[Birdbycatch] artificial lighting effects on seabirds
Liz Mitchell
emitch@efn.org
Fri, 24 May 2002 07:56:27 -0700
--=====================_1848365==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Hello,
Recently, several messages were posted on the Seabird-L listserver in
response to the information request below regarding impacts of artificial
lighting on seabirds. Since some of this involves fishing vessel lights,
I've included the responses below.
Liz Mitchell, SBP
____________________________________________________________________________
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Organization: University of Cape Town
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 17:00:38 +0200
Subject: [SEABIRD] Impacts of artifical lighting on seabirds
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54)
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
Dear Colleagues:
Many marine ornithologists have seen firsthand the negative impact
of artificial lighting on seabirds. For example, I have been
involved in studies on the impact of light pollution on the Newells
Shearwater of Kauai. If you have seen this yourself or you are
aware of any references, no matter how obscure, I would welcome
hearing from you. The Urban Wildlands Group at UCLA has asked me to
review the impact of artificial lights on seabirds. It will be a
broad treatment and should cover the impact of at least the
following light sources on seabirds:
-Fishing boat lights
-Fishing gear lights (interaction with light
sticks, etc.)
-Lighthouses and light ships
-Cruise ship lights
-Offshore oil/gas rigs
-Offshore wind generators
-Urban/coastal lights (hotel, sports complexes,
bridges, etc.)
If you have any information on the impact of these light
sources (or any other sources I may have omitted) on
seabirds, I would appreciate you writing and telling
me. Because much of the information on this topic is
anecdotal I would very much like to have those personal
communications along with any referenced work you may be
aware of. I will of course acknowledge any
contributions I receive in my report to UCLA. Finally,
any observations or references to seabirds interacting
with bioluminescence (published or anecdotal) would be
greatly appreciated as well.
Thank you very kindly,
Richard Podolsky
Richard Podolsky, Ph.D.
279 Melvin Heights Road
Camden, ME 04843
Phone: 207-236-7020
mailto:podolsky@att.net
My Pages: http://www.richardpodolsky.com
Software: http://209.1.136.200/1997/03/reviews/3286.html
Biodiversity Book: http://www3.undp.org/biod/bio.html
___________________________________________________
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Organization: University of Cape Town
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 09:38:42 +0200
Subject: [SEABIRD] (Fwd) Light and seabirds
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54)
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: "Julio Valeiras" <julio.valeiras@ma.ieo.es>
To: <podolsky@att.net>
Cc: <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Subject: Light and seabirds
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 08:49:42 +0200
Dear Colleagues:
Regarding impact of artificial lighting on seabirds in Spanish waters I
have recorded following events:
- European storm petrels attracted by fishing boat lights during the night:
2 birds (1999) on board trawlers in northwest Spanish waters (Atlantic).
- Cory's shearwaters attracted by artificial lights in Canary Islands:
every year hundreds of juveniles are collected by volunteers in cities and
roads.
- Several species including mainly seagulls (Yellow leddged seagulls) used
to follow fishing ships during the night, mainly to feed on discards but
also during navigation trips.
- Audouin gulls often are attracted by lightboats used to purseseinig
fishing (small pelagics fish: sardine, anchovy) in south Mediterranean
Spanish coasts. They exploit (nocturnal feeding) the avail
Some other events that I have seen are small paseriform birds that
temporally rest on the fishing boats. An anecdotal record was a Alca torda
collected in the center of a big city at Galicia (Nortwes
I hope that this little information will be useful for you.
Regards,
Julio Valeiras
IEO (Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia)
Centro Oceanografico de Malaga
Puerto Pesquero, s/n. Apdo.285
29640 Fuengirola. Malaga-Spain
Tel: +34 952476955
Fax: +34 952463808
Email: julio.valeiras@ma.ieo.es
____________________________________
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Organization: University of Cape Town
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 12:37:56 +0200
Subject: [SEABIRD] Impacts of artifical lighting on seabirds
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54)
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: kees.camphuysen@wxs.nl
To: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 11:22:46 +0200
Subject: Re: [SEABIRD] Impacts of artifical lighting on seabirds
Priority: normal
John, perhaps you could post this reply on the seabird list or to the
one who requested information about light
Some references (including the requested more
obscure ones) about light attractions that may be
of interest.
