278 



F. SALOMONSEN 



The resulting upwelling enriches the upper 

 layers of water with large quantities of nu- 

 trient salts for the phytoplankton, and this, in 

 turn, produces a teeming life of macroplank- 

 ton and fish on which the seabirds are de- 

 pendent (Salomonsen 1955). 



The enormous seabird population of the 

 Faroes is apparent from the first description 

 of the islands, "De mensura orbis terrae," a 

 document written in the year 825 by the Irish 

 monk Dicuilus, who described the most char- 

 acteristic feature of the Faroes as being the 

 fact that "the islands were full of various 

 kinds of marine birds." This richness has re- 

 mained to the present, and has provided an 

 important source of food for the resident hu- 

 man population, particularly in former times. 

 There are few, if any, countries in the world in 

 which wild-fowling and other exploitations of 

 birdlife have played such a major role as in the 

 Faroes. A number of elaborate and varied 

 bird-catching methods were invented, and 

 these have remained essentially the same for 

 at least the last 500 years. Bird-fowling at 

 great heights on precipitous sea-cliffs was a 

 dangerous venture, and each year lives were 

 lost. The main thing, however, was that food 

 obtained from fowling meant life and death 

 for local inhabitants and so was undertaken in 

 such a well-balanced way that the seabird 

 populations did not decrease or disappear. 

 Some fowling still takes place, but on a re- 

 duced scale, since most men are now engaged 

 in the fishery during the summer. Shooting is 

 now of much greater importance than in for- 

 mer times. 



The Faroese game acts (from 1897, 1928, 

 and 1954) are very severe and show a broad 

 consideration for birdlife. Practically all ter- 

 restrial birds, including shorebirds, are pro- 

 tected, and existing regulations permit people 

 to catch or shoot only common murres, razor- 

 bills, puffins, shags (Phalacrocorax aristo- 

 telis), fulmars, gannets, parasitic jaegers 

 (Stercorarius parasiticus), and gulls, as well as 

 a few "pest" species like crows (Corvus 

 corone) and ravens (C. corax). The legal right 

 of fowling on a "fowling cliff" belongs to the 

 registered owner of the land on which the cliff 

 is situated. There are some sound restrictive 

 laws for these cliffs. For example, shooting 

 within 3.2 km of any seabird colony is 

 prohibited. 



Table 5. Number of seabirds caught by 

 fowling each year in the Faroe Islands 

 in the early 1900's. (From Salomonsen 

 1935.) 



The annual number of seabirds caught by 

 fowling in the early 1900's (summarized in 

 Table 5) were reported in Salomonsen (1935). 

 This large harvest of birds, taken by fowling 

 year after year for centuries, did not appear to 

 influence the seabird populations, as bird 

 numbers remained stable. However, in recent 

 years, shooting and a special form of snaring 

 of murres have increased dramatically and 

 seem to have endangered the murre popula- 

 tion. The annual number of murres killed is es- 

 timated to be about 120,000, of which 70,000 

 are snared and at least 50,000 shot (estimates 

 of birds shot range from 50,000 to 100,000). 

 This total is almost double the number of 

 birds caught during fowling, and because of 

 an apparent decline in murre numbers the pro- 

 vincial government decided to investigate the 

 matter, and in 1972 the Danish Ornithological 

 Society agreed to conduct the study. Figures 

 from the 1972 census of murres (Table 6) show 

 that almost 600,000 birds were counted, from 

 which an estimate of more than 393,000 

 breeding pairs was calculated (Dyck and Mel- 

 tofte 1975). In spite of this large number, 

 Dyck and Meltofte (1975) concluded that the 

 Faroese murre population has declined by 

 about 20% during the last 10-15 years. Inves- 

 tigations are under way to monitor further 

 changes in murre numbers, and to determine 

 the trend, and whether reductions in shooting 

 and snaring are necessary to maintain the 

 population. 



Oil pollution is practically unknown in 

 Faroese waters, but since drilling for oil will 

 probably take place in the near future, the im- 

 portance of oil to birds in this region may 

 change. Toxic chemicals do not appear to be 



