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Author: Monte Merrick
Redwood Coast Brown Pelican/Fish Waste Response
Nearly 200 Birds in Care Contaminated by Fish Waste; Discharge Pipes at Fish Cleaning Stations to Blame
Since the last week in June 184 birds, almost all recently hatched Brown Pelicans, have been admitted for care by Bird Ally X at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center. All but three of these birds were contaminated by fish waste. While the rest of the West coast is seeing an unusually large number of Brown pelicans dying of emaciation – for reasons not yet understood – here on the North coast of California, Brown Pelicans and other birds face a different and more easily identified threat. Discharge pipes at fish cleaning stations in Shelter Cove and Crescent City are responsible for the contamination of hundreds of Brown Pelicans and untold numbers of gulls, primarily Heermann’s Gulls, who often forage and hunt with Brown Pelicans.
These birds are being doused in fish waste as they forage for scraps beneath the outflow of these polluting pipes. Fish waste and fish oil disrupt the feather structure that allows a seabird to remain dry and warm when entering the cold waters of the North Pacific. Without rescue they die.
Multiple incidents of such contaminations have been documented with photographs and video by Bird Ally X rescue crews in Crescent City and Shelter Cove.
California Department of Fish and Game code 5650 (a)(6) specifically states that it is illegal to allow to enter into State waters any material that “is deleterious to fish, plant life, mammals, or bird life.”
California EPA requires that fish waste from marinas be treated as waste water or sewage, not discharged into State waters.
After much public pressure, Crescent City Harbor District (CCHD)has reportedly closed the cleaning station with this type of discharge pipe. Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District (HBHRCD), which has jurisdiction over Shelter Cove’s fish cleaning station has yet to do so. Even now, more birds are being contaminated by this pipe.
These discharge pipes have injured hundreds of birds and killed many more. Biologist Deborah Jaques has said that over 50 pelican carcasses have been recovered. It is unknowable how many have died, or are yet to die.
Pelicans and gulls killed by fish cleaning station discharge is not new to the North Coast. In August/September 2011 Bird Ally X at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center rescued 50 Birds from Crescent City and Shelter Cove suffering from the exact same problem.
Besides releasing 43 birds, Bird Ally X met with Harbor District officials and provided low-cost, easily maintained solutions. Both Cal EPA and US EPA recommend composting as a zero discharge solution to fish waste at public marinas and boat launches. Both HBHRCD and CCHD have had nearly a year to eliminate the source of pollution and stop killing and injuring Brown Pelicans and other wildlife.
As well as the cost paid by these iconic birds, nearly all of whom are still adolescents, less than 4 months old (Brown Pelicans can live 40 years), the costs incurred by Bird Ally X and Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, the only two permitted rehabilitators on California’s North Coast that can respond to this crisis, threaten our ability to continue as organizations. To date over 180 Birds have been brought into care and more are to come. Yet the Harbor District so far has refused to offer to cover any of the costs at all. This response could cost these organizations jointly over $100,000, not factoring in staff salary.
Volunteers to help with the labor-intensive task of rehabilitating this many large birds are vital to our success. Financial donations are also crucial. Each pelican eats 3-5 pounds of fish each day. That amounts to over $500/day on fish alone.
TO HELP:
visit
www.birdallyx.net
or
www.humwild.org
to learn more and to contribute to the care of these birds.
Contact the Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District and Crescent City Harbor District. Demand that they stop illegally polluting California Coastal water and killing California Brown Pelicans. Demand that they pay their fair share for the care of the Pelicans they’ve injured.
HBHRCD – http://www.humboldtbay.org/contact/
CCHD – http://www.ccharbor.com/
Bird Ally X/HWCC inundated with Fish-oiled Brown Pelicans! Again!
Along the West coast juvenile Brown Pelicans are flooding into rehabilitation centers and many more are dying on beaches and in bays and coves. At the end of June, as this years newly hatched birds made their way to the North coast, emaciated hatching year Brown Pelicans began coming into care here at Bird Ally X/Humboldt Wildlife Care Center from all of Humboldt and Del Norte counties.
Typically found disoriented no longer able to fly, initially this seemed like a normal occurrence – many juveniles don’t make it, and rehabilitators often provide supportive care for those who struggle, hoping to give them a second chance.
Since we’d already heard that our colleagues in Morro Bay had 20 young BRPE in care, we began to prepare for a similar influx. By July 4 we’d treated a half dozen. On the 7th and 8th, however we began to get calls from all over – by the 9th we had 12 in care.
