Thriving Oceans

Well if you haven’t heard the news that a federal court has upheld protections for the threatened marbled murrelet…now you have.  But what I found most intriguing was the short AP piece released on July 8th that describes the breaking news for this old growth nesting seabird.  As I first read the article I took it simply as an announcement of the decision, especially since it contained no more than 123 words. However, it was the last sentence that spoke volumes  and initiated my ‘WHAT!’ response.

“Partin adds the council continues to believe that food shortages in the ocean are a bigger problem for the birds than limited nesting habitat.” (Associated Press)

Tom Partin of the American Forest Resource Council, was reported to have contributed the above response after learning that the court dismissed the timber industry’s lawsuit aimed at removing murrelet protections in the Pacific Northwest.

The ironic part of the council’s belief is in the term ‘bigger problem.’  So if I understand correctly the American Forest Resource Council does recognize that the felling of old growth trees upon which murrelets need for nesting is still a problem. And if it is indeed a problem in their view then I am left scratching my head as to why the lawsuit to remove the seabird’s protection was justified. Especially since we would not want to compound one problem (ocean food shortage) with another (limited nesting habitat). If this was valid logic I could have avoided a speeding ticket by telling the officer that I was not going as fast as the other cars in front of me.

Speaking about beliefs, I contend that we are witnessing a cold hard case of semantics in which pointing the finger at another industry/issue dismisses your contribution to the problem in an attempt to salvage profits.

*The American Forest Resource Council ’s website includes a member list of 70 logging and timber product companies.

Data: The Center for Responsive Politics (July 9,2009)

Original AP Article: Court dismisses challenge to seabird protection

With the decline of the economy an unlikely community is now facing starvation in the greater San Francisco Bay Area from Oakland, Marin County, San Mateo, to San Francisco.  If only these residents could pick up the art of panhandling from their gull-winged neighbors they would not be suffering from a bout of starvation.  Brandt’s cormorants and other sea birds have been washing up in the hundreds with signs of emaciation due to what experts believe is a lack of ocean available food.

“Because young rockfish were scarcer in the ocean during the warmer years of 2005, 2006 and 2007, species such as seabirds and humpback whales may have switched to anchovies, said biologist Bill Sydeman, director of the Farallon Institute of Advanced Ecosystem Research in Petaluma.”

I guess I could draw parallels to human influence on climate and oceans, such as overfishing, but instead of straining to generate some pithy comments just give the article a read.  It does a great job and even the quoted biologists points out how the environment is composed of interdependent communities.

And humans and their activities are not excluded by the way!

Hundreds of dead birds on Bay Area beaches (S.F. Chronicle, May 2, 2009)

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the Kittlitz’s murrelet as critically endangered species as a result of plummeting population numbers. According to the IUCN, “Threats include habitat loss and degradation (due to oceanic regime shifts and glacial retreat, possibly as a consequence of global warming); habitat degradation and repeated disturbance of birds due to recreational and commercial tour boat traffic; mortality in gillnet fisheries (documented in Prince William Sound; anecdotal accounts from elsewhere); mortality from petroleum contamination (7-15% of the Prince William Sound population died as result of the ExxonValdez oil spill).”

Attempts to afford protection were thwarted as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game rejected a March 5 petition by the Center for Biological Diversity to list the seabird under Alaska’s Endangered Species Act.  The reason cited for denying protection is a lack of data.

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/144287