"As mentioned earlier, the dominant species in the spill area were Her- 

 ring, Black-backed Gulls, and Kittiwakes. These species were also found to 

 be dominant throughout the Georges Bank-Nantucket Shoals region in February 

 and March although in greater numbers and density. If this is a typical 

 winter pattern of abundance, then large numbers of each of these species are 

 potentially endangered by the oil as it spreads out and moves eastward. A 

 factor which may prevent a large-scale decimation of the gull population is 

 their habit of concentrating in the vicinity of fishing vessels. Since the 

 Coast Guard reported few fishing boats on Georges Bank during December, it is 

 possible that the birds were not hit as hard as might be predicted. However, 

 the frequency of oiled bird sightings on land shortly after the spill indi- 

 cates a probable high degree of oil contamination at sea. Gannets appear to 

 spend as much time on the water as Herring and Black-backed Gulls and are 

 therefore probably equally susceptible to contact with oil. 



"Also seen in smaller numbers were Fulmars and Alcids. Previous cruises 

 show that these two groups winter on the offshore banks. Like gulls. Fulmars 

 have a tendency to follow boats, especially fishing vessels. However, they 

 spend far more time airborne than gulls and might therefore receive less 

 contact with surface oil, minimizing contamination. Alcids, on the other 

 hand, spend almost all of their time on the ocean's surface and are therefore 

 the most susceptible of all the pelagic birds to oil contamination. They are 

 not ship followers and, at present, knowledge of their winter distribution in 

 offshore waters is quite patchy. However, observations from shore during the 

 month of December indicate that there is probably a large number of Alcids 

 off the Massachusetts coast this winter. Several flocks of over a thousand 

 Thick-billed Murres and other Alcids have been sighted off Cape Code. 

 Following the spill, Murres were the most common oiled birds washing ashore 

 on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard and, since they tend to be found in 

 flocks, it is quite possible that these may have been hit hard by oil con- 

 tamination, although this will probably never be known for certain." 



"Lacking sufficient field data this is merely speculation. Yet, based 

 on information at hand it is probably safe to assume that the Argo Merchant 

 disaster will be far-reaching in its effects on pelagic bird life and that 

 most of these effects will go undetected. It is therefore recommended that, 

 until such catastrophes can be prevented, a program whereby the extent of 

 contamination from spilled oil on remote sea birds can be assessed be devel- 

 oped as soon as possible." 



4.2.2 Ship Cruise and Overflight Reports 



Reports are available from five research cruises that carried trained 

 observers: The Oceanws (December 20-21, 28-29, 1976, J. Milliman) , the 

 Delaware II (December 22-24, 1976, P. Gibb), Stone Horse (January 5, 1977, T. 

 Lloyd-Evans), and the Endeavor (January 27-29, 1976, L. Gould and N. Hough- 

 ton). All observers reported that 25 to 75% of the birds seen were fouled, 

 mostly on the breast and abdomen. Herring Gulls and Black-backed Gulls 

 appeared to be the hardest hit, and many boats in the area reported heavily 

 oiled gulls landing on their boats. These birds were often weak and unchar- 

 ac teristically tame, some accepting food by hand. Other birds seen in the 

 area were Kittiwakes, Gannets, and Murres, but few of these birds were 



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