9 July we received a call that several dead Brown pelicans were on Trinidad beach, perhaps as many as 12, and that there were a few sick looking birds that needed help. We went to investigate. I was very disheartened to see approximately 30 soaking wet HY pelicans in the water, on the rocks and on the fishing dock. We captured 9, took them to our facility at Humboldt Wildlife Care Center, and went back and captured another 9. The next day we captured 9 more.
As of now, we’ve captured 43 in Trinidad, as well as another 30 from around the North Coast.
But the situation has aspects even more grim. Witnesses in Crescent City have described ailing Pelicans (6 reported) being run down and killed with vehicles around the fish cleaning station.Department
12 July we sent a team to Crescent City to investigate the situation. Besides capturing 10 contaminated Pelicans, all juveniles, over 40 impacted birds were seen. Obvious contaminations occurred while they were there coming from the drain from a fish cleaning table that discharges into the harbor. Many birds were observed to have Salmon or Rockfish carcasses lodged deep in their pouches, after being fed by sport fishers.
We’ve also received reports of impacted birds on Gold Bluff beach, above Orick. This will be a difficult location to access without permission from the NPS, although we’ve been invited to go out there with a commercial smelt fisher who doesn’t want the fisheries to take the rap for these injured Pelicans. This person has described what is likely to be feather lice as the culprit, and also believes these pelicans are somehow “tame.” He described them as suicidally diving into rough surf and being thrashed to the beach. Other fishers have described Brown Pelicans attacking their boats and “stealing” their anchovies.
We expect to start washing these birds tomorrow here at HWCC. While we were initially prepared for the idea of 60-100 birds, the reality is that we already have 70 and reports lead us to believe that another 60 would be easy to capture. If so, our facility will certainly be taxed, although I do feel that with support we can make it work.
here’s a recap of the numbers…
BRPE admissions since 22 June 2012
Fort Bragg – 2
Petrolia – 1
unknown – 1
Humboldt bay area -25
Trinidad – 43
Orick – 3
Crescent City -21
Shelter Cove – 5
Our urgent needs to care for these Brown Pelicans:
Financial help!!! Please donate using our Paypal button (our 501(c)3 is underway – your contribution will tax-deductible!)
We need help paying for:
FISH!!!!
Medicines
Operating costs!!
Volunteers: please call 707 825 0801 and let us know when you can come by!
Construction materials:
Lumber
Hardware cloth
Screws
Food for volunteers:
Healthy Snacks!
Rehydrating drinks!
Thank YOU!! We cannot help these birds without YOUR HELP!
Please Donate!
Brown Pelican T-shirts Released!
New Bird Ally X T-shirts are Here!
Laura Corsiglia’s beautiful design, hand-printed on a silkscreen donated by the nice folks at blackjack, this magnificent shirt adds a wild flair to your support of avian advocacy!
A nice chocolate brown with pale brown ink, in organic egyptian cotton the women’s v-neck comes in S, M, L and XL.
We also have crew neck in the same color, also organic egyptian cotton! in S, M, L, XL, and 2XL.
All shirts are $25 plus $3.99 S/H
To Purchase: follow this link to a page where the Buy Now button actually works!
| Sizes |
| SMALL MEDIUM LARGE XL |
| Sizes |
| SMALL MEDIUM LARGE XL 2XL |
Or,
please send a check for the amount of your purchase to:
bird ally x
po box 1020
arcata, ca 95518
become an ally of bird ally x! help support our work!
Just Published! An Introduction to Aquatic Bird Rehabilitation
An Introduction to Aquatic Bird Rehabilitation, a 150 page manual for wildlife rehabilitators, features a section on each aspect of caring for wild aquatic birds: Anatomy, Handling, Physical Examination, Captivity-related Problems, Feather Function and Structure, Waterproofing, Diet, Housing, and Release. With over 100 B&W and Color Photos, appendices covering common parasites, often used medications, and re-usable protective keel wraps, as well as a full glossary, this manual is a first of its kind. With examples intended for the novice or experienced rehabilitator, and with suggestions to meet any budget while still providing quality care.
Written by rehabilitators with extensive experience with all wildlife and who are specialists in aquatic bird care, An Introduction to Aquatic Bird Care is meant for you, the wildlife care giver.
