Birds
Birds and Mammals that Depend on the Salish Sea: A Compilation
Missing Marine Birds Lecture: Audio and Video
On March 8, 2011, Dr. Ignacio Vilchis presented an overview of his Salish Sea Marine Birds project, along with some preliminary results.
Listen to the audio of the presentation:
Download for your computer or iPod: Right-click here.
Streaming in your web browser: Click here to open up a page with the streaming player.
Video coming soon.
Salish Sea Marine Bird Project 2010-2012
In 2010, SeaDoc hired Nacho Vilchis as a postdoctoral fellow to do a two-year investigation into marine bird populations in the entire Salish Sea ecosystem.
Get an audio recording of Nacho Vilchis's March 8, 2011 lecture here.
Birds don't care which side of the international border they're on, but most government and non-governmental organizations in the Salish Sea work only in one country. SeaDoc, however, has a mandate to do transboundary work. We're pulling together the best science done on both sides of the border to understand what's happening in the entire ecosystem.
Marine species mortality in derelict fishing nets in Puget Sound, WA and the cost/benefits of derelict net removal
The Silent Disappearance of Marine Birds
Most citizens and school children in Whatcom County can tell you that Orca whales are endangered. Ask them about marine bird declines and you are likely to get a blank stare. While well over 100 bird species depend on our marine waters for habitat and food, recent work has shown that almost 20 percent of these species have declined significantly enough to warrant listing as threatened or endangered or are candidates for listing in Washington or British Columbia. “At first I couldn’t understand why people were not up in arms,” says Joe Gaydos, Regional Director of the SeaDoc Society and co-author of the recent study. “Then I realized that when you talked with people who have lived on the water for years, they recognized the loss of birds, but in general we were not doing enough to educate the public about these dramatic marine bird declines.” Marine birds feed high on the food web and are good indicators of the health of our marine ecosystem.
On Tuesday, April 22nd, Joe Gaydos, Regional Director of the SeaDoc Society, spoke about declines in sea birds and sea ducks, two groups of marine birds found in Whatcom County. About 60 people attended this presentation, which was hosted by the North Cascades Audubon Chapter.
The SeaDoc Society is a science-based marine conservation program that funds and conducts marine conservation science. For more information see www.seadocsociety.org
To read a manuscript detailing marine birds in decline and other regional species of concern see, Species of Concern within the Georgia Basin Puget Sound Marine Ecosystem: changes from 2002 to 2006.
Species of Concern
How do we judge the health of our marine environment?
Fish and wildlife populations are the ultimate indicators for the health of the entire Puget Sound Georgia Basin marine ecosystem. The recent biennial SeaDoc Society Species of Concern report shows that the number of species listed as threatened or endangered is increasing and unless efforts are stepped up, the “silent slow motion crisis” will continue to out pace the ability to stabilize and restore populations.
