suffered heavy casualties from oil in both the New and Old Worlds (Table 7). 

 Cramp et al. (1977) considered the Oldsquaw unusually susceptible to oil pollu- 

 tion and suggested that the Old World population may have greatly declined from 

 this source of mortality. Perry et al. (1979) estimated that a total of more 

 than 15,000 Oldsquaws died following two oil spills in the Chesapeake Bay in 

 1976 and 1978. The Oldsquaw was the principal victim of the 1978 spill, and in 

 1976 more Oldsquaws died than any other species except the Horned Grebe. 



We consider the Oldsquaw one of the species most susceptible to oiling of 

 any species that occurs in southeastern waters. Individual Oldsquaws would 

 probably be affected by oil in the event of oil discharges or spills off the 

 southeastern coasts of the United States. However, only a fraction of one per- 

 cent of the North American population, let alone of the world population, win- 

 ters there. Consequently, we believe that oil spills and other effects of 

 petroleum development would have essentially no effect on the overall Oldsquaw 

 population. 



Table 7. Number of dead birds and number and percentage of dead Oldsquaws 

 found after major oiling incidents. 



Area 



Dates 



Number Number 

 of oiled of dead 

 dead Old- 

 birds squaws 



Percent- 

 age of 

 Oldsquaws 



Source 



3.26 Joensen 1972a 



4.00 Joensen 1972a 



0.73 Joensen 1972a 



66.09 Joensen 1972a 



0.09 Greenwood and 



Keddie 1968 



1.47 Joensen 1972b 



0.15 Joensen 1972b 



0.32 Greenwood et 



al. 1971 



345 



