Alaska - Murre die-off around Kachemak Bay in the thousands

[Pathfinder]

Murre die-off around Kachemak Bay in the thousands

By Daysha Eaton, KBBI - Homer | December 23, 2015

Die-offs of common murres have been taking place across Alaska since summer and the latest report is from Kachemak Bay, according to biologists with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge in Homer.
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There have been die-offs reported of the penguin-like sea birds in Cold Bay in July and in Kodiak in November. Slater says they?ve also had reports from Seward, Sitka and Prince William Sound. In November starving and dead murres turned up around the Mat-Su and Anchorage areas, farther inland than usual.

?It seems that then they would either be disoriented, which could be the result of ingesting a toxin or they could be very desperate in searching for food and just kept traveling up the inlet,? Slater said.

Seabird die-offs have been recorded all along the west coast of the U.S. in Washington, Oregon and California this year. Slater estimates that a large number of murres have died around Kachemak bay.

?Based on the duration of the time that we?ve had carcasses being reported to us, I would say, it?s into the thousands, certainly, throughout Kachemak Bay,? Slater said.
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Slater says murre carcasses were sent to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin where bird flu was ruled out. The dead birds seem to have starved, but Slater says there could be other factors.

?There are analysis that are pending. So it could be something that had to do with PSP, like paralytic shelfish poisoning, that was ingested at some point, but that is still unknown,? Slater said.
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http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/12/23/murre-die-off-around-kachemak-bay-in-the-thousands/

 

[sharon sanders]

[h=1]Dozens of starving seabirds grounded inland in Southcentral Alaska[/h]


Zaz Hollander December 30, 2015





snip
This most recent wave of murre strandings is part of a broader seabird die-off in coastal Alaska first reported in March and part of a widespread seabird die-off up and down the Pacific coast, possibly due to shortages of squid, krill and little fish the birds usually eat.




http://www.adn.com/article/20151230/dozens-starving-seabirds-grounded-inland-southcentral-alaska

 

[Pathfinder]

Warm ocean water triggered vast seabird die-off, experts say

By DAN JOLING , ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 10, 2017 - 12:30 PM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska ? A year after tens of thousands of common murres, an abundant North Pacific seabird, starved and washed ashore on beaches from California to Alaska, researchers have pinned the cause to unusually warm ocean temperatures that affected the tiny fish they eat.

Elevated temperatures in seawater affected wildlife in a pair of major marine ecosystems along the West Coast and Canada, said John Piatt, a research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey. Common murres are an indicator of the regions' health.

"If tens of thousands of them are dying, it's because there's no fish out there, anywhere, over a very large area," Piatt said.
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Deaths of common murres in Alaska likely were multiplied when starving birds in December 2015 were hit by vicious Gulf of Alaska winter storms, Piatt said.
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Common murres eat small forage fish: capelin, from the smelt family, and juvenile pollock, which as adults are caught for fast-food fish sandwiches. Both fish were largely absent when the National Marine Fisheries Service conducted surveys in summer 2015.

Common murres paid the price. Volunteers and federal researchers last year counted the carcasses of 46,000 dead murres in Alaska and another 6,000 in California, Oregon and Washington.
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http://m.startribune.com/researchers-warm-pacific-water-led-to-vast-seabird-die-off/413382213/