Pacific Southwest Research Station

Publication Information

Title: Chapter 25: Pollution and Fishing Threats to Marbled Murrelets

Author: Fry, D. Michael

Date: 1995

Source: In: Ralph, C. John; Hunt, George L., Jr.; Raphael, Martin G.; Piatt, John F., Technical Editors. 1995. Ecology and conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-152. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 257-260

Station ID: GTR-PSW-152

Description: The principal pollutant threats to Marbled Murrelets are chlorinated organic effluent discharges from chlorine bleach pulp mills located in California, Washington, and British Columbia. The distribution of murrelets away from riverine input of agricultural chemicals reduces the threat from these pollutants. Plastic ingestion does not appear to pose a serious threat to murrelets, as it does for other species of small alcids. Significant threats from oil pollution are present because of heavy oil tanker, commercial shipping, and barge traffic along the Pacific coast. Commercial fishing threats have been significantly reduced in California, Oregon, and Washington because of regulation and banning of gill-net fisheries, but thousands of murrelets are still killed annually in Alaska.

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Fry, D. Michael  1995.  Chapter 25: Pollution and Fishing Threats to Marbled Murrelets  In: Ralph, C. John; Hunt, George L., Jr.; Raphael, Martin G.; Piatt, John F., Technical Editors. 1995. Ecology and conservation of the Marbled Murrelet. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-152. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 257-260.