of the best devices for trial in aquatic situations difficult. Thus, despite 

 the attention that bird-deterrent methods have received over the years, the 

 answers to the problem of deterring birds from oil spill areas are still 

 largely undefined, and efforts will have to be made to develop and refine 

 the necessary techniques. 



This paper, therefore, does not discuss proven methods for deterring 

 birds from oil spill areas. Instead, four aspects that should assist or be 

 considered in the development of deterrent methods are discussed. These are: 



1. Approaches that can be taken in developing deterrent 

 techniques. 



2. Factors that should be considered when selecting and 

 evaluating devices. 



3. Devices or methods that could be useful in deterring 

 birds from oil spill areas. 



4. Devices or methods that could be tried in different types 

 of areas. 



APPROACHES TO DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS 



There ar? two approaches that can be taken to develop methods for deterring 

 birds from oil spill areas: 



1. There is the trial-and-error approach used only during 

 actual spills. A device or method would be tried during a 

 spill and if it did not work, another would be tried, and 

 another, etc., until a successful one was found. The most 

 efficient deployment of this device would also be determined 

 on a trial-and-error basis during spills. The results of 

 such experiments tend to be documented (often poorly) in 

 qualitative rather than quantitative terms, and methods that 

 failed are often not reported. Unless this approach is 

 coordinated or monitored by a central group of people, there 

 will probably be unnecessary trials of techniques already 

 shown to be ineffective. This approach has often been used 

 in the past, but it should not be pursued except perhaps as 



a desperation attempt to save large numbers of birds threatened 

 by an oil spill . 



2. The second approach is systematic and experimental in nature. 

 Rigorous experimental studies would be conducted before a 

 spill in order to determine the deterrent value of several 

 devices that appear to be potentially useful. Adequate 

 controls and statistical analyses of data are required to 

 evaluate the value of each device objectively. Those devices 

 or methods that prove to be useful deterrents could be further 

 refined in actual oil spill situations. 



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