Beached Marine Mammal and Seabird Carcass Monitoring: 2008 Annual Report
Bensen K. 2009. Beached Marine Mammal and Seabird Carcass Monitoring: 2008 Annual Report. Redwood National and State Parks. Orick, CA
Author's introduction:Beached carcass monitoring surveys are conducted 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 determine whether the mortalities resulted from natural or anthropogenic events. Documenting natural mortalities can help biologists monitor events such as the expected deaths of post-fledging and adult breeding seabirds, fatal injuries from predation and other natural hazards and diseases in a population. Also, population effects of natural climatic events (e.g. El Nino) can be monitored more effectively. The north coast of California receives traffic from container vessels and tug pulled barges carrying petroleum products, and while these ships are not visible from the coastline, they are a constant presence. Consequently, the cumulative impact of any small, unpublicized leaks, spills or accidents could contribute directly to seabird and marine mammal mortality along the RNSP coastline. The presence of petroleum products on carcasses can provide information on “background” levels of these contaminants in the marine environment. In addition, baseline data on the presence (or absence) of petroleum products on wildlife can be valuable for comparison when a large scale spill does occur. Entanglement in fishing gear and human trash, such as plastic bags and six-pack rings, has been documented as a cause of death for some marine fauna, and is also monitored for frequency of occurrence within RNSP.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Bensen, Keith
- Date of Issue
- 2009-01-06
- Publisher
- Redwood National and State Parks
- Units
- REDW
- Keywords
- adult, Anthropogenic, barge, Breeding, California, cause of death, climatic events, Coastline, container vessels, Contaminants, Disease, El Nino, entanglement, Environment, Fishing gear, leaks, Marine, Marine Fauna, Mortality, Natural, petroleum products, plastic bag, post fledging, Predation, Redwood National and State Parks, RNSP, six-pack ring, Survey, trash, trend data, tug, wildlfe