Unsustainable hunting practices wipe out vast colonies of seabirds in Greenland
An international campaign has been launched to halt the slaughter of Greenland's seabirds just as they begin to breed. Thousands of birds have been killed this spring after Greenland's government caved in to hunters and allowed an extra month of shooting.
The RSPB, Audubon in the US - each with more than one million members- and two Canadian conservation groups have appealed to Greenland to restore the ban on hunting in March - imposed by law in 2001 - to give birds like kittiwakes, eider ducks and Brünnich's guillemots chance to recover their numbers.
Seabird colonies have declined by 90%
Greenland's 100,000-strong seabird colonies of 40 years ago now total just a few thousand because of intensive hunting and egg collecting. In Iceland, the Brünnich's guillemot is endangered, its decline blamed on Greenland's hunters.
The first meeting of a special taskforce involving politicians, conservationists and hunters takes place today to try to resolve the conflict.
Amongst those calling for hunting restrictions to be restored is Graham Wynne, Chief Executive of the RSPB. In a letter to Greenland's Cabinet, he said: "Indigenous peoples worldwide pride themselves on their ability to live sustainably with nature and I see your Government's aim is sustainability. But I am afraid the record of seabird protection in Greenland shows a very different story. It is a story of the destruction of nature through an unwillingness to manage hunting, resulting in seriously damaged populations of many seabird species."
150,000 guillemot colony disappeared
Hunting between February 15 and the autumn was banned under Greenland's 2001 Bird Protection Act, the country's first legislation promoting the sustainable use of wildlife. Eider ducks have declined by 80 per cent in 40 years and the 150,000 Brünnich's guillemots, seen at a breeding colony in Uummannaq, northern Greenland 60 years ago, have completely gone.
But in each of the seven years since restrictions were imposed hunters have lobbied for restrictions to be relaxed. Politicians relented in 2004 and did so again this year, rushing through their decision on February 29 and allowing the hunting of kittiwakes and eiders throughout March. Greenland's government claimed the birds' numbers had risen sufficiently to withstand the extended onslaught.
80% hunt for pleasure
About 2,000 of Greenland's 10,000 hunters, out of a population of 56,000, depend on sales of seabird meat at town and city markets. The rest hunt for pleasure alone, using powerful speedboats and semi-automatic guns to make their hobby easy.
Hasse Hedemand, of the Greenland conservation group Timmiaq, said: "Seabird numbers are no-where near the level you could call sustainable and the decision this year to allow more birds to be killed is a tragedy. Greenland is a unique and special place but our international reputation is being tarnished by this unsustainable hunting. Most of the shooting is recreational involving people who do not depend on it for their livelihoods.
"There is a long tradition for hunting in Greenland, but with increasing numbers of people, fast boats and firearms, it is the politicians' responsibility to ensure that the hunting is sustainable. Thousands of tourists come to Greenland for our landscapes, our icebergs and our wildlife but many are returning home disappointed and disillusioned. Our wildlife is in a sorry state compared to 50 years ago. This shouldn't have been allowed to happen."
Black-legged kittiwakes
Black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla, known simply as kittiwakes in the UK) are grey and white medium-sized gulls with black wing tips. They breed only on coastal cliffs, including many UK coasts. They return to breeding sites in February, leaving in August and spend the rest of the year at sea. They are about 40cm in length with a 1 metre wing span.
The Eider duck
The Eider duck (Somateria mollissima) is a large (50-71cm long) sea duck and the heaviest and fastest flying duck seen in the UK. It is found over northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It can be seen off many UK coasts throughout the year but breeds only on coasts from Northumberland north and off the west coast of Scotland. Its nest is built close to the sea and lined with eiderdown plucked from the female's breast. Eiderdown used to be harvested for filling pillows and quilts but has mostly been replaced by down from domestic geese and synthetic substances. The male is black and white with a green nape. The female is brown. The eider colony of the Farne Islands, off the Northumbrian coast, was the subject of one of the first bird protection laws. St Cuthbert, the county's patron saint, lived on the Farne Islands and in 676 introduced laws to protect eiders and other seabirds nesting there. About 1,000 pairs still breed there each year.
The Brünnich's guillemot
The Brünnich's guillemot (Uria lomvia) is a black and white bird and not one of the two guillemots regularly seen along UK coasts. Also known as the thick-billed murre or thick-billed guillemot, it belongs to the auk family and is named after Danish zoologist, Morten Thrane Brünnich. The species is about 40cm long and marginally larger than the UK's common guillemot (the other UK species is the smaller black guillemot). It became the largest member of the auk family when the great auk was hunted to extinction in the mid-1900s. Brünnich's guillemot is rarely seen in the UK with the best sightings in the Shetlands in 1987, 1989 and 2005.
