Why is the last Thick-billed MurreUria lomviacolony in central West Greenland heading for extinction?

Abstract

SummaryRitenbenk/Innaq in Disko Bay is the only remaining Thick-billed Murre colony in central West Greenland. It has declined by 72% since 1980 and now (2012) holds c.1,100 breeding pairs. In 2005–2006 and 2011–2012, a number of studies were carried out in this colony to improve our understanding of the population decline and its causes. Hunting has previously been identified as a problem for the colony, but local breeding conditions have never been studied and the non-breeding distribution was known only from ringing. Our studies showed that breeding success was moderate to good in the Ritenbenk colony and apparently not limited by food availability. The impact of gull predation was more uncertain, but seemed limited in our study plot. In contrast, estimates of maximum sustainable harvest levels showed that hunting, including illegal activities, was and still is too high and probably can explain much of the population decline. It is puzzling though, that the steepest population decline was observed within the most recent decade when the harvest level was markedly reduced. This may indicate that something else besides hunting mortality affects the colony. The winter distribution of the Ritenbenk birds includes areas in the central North Atlantic, such as the waters around South Greenland, where conditions have been identified as potentially deteriorating due to pronounced oceanographic changes. The potential impact on the Ritenbenk colony, as well as other colonies in the North Atlantic, needs to be studied further.