Verheijen F.J. 1981. Bird kills at tall lighted
structures in the USA in the period 1935-1983 and
kills at a Dutch lighthouse in the period 1924-
1928 show similar lunar periodicity. Ardea 69:
199-203.
Woodhead P.M.J. 1966. The behaviour of fish in
relation to light in the sea. Ocean. Mar. Biol. 4:
337-403.
Klomp N.I. & Furness R.W. 1992. Patterns of chick
feeding in Cory's Shearwaters and the associations
with ambient light. Colonial Waterbirds 15(1): 95-
102.
Herbert A.D. 1970. Spatial disorientation in
birds. Wilson Bulletin 82(4): 400-419.
Dobben, W.H. van & Morzer Bruyns, M.F. 1939. Zug
nach Alter und Geschlecht an niederlandischen
Leuchtturmen.. Ardea 28(2-4): 61-79.
Brouwer G.A. 1929. Overzicht van de vogels
aangevlogen tegen den vuurtoren "Het Westhoofd" op
Goeree gedurende de jaren 1924 t/m 1928. Ardea
18(3): 140-161.
Moerzer Bruyns M.F. 1939. Waarnemingen op het
lichtschip "Terschellingerbank" in October 1937.
Ardea 28(1): 27-38.
Rodhouse P.G., Elvidge C.D. & Trathan P.N. 2000.
Remote Sensing of the Global Light-Fishing Fleet:
An Analysis of Interactions with Oceanography,
other Fisheries and Predators. Adv. Mar. Biol. 39:
262-317.
Sincerely
Kees Camphuysen
___________________________________
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Organization: University of Cape Town
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 14:31:01 +0200
Subject: [SEABIRD] (Fwd) seabird light attraction
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54)
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 14:59:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: paul oconnor <pablo_oconnor@yahoo.com>
Subject: seabird light attraction
To: podolsky@att.net
Cc: jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za
Hi everyone,
I can share some observations from the Samoa
archipelago in the south pacific:
Individual Tahiti petrels (Pterodroma rostrata) and
Christmas shearwaters (Puffinus nativitatis) are
occasionally found grounded along the runway of Pago
Pago airport. The airport is located along a
relatively large portion of the south coast of Tutuila
Island (75 sq km), on the edge of the main human
settlements on the island (pop. 60,000). During a
year and a half I was aware of two live petrel
groundings (described as Tahiti petrel) delivered to
the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resoures (DMWR)
office from along the runway.
I was curious that groundings were not reported from
the dock area in Fagotogo on Pago Pago harbour where
six tall light towers illuminate night operations. I
found these lights bright enough to write my field
notes by when making counts in Procellarid colonies on
the sheer slopes of Rainmaker Mountain ~2 km across
the harbour. Perhaps the physical locations of the
lights play a role, i.e. whether they are in the
direct path of the birds. The airport is directly
between suspected colonies on Tau mountain and nearby
offshore feeding areas, whereas birds on Rainmaker
appear to travel to and from the ocean across an
adjacent pass to the north shore in a direction
opposite from the harbour. Or perhaps folks on the
docks don't bother with grounding incidents.
In Procellarid colonies on the summit of Lata mountain
on high and remote Ta'u island (120 km east of
Tutuila), petrels and shearwaters were easily
attracted and seemingly disoriented by the light of a
single torch beam.
I hope this anecdotal information can aid your
analyses.
Talofa,
Paul
Paul O'Connor
2104-555 Jervis Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V6E 4N1
604.609.0425
<pablo_oconnor@yahoo.com>
________________________________
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Organization: University of Cape Town
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 14:39:01 ?
Subject: [SEABIRD] sMore on seabirds and lights
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54)
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za
"Night-bird attacks" are not uncommon at the southern islands of
Gough and Marion, normally on misty, moonless nights in summer.
Burrowing petrels coming ashore to breed are dazzled by lights and
can be killed by flying into buildings or are siezed and killed by
Subantarctic Skuas.
This is why there are strict protocols in their respective management
plans for keeping black-out blinds drawn on all windows from sunset
all-year round at the meterological bases on both islands. Outside
lights are no longer used, so we all carry small torches to walk the
catwalks between the various buildings at night.
Curtains must be drawn on our supply and research vessels when in
the vicinity of the islands at night and ship's lights are kept to
those required for navigation and for nautical regulations.