“Wow! Where was this book 20 years ago when I started working with seabirds?! But then again, many of the techniques described in this manual hadn’t been developed back then. An Introduction to Aquatic Bird Rehabilitation is what the title says–and so much more! This is a “must have” reference book for anyone working with aquatic birds…whether just beginning or a veteran to their care, the book contains a wealth of information on examining, evaluating, treating, housing, feeding, waterproofing, and releasing most aquatic birds. The generous use of photos and diagrams to illustrate procedures, clear section headings, and many handy reference tables make this a very user-friendly manual. The new appendix containing a glossary, drug dosages, and a parasitology section complete with life cycles is itself an invaluable resource. Congratulations to our colleagues at Bird Ally X for creating this book!” Erica Miller, DVM, Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research
An Introduction to Aquatic Bird Rehabilitation
copyright © 2012 by Bird Ally X
Published by Bird Ally X, a nonprofit organization dedicated to
Helping Wild Birds and the People who care for them.
PO Box 1020
Arcata CA 95518
Authors:
Bill, January O.
Corsiglia, Laura
Masvidal, Vann
Merrick, Monte
Riggs, Shannon M., DVM
info@birdallyx.net
ISBN 978-0-9851805-0-8
If you’d rather not use PayPal, then send a check for $38 plus $3.99 shipping and handling to:
Bird Ally X
PO Box 1020
Arcata CA 95518
Bird Ally X winter/spring 2012 – our first annual newsletter!
BAX end2011 newsletter
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from: Histoire de la nature des oyseaux, Pierre Belon, 1555.
BIrd Ally X reports to the Humboldt Bay Harbor Recreation and Conservation District, 10 Nov 2011 on North Coast Fish Waste problem and Brown Pelicans (starts at 31 minutes)
North Coast Fish Waste Response (updated)
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| Newly released pelican surveys his old haunts at Shelter Cove from abo |
Things are starting to quiet down, now that fishing season has quieted down as well. As we reported in our last update, the situation is Crescent City is largely resolved. Lids on fish waste bins, coupled with educational signwork brought an end to contaminations.
Working with the harbormaster, Rich Young, was a positive and productive experience. These simple solutions were quickly implemented. We captured a total of 32 birds in Crescent City – thirty Brown Pelicans (BRPE) and two Western Gulls (WEGU). Due to severe injury, three of the pelicans were humanely euthanized. One BRPE died from wounds not related to the contamination.
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| Pelican awaiting wash at HWCC. Note the contamination on his back and wings. |
As of 27 September, we have two birds rescued from Crescent City still in care; – a BRPE with a fracture that is nearly healed, and a WEGU recovering from fishing line wounds. Both of these birds enjoy a good prognosis for release.
The Wash Hut
The first 25 birds that we rescued in the course of this response were cleaned at Humboldt State University’s Marine Wildlife Care Center, a facility maintained by the university and the Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN). The support of the OWCN throughout this response has been greatly appreciated. They’ve donated all the fish that these large birds consume. (Each pelican can eat more than five pounds of fish each day!)
Even more importantly in the long run, because the OWCN opened up the bird washing facility at HSU, we had the time needed to construct a small wash area at the Humboldt Wildlife Care Center.
Using as much donated material as possible, and a storage shed that was provided by HWCC, we spent well under 200 dollars. So far we have successfully washed 14 birds in this facility, happily known as the “wash hut.”
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| The new wash/rinse table at HWC |
A bright side to this emergency is the rapid improvement made to the infrastructure at HWCC. The wash hut, the new aviaries, the pools, etc., will be a great benefit to aquatic birds who require care along the North Coast. With winter’s return so also return sea ducks, geese, grebes, and more.
Formerly, aquatic birds needing long term care, or
specialized housing had to be transported to the Bay Area, to a facility nearly 7 hours away. The added stress to the birds and
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| Monte Merrick (BAX),Lisa Kelsey (HWCC) and patient try out the new wash hut. |
the consumption of time and resources was far from ideal. Now HWCC will be in a better position to provide care for those ducks, grebes, loons and others who are injured in some way.
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| The jetty at Shelter Cove – many of these birds are contaminated. |
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| This contaminated pelican was rescued moments later. |
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| A dead juvenile Brown Pelican on shore at Shelter Cove |
Shelter Cove
In Shelter Cove the situation is also quieting down. Between 8 September and now, we have captured 17 of the 20-25 birds observed to be contaminated. 15 of these birds are pelicans, and the other 2 are Western Gulls.
One Pelican, a 2 year old, was euthanized due to a wing fracture, another pelican died in care while being treated for a compound fractured toe which had become seriously infected. One gull was euthanized due to a severe respiratory infection that had progressed beyond a treatable condition.
Ten pelicans have been released back into Shelter cove. We anticipate releasing the four remaining birds in care soon. Two pelicans may be released as soon as 29 September.
