News

“Compelling” evidence from a new study shows that rising numbers of pink salmon in the Pacific Ocean threaten populations of seabirds which depend on similar food sources.

It is “an uncommon case of too many fish in the sea,” stated the scientific report, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Pink salmon stocks have been rising since the 1970s and there seem to be unexpected consequences for other marine populations.

When surveying seabird populations in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands, researchers found that seabird breeding success was influenced by the fluctuations of pink salmon populations which changes year to year. They found that when the salmon population was high, seabirds, like puffins and kittiwakes, laid fewer eggs, had eggs that hatched later in the season, and saw fewer hatchlings survive. This is most likely because seabirds are omnivorous animals and compete with pink salmon for similar food sources.

Read more here.