Maine Coastal Islands NWR has been working with the Virginia Field Office on a Natural Resource Damage Assessment project involving an oil spill that occurred in February 2004, off the coast of Virginia. Shortly after the spill, aerial surveys identified over 2,000 migratory birds of 10 species within the general area. Many of these birds were in the process of migrating to their nesting grounds to the north at the time of the incident.  The Service concluded that razorbills and northern gannets were the two species of the greatest conservation need which were likely to have suffered significant injuries and mortality as a result of the incident.

As a result of the negotiations, the Service will receive over $575,000. A large percentage of that money will be used to develop and implement a restoration program for razorbills on refuge islands. During the past 25 years, Maine Coastal Islands NWR has been working with conservation partners to restore razorbills to the Gulf of Maine, and Maine is the only state that supports breeding razorbills. The State of Maine has listed razorbills as a threatened species. The most recent survey data indicates that an estimated 600 pairs of razorbills nest on six islands in Maine. The refuge owns four of these islands, representing nesting habitat for more than 85% of the razorbills in the United States. The refuge plans to initiate razorbill restoration efforts this spring by conducting predator control and placing razorbill decoys on Eastern Brothers Island in Jonesport, Maine.