
> effective, if expensive.
>
> The original problem was gulls carrying garbage to private docks on
> nearby lakes, and pooping there as well. Gull numbers have been
> artificially high because of availability of garbage and fishing offal,
> during the historically lean times of daytime high tides. The proof
> here was gulls starting to nest away from overcrowded traditional
> colonies, on building roofs, etc. I'm not sure whether the landfill
> effort has resulted in any gull attrition, since the massive Vancouver
> landfill at Burns Bog is still unprotected and that is a short 50 km or
> so for gulls.
>
> Incidentally, occasionally a gull would become tangled in the
> monofilament, and landfill staff would first attempt to free it, using
> equipment on site, and if that failed, dispatch it humanely. Even for
> someone who loved to pick through thousands of gulls on a winter day,
> it is a very well run system.
>
> This might at least provide a viable alternative to suggest in your
> dealings.
>
> Bruce Whittington
> Ladysmith, BC
> mailto: fieldnat at pacificcoast.net
>
>