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Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens monitoring in preparation for resuming native egg harvest in a national park
Citation
LEWIS, T.M., BEHNKE, C. & MOSS, M.B. 2017. Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens monitoring in preparation for resuming native egg harvest in a national park. Marine Ornithology 45: 165 - 174
Received 31 August 2016, accepted 31 May 2017
Date Published: 2017/10/15
Date Online: 2017/09/05
Key words: Glacier Bay National Park, Glaucous-winged Gull, harvesting impacts, egg harvest management
Abstract
Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, is the ancestral homeland of the Huna Tlingit people, for whom Glaucous-winged Gull Larus glaucescens eggs were an important cultural food source until the 1960s, when the National Park Service (NPS) began to enforce regulations prohibiting harvest. Over the past 20 years, NPS has sponsored several studies as well as a Legislative Environmental Impact Statement to assess the cultural and biological impacts of egg harvests. Based on these findings, the US Congress passed legislation in 2014 authorizing harvest of Glaucous-winged Gull eggs in Glacier Bay National Park. With the long-awaited passage of this legislation, egg harvest may begin as soon as the NPS promulgates the necessary regulations and an annual harvest plan is developed. In preparation for egg harvest, we used ground- and vessel-based surveys to determine 1) the distribution and abundance of nesting gulls, 2) egg-laying phenology, 3) nesting vegetation, and 4) potential impacts of egg harvest on other species. During 2012-2015, we repeatedly surveyed 20 islands and sections of shoreline in Glacier Bay (that were likely colony locations based on historic observations) for gulls and found six potential egg-harvest colonies. The number of nests per colony ranged from 22 to 174. The number of nests at each colony remained consistent among years, whereas the number of eggs showed high interannual variability. Other species observed that could be affected by egg harvest included hauled-out marine mammals and other seabirds nesting nearby. The majority of nests (67%) were found in graminoid vegetation, an early successional state. This study marks the beginning of long-term monitoring of the population parameters to infer potential impacts of gull-egg harvest in Glacier Bay and to manage the harvest. In addition to yearly monitoring of productivity, research on nesting habitat shifts, food availability, and predation could improve the park's ability to understand any impacts of egg harvest on the distribution and abundance of Glaucous-winged Gulls in Glacier Bay National Park.
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