Nontechnical summary of research, January 1978-March 1983

Technical Report · Fri Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6124294

Powers, K D

The objectives were three-fold: (1) describe the distribution and abundance of marine birds on Georges Bank and its adjacent waters, using a ships-of-opportunity program, (2) develop a computerized marine bird data bank, and (3) examine the feeding habits of the most common bird species in the area. In 1979 we expanded the study area to include all shelf waters from Cape Hatteras to Nova Scotia and we examined the possibility of using opportunistically available US Coast Guard offshore flights as an additional survey platform. The justification of the marine bird survey on Georges Bank was to assess distribution and abundance prior to development of these offshore areas for oil and natural gas exploration and extraction. There were no historical accounts of bird distribution for these offshore areas and this study was to provide the baseline understanding by which subsequent change could be measured. The species considered as marine birds were from the following families: loons, tubenoses (fulmars, shearwaters and storm-petrels), pelecaniforms (cormorants and gannets), stercoracids (Jaegers and skuas), phalaropes, gulls, terns and alcids (razorbill, murres, dovekie, puffin).

• Research Organization: Manomet Bird Observatory, MA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-78EV04706
• OSTI ID: 6124294
• Report Number(s): DOE/EV/04076-9; ON: DE83011595
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900 -- Petroleum-- Environmental Aspects
520500* -- Environment
Aquatic-- Site Resource & Use Studies-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ANIMALS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BASELINE ECOLOGY
BIRDS
COASTAL WATERS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CONTINENTAL SHELF
DISTRIBUTION
ECOLOGY
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FOOD CHAINS
GEORGES BANK
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS
SEAS
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SPECIES DIVERSITY
SURFACE WATERS
VARIATIONS
VERTEBRATES