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D. E. MC KNIGHT AND C. E. KNODER 



of oil biodegradation under arctic conditions 

 would combine to diffuse an oil spill over the 

 sea and eventually deposit oil on the ice sur- 

 face. This, in turn, would lower the natural al- 

 bedo over a large area and melt the ice in the 

 area of the spill. This pack ice supports an 

 under-ice community which is an important 

 food source for phalaropes, jaegers, gulls, 

 terns, and other seabirds (Watson and Divoky 

 1972). 



As indicated by Nelson-Smith (1972) many 

 investigators have stated that a spot of oil 

 "no bigger than a dollar" on the breast of a 

 bird is enough to bring about death by expo- 

 sure, at least in the colder seas. It is easy to 

 see the relative vulnerability of already 

 stressed birds in arctic areas to a spill, and be- 

 cause of the concentration of these birds in 

 available open-water areas, possibilities for 

 catastrophic mortalities are evident. 



Such disasters already have occurred in 

 north Pacific waters. Dickason (1970) re- 

 ported an incident in which diesel oil reaching 

 the Alaska coast, probably from the sinking 

 of two Japanese freighters some distance off- 

 shore, affected an estimated 90,000 murres. 

 J. G. King, Jr. (cited in Bartonek et al. 1971) 

 estimated that at least 100,000 birds, mostly 

 alcids and waterfowl, died in the vicinity of 

 Kodiak Island during winter 1970 as a result 

 of oil pollution (probably ballast dumped by 

 tankers entering Cook Inlet). It must not be 

 forgotten that chronic pollution in similar 

 areas where oil development and transport ac- 

 tivities are taking place probably kills more 

 birds every year than die after a single cata- 

 strophic spill. Total annual losses due to oil in 

 the North Sea and North Atlantic, excluding 

 disasters, amount to 150,000 to 450,000 sea- 

 birds (Nelson-Smith 1972). 



That oil pollution, both chronic and cata- 

 strophic, can dramatically affect populations 

 of marine birds has already been demon- 

 strated elsewhere. Uspenskii (1964) reported 

 that more than 30,000 wintering oldsquaws 

 perished from oil pollution near Botland Is- 

 land in the Baltic and that in later years this 

 species had almost disappeared from Swedish 

 Lapland. Jackass penguins (Spheniscus 

 demersus), found only in South Africa, have 

 suffered losses from pollution caused by oil 

 traffic around the Cape of Good Hope 

 (Stander and Venter 1968). Their total popula- 



tion was estimated at 100,000 in 1960, and in 

 two separate but not isolated incidents 1 to 

 2% of this number were known to have been 

 killed by oil. Unknown but considerable num- 

 bers were uncounted or were lost at sea. 

 Colony nesters, including puffins (Fratercula 

 arctica), razorbills (Alca torda), and murres in 

 the southerly portions of the North Sea are 

 declining rapidly (Nelson-Smith 1972). 

 Puffins, which numbered 100,000 on Annet in 

 the Scilly Isles in 1907, were reduced to 100 

 birds by 1967; by then, colonies farther east 

 on the Great Britain coast were already ex- 

 tinct. Pollution from the Torrey Canyon disas- 

 ter alone killed five-sixths of the puffins in the 

 main French colony on the Sept Isles in 

 Brittany and reduced the razorbills to a mere 

 50 birds, one-ninth of previous numbers 

 (Bourne 1970). 



There is every reason to believe that similar 

 reductions in numbers could occur along the 

 tanker route from Valdez to Puget Sound, 

 with localized extirpation of colonies. Even 

 more disastrous, however, would be an inop- 

 portune well blowout or other major spill in 

 arctic waters. Massed concentrations of birds, 

 already stressed by severe weather and food 

 shortages, would be extremely vulnerable to 

 this type of situation. 



As pointed out by Nelson-Smith (1972), 

 peculiarities of bird behavior determine, to 

 some extent, the vulnerability of a species to 

 oil spills. Auks, murrelets, and puffins (all Al- 

 cidae), loons (Gavia spp.), grebes (Podiceps 

 spp.), and diving ducks may be most sus- 

 ceptible to oiling. Auks and loons, because 

 they float low in the water, may more readily 

 become completely covered by oil. Diving 

 species that become flightless during their 

 molt, such as alcids and waterfowl, or which 

 do not fly because of social bonds between 

 adults and flightless young (common murre) 

 and spend most of their lives on the water, 

 would be particularly vulnerable (J. M. Scott, 

 comments by Pacific Seabird Group on U.S. 

 Department of the Interior Draft Environ- 

 mental Statement 74-90). All divers can easily 

 surface into oil, and their reaction is to dive 

 again, which in a large spill could result in sur- 

 facing into more oil. Phalaropes (Phalaropus 

 spp.), which flock to feed in eddies which con- 

 centrate drift, may similarly be vulnerable to 

 adverse effects of oil that would also concen- 