These procedures have greatly reduced mortality of the smaller
petrels.
John Cooper
Chief Research Officer
Avian Demography Unit
Department of Statistical Sciences
University of Cape Town
Rondebosch 7701
South Africa
jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za
www.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu
Phone: 21-650-3426
Fax: 21-650-3434
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Elizabeth Mitchell
P.O. Box 933
Eugene, Oregon 97440
U.S.A.
Tel: 541/344-5503
E-mail: emitch@efn.org
--=====================_1848365==_.ALT
Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
<html>
Hello,<br>
<br>
Recently, several messages were posted on the Seabird-L listserver in
response to the information request below regarding impacts of artificial
lighting on seabirds. Since some of this involves fishing vessel lights,
I've included the responses below. <br>
<br>
Liz Mitchell, SBP<br>
____________________________________________________________________________<br>
<br>
<br>
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za> <br>
Organization: University of Cape Town <br>
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2002 17:00:38 +0200 <br>
Subject: [SEABIRD] Impacts of artifical lighting on seabirds <br>
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54) <br>
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
<br>
Dear Colleagues:<br>
<br>
Many marine ornithologists have seen firsthand the negative impact <br>
of artificial lighting on seabirds. For example, I have been <br>
involved in studies on the impact of light pollution on the Newells
<br>
Shearwater of Kauai. If you have seen this yourself or you are <br>
aware of any references, no matter how obscure, I would welcome <br>
hearing from you. The Urban Wildlands Group at UCLA has asked me to
<br>
review the impact of artificial lights on seabirds. It will be a <br>
broad treatment and should cover the impact of at least the <br>
following light sources on seabirds:<br>
<br>
-Fishing boat lights<br>
<br>
-Fishing gear lights (interaction with light <br>
sticks, etc.)<br>
<br>
-Lighthouses and light ships<br>
<br>
-Cruise ship lights<br>
<br>
-Offshore oil/gas rigs<br>
<br>
-Offshore wind generators<br>
<br>
-Urban/coastal lights (hotel, sports complexes, <br>
bridges, etc.)<br>
<br>
If you have any information on the impact of these light <br>
sources (or any other sources I may have omitted) on <br>
seabirds, I would appreciate you writing and telling <br>
me. Because much of the information on this topic is <br>
anecdotal I would very much like to have those personal <br>
communications along with any referenced work you may be <br>
aware of. I will of course acknowledge any <br>
contributions I receive in my report to UCLA. Finally, <br>
any observations or references to seabirds interacting <br>
with bioluminescence (published or anecdotal) would be <br>
greatly appreciated as well.<br>
<br>
Thank you very kindly,<br>
<br>
Richard Podolsky <br>
<br>
Richard Podolsky, Ph.D. <br>
279 Melvin Heights Road <br>
Camden, ME 04843 <br>
Phone: 207-236-7020 <br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u><a href="mailto:podolsky@att.net" eudora="autourl">mailto:podolsky@att.net</a></u></font>
<br>
My Pages: <a href="http://www.richardpodolsky.com/" eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF"><u>http://www.richardpodolsky.</a><a href="http://www.richardpodolsky.com/" eudora="autourl">com</a></u></font> <br>
Software: <a href="http://209.1.136.200/1997/03/reviews/3286.html" eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF"><u>http://209.1.136.200/1997/03/reviews/3286.</a><a href="http://209.1.136.200/1997/03/reviews/3286.html" eudora="autourl">html</a></u></font> <br>
Biodiversity Book: <a href="http://www3.undp.org/biod/bio.html" eudora="autourl"><font color="#0000FF"><u>http://www3.undp.org/biod/bio.</a><a href="http://www3.undp.org/biod/bio.html" eudora="autourl">html</a></u></font> <br>
___________________________________________________<br>
<br>
<br>
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za> <br>
Organization: University of Cape Town <br>
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 09:38:42 +0200 <br>
Subject: [SEABIRD] (Fwd) Light and seabirds <br>
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54) <br>
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
<br>
------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- <br>
From: "Julio Valeiras" <julio.valeiras@ma.ieo.es> <br>
To: <podolsky@att.net> <br>
