Hi, I am sure that most of us are well aware of the fact that also kayakers are under certain circumstances disturbing to wildlife. We don't spill oil and we are also not noisy. We had a discussion about whales and seals a few weeks ago. But not only these creatures are sometimes scared or disturbed by recreational of prof. boat traffic, including paddlers. Last spring we had a number of talks about seabirds in one of the naturalist groups here in Halifax. One was about terns. A big issue here in Nova Scotia, since individuals and groups are very active and partly successful in rehabilitating and protecting tern nesting sites. The talk was presented by a wildlife biologist. After the talk in the discussion the question was asked how recreational water sport affects terns. First, everyone and everything getting to close to a tern nesting colony on a island is disturbing. The bird leave their nests, and eggs and/or chicks become exposed to predation by gulls and other predators. Or if disturbance is to frequent the island is abandoned by the terns and the nesting colony is gone. What is to close? Depends, if terns circling you, you are way to close. If the leave their nests and get airborne you are to close. The distance varies, and according to the biologist kayaks and canoes are more concerning for terns than powerboats or jet skies (measured by distances to colony triggering take off). A possible explanation was that the flashing of the paddle blades is the alarming signal for the terns. Similar effects are likely to other nesting or resting birds (eider rafts, shorebird accumulations). I remember an article were a guy was chased by a loon because the white paddle blades were taken as a intruder to his territory. I was positively surprised when I went to Mahone Bay last summer and found at the put in of the local outfitter large signs telling their customers and other paddlers using their dock about tern colonies in the Bay and asking people to keep a minimum distance of 200m from the nesting island during the nesting season (easy to identify for everyone by the lighthouse). That's the way to go, inform and educate people. Telling them why they should or shouldn't do things is better than simply putting up bans. cheers Ulli (All spelling errors are intentional and are there to show new and improved ways of spelling old words.) Dr. Ulli Hoeger Dept. Physiology and Biophysics Dalhousie University Halifax, B3H4H7, Nova Scotia Canada Phone I : 902-494-2673 Fax: 902-494-1685 Phone II :902-488-6796 http://is.dal.ca/~uhoeger *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Dec 08 2000 - 09:16:55 PST
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