Surveys for Beached Marine Mammal and Seabird Carcasses: Annual Progress Report 2005
Holm G. 2005. Surveys for Beached Marine Mammal and Seabird Carcasses: Annual Progress Report 2005. Redwood National and State Parks
Excerpts: "Beached carcass surveys are performed to ascertain baseline information about seabird and marine mammal mortality that occurs along portions of the Redwood National and State Parks (RNSP) coastline. The main objectives are to gather trend data on mortalities, and dermine whether the mortalities resulted from natural or anthropogenic events. Documenting natural mortalities can help biologists monitor events such as the expected deaths of post-fledgling and adult breeding seabirds, fatal injuries from predation and other natural hazards, and diseases in a population. Also, population effects of natural events (e.g. El Nino) can be monitored more effectively." The surveys include collecting data about petroleum products on carcasses, entanglement in fishing gear, and entanglement in human trash (plastic bags and six-pack rings). Surveys were not conducted in the winter of 2005 due to the presence of snowy plovers and winter storm activity. "An effort was made to survey all RNSP beaches once per month during March through October 2005. However, North Gold Bluffs was not surveyed in April due to plover monitoring. There was a 54% increase in the total number of carcasses detected during March through October 2005, when compared to 2004 totals, and a 101% increase when compared with the previous 5 years average." Carcasses included 1 dead whale, 8 dead seals and sea lions, and 4 dead harbor porpoises. Includes information on methods; species of birds, marine mammals, and other carcasses detected; conclusions; future survey recommendations; and references. Includes graphs of survey effort 2001-05; total number of carcasses detected 2001-05; number of cracasses detected per hour of survey effort 2001-05; table of numbers of species/groups of carcasses. Appendices include maps of beach stretches surveyed, beach carcass survey protocol, and a blank data form.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Holm, Greg
- Date of Issue
- 2005-12-05
- Publisher
- Redwood National and State Parks
- Units
- REDW
- Keywords
- Abundance (Biodiversity), Animal Studies, beach carcass survey, Beach Survey, Bird, Death, Distribution (Biodiversity), Human Impact, Mammal, Marine Birds, Marine Mammals, Monitoring, Mortality, Oil, Presence (Biodiversity), Progress Report, Research, Seabirds, Survey, Taxa Links To References, Whale, Wildlife