Trends in the harvest of Brünnich's guillemots Uria lomvia in Newfoundland: effects of regulatory changes and winter sea ice conditions

Abstract

AbstractThe harvest of Brünnich's guillemots (thick‐billed murres) Uria lomvia off Newfoundland and Labrador is the only legal hunt of seabirds by non‐natives in Canada and the United States. Ringing programmes at Arctic breeding colonies have been used to track changes in numbers and age composition of harvested birds. In recent years, the numbers of rings reported by hunters have fallen steeply. We examined recoveries by hunters of rings from a colony in northern Hudson Bay during 1984‐2006 to assess the possible reasons for the decline in recoveries. Because recoveries of common guillemots have remained stable over the same period, it seems unlikely that a change in reporting rates is involved. Instead, it appears that a combination of a reduction in hunting pressure and a change in the behaviour of the birds due to more northerly termination of the winter pack‐ice boundary account for the observed reduction in recovery rates. The pattern of first year recovery rates, in particular, appears consistent with an explanation based on accommodation to ice conditions. Recovery rates of older birds appear less affected by ice conditions and in recent years, have, in any case, been very low. Our study demonstrates that under conditions of changing weather and climate, harvest management decisions may not always have the impact expected.