Cc: <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za> <br>
Subject: Light and seabirds <br>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 08:49:42 +0200<br>
<br>
Dear Colleagues:<br>
<br>
Regarding impact of artificial lighting on seabirds in Spanish waters I have recorded following events:<br>
<br>
- European storm petrels attracted by fishing boat lights during the night: 2 birds (1999) on board trawlers in northwest Spanish waters (Atlantic). <br>
<br>
- Cory's shearwaters attracted by artificial lights in Canary Islands: every year hundreds of juveniles are collected by volunteers in cities and roads.<br>
<br>
- Several species including mainly seagulls (Yellow leddged seagulls) used to follow fishing ships during the night, mainly to feed on discards but also during navigation trips.<br>
<br>
- Audouin gulls often are attracted by lightboats used to purseseinig fishing (small pelagics fish: sardine, anchovy) in south Mediterranean Spanish coasts. They exploit (nocturnal feeding) the avail <br>
<br>
Some other events that I have seen are small paseriform birds that temporally rest on the fishing boats. An anecdotal record was a Alca torda collected in the center of a big city at Galicia (Nortwes<br>
<br>
I hope that this little information will be useful for you.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
<br>
Julio Valeiras <br>
IEO (Instituto Espanol de Oceanografia) <br>
Centro Oceanografico de Malaga <br>
Puerto Pesquero, s/n. Apdo.285 <br>
29640 Fuengirola. Malaga-Spain <br>
Tel: +34 952476955 <br>
Fax: +34 952463808 <br>
Email: julio.valeiras@ma.ieo.es<br>
<br>
____________________________________<br>
<br>
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za> <br>
Organization: University of Cape Town <br>
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 12:37:56 +0200 <br>
Subject: [SEABIRD] Impacts of artifical lighting on seabirds <br>
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54) <br>
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
<br>
------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- <br>
From: kees.camphuysen@wxs.nl <br>
To: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za> <br>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 11:22:46 +0200 <br>
Subject: Re: [SEABIRD] Impacts of artifical lighting on seabirds <br>
Priority: normal<br>
<br>
John, perhaps you could post this reply on the seabird list or to the <br>
one who requested information about light<br>
Some references (including the requested more <br>
obscure ones) about light attractions that may be <br>
of interest.<br>
<br>
Verheijen F.J. 1981. Bird kills at tall lighted <br>
structures in the USA in the period 1935-1983 and <br>
kills at a Dutch lighthouse in the period 1924- <br>
1928 show similar lunar periodicity. Ardea 69: <br>
199-203.<br>
<br>
Woodhead P.M.J. 1966. The behaviour of fish in <br>
relation to light in the sea. Ocean. Mar. Biol. 4: <br>
337-403.<br>
<br>
Klomp N.I. & Furness R.W. 1992. Patterns of chick <br>
feeding in Cory's Shearwaters and the associations <br>
with ambient light. Colonial Waterbirds 15(1): 95- <br>
102.<br>
<br>
Herbert A.D. 1970. Spatial disorientation in <br>
birds. Wilson Bulletin 82(4): 400-419.<br>
Dobben, W.H. van & Morzer Bruyns, M.F. 1939. Zug <br>
nach Alter und Geschlecht an niederlandischen <br>
Leuchtturmen.. Ardea 28(2-4): 61-79.<br>
<br>
Brouwer G.A. 1929. Overzicht van de vogels <br>
aangevlogen tegen den vuurtoren "Het Westhoofd" op <br>
Goeree gedurende de jaren 1924 t/m 1928. Ardea <br>
18(3): 140-161.<br>
<br>
Moerzer Bruyns M.F. 1939. Waarnemingen op het <br>
lichtschip "Terschellingerbank" in October 1937. <br>
Ardea 28(1): 27-38.<br>
<br>
Rodhouse P.G., Elvidge C.D. & Trathan P.N. 2000. <br>
Remote Sensing of the Global Light-Fishing Fleet: <br>
An Analysis of Interactions with Oceanography, <br>
other Fisheries and Predators. Adv. Mar. Biol. 39: <br>
262-317.<br>
<br>
Sincerely<br>
<br>
Kees Camphuysen<br>
<br>
___________________________________<br>
<br>
<br>
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za> <br>
Organization: University of Cape Town <br>
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 14:31:01 +0200 <br>
Subject: [SEABIRD] (Fwd) seabird light attraction <br>
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54) <br>
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
<br>
------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- <br>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2002 14:59:53 -0400 (EDT) <br>
