SEABIRDS OF ALASKA, BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND WASHINGTON 



89 



A possible reason for this is lack of suitable 

 nesting areas. In Washington, the two largest 

 colonies are at Protection Island in the Strait 

 of Juan de Fuca and Destruction Island on 

 the outer coast. Smaller numbers exist on 

 other coastal islands and on Smith Island in 

 the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Smith Island 

 colony is an interesting one since it appears 

 that early human disturbance in the late 19th 

 or early 20th century eliminated the species 

 from the island. In their discussion of Smith 

 Island, Jewett et al. (1953) made no mention 

 of auklets, only of puffins and guillemots. 

 Couch (1929) did not record the species in 

 1925. The colony now numbers about 600 

 pairs. 



Horned Puffin (Fratercula corniculata) 



Although the horned puffin is one of the 

 most abundant seabirds in other parts of 

 Alaska, it is much less abundant in the south- 

 eastern portion. In addition to the informa- 

 tion discussed by Sealy (1973), it now appears 

 that this species may breed as far south as 

 Triangle Island, British Columbia (K. Ver- 

 meer, personal communication; D. A. Manu- 

 wal, personal observation). Here, as on For- 

 rester Island, it is greatly outnumbered by 

 the tufted puffin. No data are available on the 

 breeding or status of this species in the study 

 area. 



Tufted Puffin (Lunda cirrhata) 



The tufted puffin is found breeding on 

 scattered islands throughout the region. The 

 largest known colonies are on Forrester Is- 

 land, Alaska, Triangle Island, British Colum- 

 bia, and Carroll Island, Washington. It is 

 notably absent from most of the gulf and San 

 Juan Islands. Even though puffins have ap- 

 parently never been numerous in the San 

 Juan Islands, their population has noticeably 

 declined during the past 35 years. For 

 example, Jewett et al. (1953) reported a 

 colony of 50 pairs on Bare Island in 1937, but 

 in 1973 only 2 pairs were counted (D. A. 

 Manuwal, unpublished data). Likewise, in 

 1915 there were more than 250 pairs on Smith 

 Island, but by 1916 there were only 75 pairs 

 (Jewett et al. 1953). The decline is attributed 

 to rapid erosion of the glacial-deposit cliffs. 

 There are no puffins on Smith Island today, 



and the largest colony in the Puget Sound 

 area is the 35 pairs on Protection Island 

 (D. A. Manuwal, unpublished data). 



Discussion 



The total minimum estimate of the breeding 

 seabird populations of British Columbia and 

 Washington is 216,500 pairs (Table 10). No 

 comprehensive estimates are available for 

 breeding seabirds of southeastern Alaska. It 

 is likely, however, that the number of breed- 

 ing seabirds in the Alexander Archipelago 

 may be equal to (or exceed) the populations of 

 both British Columbia and Washington. Data 

 are desperately needed from that area. Of the 

 total seabird population in the study area 

 (Table 10) 43% reside in northern British 

 Columbia. The Washington State population 

 represents 28% of the total. Fork-tailed 

 storm-petrels comprise almost 25% of all the 

 breeding seabirds in the area under considera- 

 tion. The Cassin's auklet is the next most 

 numerous species (18% of the total). 



It is apparent that current data are, for the 

 most part, inadequate for assessing anything 

 but catastrophic changes in seabird breeding 

 colonies. This inadequacy is due to inadequate 

 censusing because of excessive reliance upon 

 aerial surveys; in the past, this has often been 

 a result of insufficient funding. 



Of the several threats facing seabird popu- 

 lations, none may be as important as oil pollu- 

 tion. A general review of this subject is pre- 

 sented elsewhere by Vermeer and Vermeer 

 (1975). It is apparent from this review that 

 the most vulnerable species are those that 

 dive beneath the sea surface, including all the 

 alcids and cormorants breeding along the 

 coast that are discussed in this paper. This 

 group makes up almost 60% of all the breed- 

 ing seabirds in this area. Unfortunately, our 

 knowledge of several of these species is scanty 

 and our current census techniques are unsuit- 

 able for most of these birds. 



Studies of the changes in seabird numbers 

 have been made in other oceans. For example, 

 in Great Britain (Bourne 1972a, 19726; Harris 

 1970), eastern Canada (Nettleship 1973), and 

 the Atlantic coast of the United States (Kad- 

 lec and Drury 1968), two major trends seem 

 apparent. First, there is an overall decline in 



