eastern seaboard. In 1833, even after the species had already endured more than three centuries of unrelenting slaughter, Audubon could still write of a summer visit to the Bird Rocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence in this wise: âAt length we discovered at a distance a white speck which the pilot assured us was the celebrated rock of our wishes. We thought it was still covered with snow several feet deep. As we approached I imagined that the atmosphere around us was filled with [snow] flakes but... I was assured there was nothing in sight but the gannets and their island home. I rubbed my eyes, took out my glasses, and saw the strange dimness in the air was caused by the innumerable birds... When we advanced the magnificent veil of floating gannets was easily seen, now shooting upward as if intent on reaching the sky, then descending as if to join the feathered masses below, and again diverging to either side and sweeping over the surface of the ocean.â
In Audubonâs time, the gannet colony on Bird Rocks is believed to have numbered over 100,000 individuals. When Europeans first appeared on this continent there were scores of such rookeries, many harbouring at least this many breeding birds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, only nine rookeries still survived in all of North America. By 1973, the six remaining colonies mustered a grand total of 32,700 pairs of adult gannetsâa decrease of about 20 per cent since as recently as 1966. By 1983, there had been a further decrease in the Gulf population of as much as 10 per cent, the result chiefly of toxic chemical poisoning in the fish that sustained the Bonaventure Island colony.
The small size and restricted distribution of the remaining North American gannet populations make the bird highly vulnerable to further, and perhaps fatal, decline due to toxic pollution, increased human fishing efforts, and accidental spills that must inevitably occur with the development of an offshore oil industry.
Two species of cormorant, the great and the double-crested, formerly bred not only along sea coasts from mid-Labrador southward but beside freshwater lakes and rivers, too. They were exceedingly abundant and remained so into the seventeenth century, probably because Europeans considered their rank and oily flesh unfit for food. However, once birds became staple bait for the cod fisheries, both species began to suffer colossal wastage. Crowded together in great colonies on bare rocks or in dense stands of trees, their young could be easily killed in enormous quantities and, because of their stringy musculature, the meat âhung togetherâ well on the cod hooks.
When bird bait ceased to be of much importance, there was no slackening in the devastation of the cormorants. By the beginning of the twentieth century many fish stocks had visibly declined, and fishermen concluded that cormorants were among the principal villains. This led to a deliberate attempt to wipe them out, chiefly by raids on their rookeries during which all eggs and chicks would be ground under foot and as many adults as possible shot down. A latter-day refinement is to spray the eggs with kerosene as they lie in the nests. This seals the microscopic pores in the shells and results in the asphyxiation of the embryos within. Since the adults are not aware that the eggs will never hatch, they often continue to brood them until too late in the season to attempt a second laying.
The campaign against the cormorants has been so successful that, by 1940, fewer than 3,000 great cormorants existed in Canadian waters. Having been granted a modicum of protection after World War II, the species might have been expected to recover, but such has not been the case, mainly because malevolent persecution by commercial and sport fishermen continues. In 1972, I investigated a raid on a major breeding colony of double-crested cormorants on the Magdalen Islands. Five men armed with .22 rifles had spent a
In Audubonâs time, the gannet colony on Bird Rocks is believed to have numbered over 100,000 individuals. When Europeans first appeared on this continent there were scores of such rookeries, many harbouring at least this many breeding birds. By the middle of the nineteenth century, only nine rookeries still survived in all of North America. By 1973, the six remaining colonies mustered a grand total of 32,700 pairs of adult gannetsâa decrease of about 20 per cent since as recently as 1966. By 1983, there had been a further decrease in the Gulf population of as much as 10 per cent, the result chiefly of toxic chemical poisoning in the fish that sustained the Bonaventure Island colony.
The small size and restricted distribution of the remaining North American gannet populations make the bird highly vulnerable to further, and perhaps fatal, decline due to toxic pollution, increased human fishing efforts, and accidental spills that must inevitably occur with the development of an offshore oil industry.
Two species of cormorant, the great and the double-crested, formerly bred not only along sea coasts from mid-Labrador southward but beside freshwater lakes and rivers, too. They were exceedingly abundant and remained so into the seventeenth century, probably because Europeans considered their rank and oily flesh unfit for food. However, once birds became staple bait for the cod fisheries, both species began to suffer colossal wastage. Crowded together in great colonies on bare rocks or in dense stands of trees, their young could be easily killed in enormous quantities and, because of their stringy musculature, the meat âhung togetherâ well on the cod hooks.
When bird bait ceased to be of much importance, there was no slackening in the devastation of the cormorants. By the beginning of the twentieth century many fish stocks had visibly declined, and fishermen concluded that cormorants were among the principal villains. This led to a deliberate attempt to wipe them out, chiefly by raids on their rookeries during which all eggs and chicks would be ground under foot and as many adults as possible shot down. A latter-day refinement is to spray the eggs with kerosene as they lie in the nests. This seals the microscopic pores in the shells and results in the asphyxiation of the embryos within. Since the adults are not aware that the eggs will never hatch, they often continue to brood them until too late in the season to attempt a second laying.
The campaign against the cormorants has been so successful that, by 1940, fewer than 3,000 great cormorants existed in Canadian waters. Having been granted a modicum of protection after World War II, the species might have been expected to recover, but such has not been the case, mainly because malevolent persecution by commercial and sport fishermen continues. In 1972, I investigated a raid on a major breeding colony of double-crested cormorants on the Magdalen Islands. Five men armed with .22 rifles had spent a
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