There has been another significant decrease in the numbers some species of cliff birds around Iceland. The situation of some populations, such as puffins and Brunnich’s guillemots, is much worse along the south coast than in the north.
Around a quarter of all seabirds in the North Atlantic live, breed or feed around Iceland, and the development of different species is very different, according to RUV.
The population of gannets, for example, has bucked the trend and been on the ascendancy for the last century and a half in the Atlantic Ocean. Fulmar stocks also increased slowly from around 1700 until the population growth suddenly stopped in 1990, Arnthor Gardarsson, biology professor at the University of Iceland explained.
Related IceNews stories can be seen here and here.
Mobile phone masts and WiFi are disrupting the birds’ navigation systems.
You mean, we should switch off mobile phones and laptops of puffins take off and landings? Come on man, where are the proofs?
It is well known that the reason for this is because of failing stocks of “sandsili”, or the stuff they eat from the sea.
The question should rather be why these small fish species are failing, I hazard to guess rising heat of ocean due to global warming, and perhaps increased predadors, f.ex whales.
I don’t suppose it is anything to do with human activity such as industrial fishing to produce feed for the ever growing industrial salmon farming?
Salmon farming isn’t very big in Iceland, they tried few years ago but went broke fast as i have no doubt you expected, so Industrial farming is on very small scale atm.
“sandsili”, isn’t a target for human or animal consumtion and has never been.
Pelagic fisheries might have a say as a bycatch, then again it hasn’t been as much as it was in these resent years due to stock failure…but still “sandsili” stocks fail..make of that as you want..;)