From: paul oconnor <pablo_oconnor@yahoo.com> <br>
Subject: seabird light attraction <br>
To: podolsky@att.net <br>
Cc: jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za<br>
<br>
Hi everyone,<br>
<br>
I can share some observations from the Samoa <br>
archipelago in the south pacific:<br>
<br>
Individual Tahiti petrels (Pterodroma rostrata) and <br>
Christmas shearwaters (Puffinus nativitatis) are <br>
occasionally found grounded along the runway of Pago <br>
Pago airport. The airport is located along a <br>
relatively large portion of the south coast of Tutuila <br>
Island (75 sq km), on the edge of the main human <br>
settlements on the island (pop. 60,000). During a <br>
year and a half I was aware of two live petrel <br>
groundings (described as Tahiti petrel) delivered to <br>
the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resoures (DMWR) <br>
office from along the runway. <br>
<br>
I was curious that groundings were not reported from <br>
the dock area in Fagotogo on Pago Pago harbour where <br>
six tall light towers illuminate night operations. I <br>
found these lights bright enough to write my field <br>
notes by when making counts in Procellarid colonies on <br>
the sheer slopes of Rainmaker Mountain ~2 km across <br>
the harbour. Perhaps the physical locations of the <br>
lights play a role, i.e. whether they are in the <br>
direct path of the birds. The airport is directly <br>
between suspected colonies on Tau mountain and nearby <br>
offshore feeding areas, whereas birds on Rainmaker <br>
appear to travel to and from the ocean across an <br>
adjacent pass to the north shore in a direction <br>
opposite from the harbour. Or perhaps folks on the <br>
docks don't bother with grounding incidents. <br>
<br>
In Procellarid colonies on the summit of Lata mountain <br>
on high and remote Ta'u island (120 km east of <br>
Tutuila), petrels and shearwaters were easily <br>
attracted and seemingly disoriented by the light of a <br>
single torch beam.<br>
<br>
I hope this anecdotal information can aid your <br>
analyses. <br>
<br>
Talofa, <br>
<br>
Paul <br>
<br>
Paul O'Connor <br>
2104-555 Jervis Street <br>
Vancouver, British Columbia <br>
Canada V6E 4N1 <br>
604.609.0425 <br>
<pablo_oconnor@yahoo.com><br>
<br>
________________________________<br>
<br>
From: "John Cooper" <jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za> <br>
Organization: University of Cape Town <br>
To: seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 14:39:01 ? <br>
Subject: [SEABIRD] sMore on seabirds and lights <br>
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v2.54) <br>
Sender: owner-seabird@groa.uct.ac.za <br>
<br>
"Night-bird attacks" are not uncommon at the southern islands of <br>
Gough and Marion, normally on misty, moonless nights in summer. <br>
Burrowing petrels coming ashore to breed are dazzled by lights and <br>
can be killed by flying into buildings or are siezed and killed by <br>
Subantarctic Skuas.<br>
<br>
This is why there are strict protocols in their respective management <br>
plans for keeping black-out blinds drawn on all windows from sunset <br>
all-year round at the meterological bases on both islands. Outside <br>
lights are no longer used, so we all carry small torches to walk the <br>
catwalks between the various buildings at night.<br>
<br>
Curtains must be drawn on our supply and research vessels when in <br>
the vicinity of the islands at night and ship's lights are kept to <br>
those required for navigation and for nautical regulations.<br>
<br>
These procedures have greatly reduced mortality of the smaller <br>
petrels.<br>
<br>
John Cooper<br>
Chief Research Officer <br>
Avian Demography Unit <br>
Department of Statistical Sciences <br>
University of Cape Town <br>
Rondebosch 7701 <br>
South Africa<br>
jcooper@botzoo.uct.ac.za <br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u><a href="http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu" eudora="autourl">www.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/</a><a href="http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu" eudora="autourl">adu</a></u></font> <br>
Phone: 21-650-3426 <br>
Fax: 21-650-3434 <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<br>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Elizabeth Mitchell<br>
P.O. Box 933<br>
Eugene, Oregon 97440<br>
U.S.A.<br>
Tel: 541/344-5503<br>
E-mail: emitch@efn.org<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
</html>
--=====================_1848365==_.ALT--