On 18 September we released the first bird rescued from that area back into the Cove. He joined a group of plunge-diving juveniles and adults and was captured on film succesfully capturing a fish by Judy Irving, who is currently working on a documentary about Brown Pelicans, titled Pelican Dreams.
On the weekend of the 24th and 25th, 9 more pelicans were released back into Shelter Cove. Several of the birds caught in this area were malnourished and required more time in care to regain lost body mass.
Of the 17 Shelter Cove birds, 1 BRPE was euthanized due to injury and 1 died, most likely due to an infection resulting from an open toe fracture. 1 WEGU was euthanized due to illness.
As we know, a life spent begging for scraps carries a high risk of injury and disease.
Incidentally, none of the rescued birds have been adults. We’ve treated 3 sub-adults while the rest have been hatch year juveniles.
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| The fillet table at Shelter Cove after intitial corrections. |
Toward eliminating the source of
contamination in Shelter Cove, a few good steps have been taken. More needs to be done, however, before heavy use of the fillet table resumes.
Lidded cans have been added to the fillet table area, and signs cautioning sport fishers about feeding carcasses to pelicans have been posted.
Monofilament with orange caution tape streamers have been added as a deterrent above the table. However, in our experience this practice creates more entanglement risk than deterrence, and birds, pelicans and gulls have been seen inside the fillet table area while people have been cleaning
 |
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| January Bill of BAX and Lucinda Adamson of HWCC |
their catch since the monofilament was hung.
Grinder and Discharge Pipe
The main issue continues to be the grinder that discharges fish waste slurry into the marine waters. This appears to be at odds with both federal and state practices.
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| Adamson and Bill evaluate a Brown Pelican for release |
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| Discharge pipe coming down to the ocean from the fillet table |
Both the United States and California recommend that fish waste, commercial or recreational, be treated as sewage or solid waste. Preferrably fish waste should be composted wherever possible.
Many studies were completed on the feasability of composting fishwaste on small and large scales in the late 1980s, primarily as a way to eliminate the unsightly and malodorous nature of fish carcasses. These studies had very favorable findings. (here is one example)
BAX and Humboldt Wildlife Care Center will soon meet with the Board Of Commissioners of the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District to discuss ways to make the
fillet table at Shelter Cove bird-safe.
Fillet tables are well-used and appreciated. Often they provide a place for sport fishers to meet and share information and good cheer. So far, we have been met with mostly positive responses to our efforts to protect the wildlife that are attracted to the cleaning stations. By and large, recreational fishers enjoy nature and the outdoors and do not wish to cause harm to such an iconic bird as the Brown Pelican, or any wildlife. Feeding wildlife is enjoyable, as enjoyable as feeding family and friends. Once people understand the harm that can come to pelicans from being fed large carcasses, they stop. No one feeds birds with intent to cause harm!
We are confident that, with cooperation, we can make the fillet table in Shelter Cove a model of sustainable fish waste management that could be used coast-wide.
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| Where the discharge pipe discharges. |
Meanwhile, we continue to care for the impacted birds at Humboldt Wildlfie Care Center and make frequent trips to Shelter Cove to monitor the situation and attempt to rescue the remaining birds who’ve been impacted by the oily fish waste.
Volunteers are still needed at HWCC. Bird Ally X is also looking for volunteers who wish to be trained in distressed bird capture. The more people locally we have who are trained and capable of responding to wildlife emergencies the better.
And of course, none of this work can happen without money. Building materials, utilities, water, medicine, gasoline, all matter of course requirements that consume the bulk of our budgets.
Both HWCC and BAX rely on community support to rescue and care for wild lives that have been adversely affected by human activity.
For more information please visit www.humwild.org.
Bird Ally X accepts donations as
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| Newly released pelican surveys his old haunts at Shelter Cove from above |
well. You can write to us at PO Box 1020, Arcata, CA 95518. We love mail!*
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| HWCC volunteers after releasing 8 Brown Pelicans, 24 Sept. |
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| This pelican didn’t wait to be asked twice. |
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| Lucinda Adamason of HWCC and Laura Corsiglia of BAX watch newly released Pelicans at Shelter Cove |
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| Proposed signwork for Shelter Cove as a stopgap measure. |
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| Buh-bye. (BRPE release 24 Sept 2011) |
*please note that, while Bird Ally X is incorporated in California as a Public Benefit non-profit organization, we are still waiting for 501(c)3 status and donations to BAX are not yet tax-deductible.
