PURPOSE OF REPORT 



The purpose of this report is to summarize the status of waterfowl in the 

 southeastern United States and explore the potential effects on these species 

 of the development of petroleum resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). 

 This entailed a review of available information in order to: 



1) determine where and when waterfowl occur in marine areas to be developed for 

 oil and gas production; 



2) ascertain which species would be most at risk from oil and the development 

 of oil resources; 



3) evaluate the importance of populations in the southeastern United States 

 in relation to the entire distribution and abundance of the species; 



4) summarize information on the life history of species most likely to be ad- 

 versely affected by development of oil resources. 



This material is presented in a form that enables the Bureau of Land Man- 

 agement (BLM) to identify aspects of OCS development that might threaten popu- 

 lations of marine birds. It provides information that will aid managers in 

 making decisions that minimize damage to these populations during the develop- 

 ment of energy resources. 



A corollary objective is to recommend topics for future research in areas 

 for which information is particularly scarce. 



STUDY AREA 



The study area encompasses the coastal and offshore waters of the south- 

 eastern United States, from the northern border of North Carolina to the Mexican 

 border. A wide variety of coastal habitats occurs within this area: sandy bar- 

 rier islands; fresh, salt, and brackish marshes; open beach; coastal bays; 

 dredge spoil islands; mud-flats; and mangrove islands. The dominant habitats 

 of sections of the coastline will be discussed below. 



HABITATS 



North Carolina is dominated by a series of fringing barrier beaches behind 

 which lie large estuaries with extensive areas of shallow water and salt marsh. 

 These fringing islands (the Outer Banks) are farther (30-50 km or 20-30 mi) 

 from the mainland than are such islands along other areas of the Atlantic coast 

 (Warinner et al. 1976). Extensive stands of salt marsh with deep tidal channels 

 are found south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, through South Carolina and 

 Georgia. Almost three-quarters of the salt marsh acreage along the Atlantic 

 seaboard is found in these three states. The largest areas of salt marsh on the 

 Atlantic coast are in Georgia, which has 193,000 ha (477,000 ac) , North Carolina 



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