Content Details
Marine Bird Distribution and Abundance in the Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas: Final Report
- Branch
- Executive
- Category
- Executive Agency Publications
- SuDoc Class Number
- I 72.
- Government Author
- Interior Department, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
- Personal Author
- Labunski EA; Kuletz KJ; Lanctot R; Saalfeld S; Morgan TC; McGuire RL; Gall AE
- Series Title
- BOEM Environmental Studies
- Publication Title
- Marine Bird Distribution and Abundance in the Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas: Final Report
- Date Issued
- 2022
- Subject
- Marine Biodiversity
Birds
seabirds; marine birds; marine mammals; Bering Sea; Beaufort Sea; Chukchi Sea; Arctic; Alaska; at-sea distribution; at-sea abundance; seabird communities; phalarope movements
- Obligation Number
- M17PG00039
- Geographic Scope
- Alaska
- Report Number
- BOEM 2022-067
- CSE Reference
- Labunski E A, Kuletz KJ, Lanctot R, Saalfeld S, Morgan TC, McGuire RL, Gall AE. 2022. Marine bird distribution and abundance in the Northern Bering and Chukchi Seas: Final Report. Anchorage (AK): US Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 193 p. Obligation No.: M17PG00039. Report No.: OCS Study BOEM AK-17-03. URL: https://espis.boem.gov/Final%20Reports/BOEM_2022-067.pdf
- Abstract
- This study provided current data, as well as seasonal comparisons, of the distribution and abundance of marine birds, and secondarily for marine mammals, within BOEM's Arctic Planning Areas. We conducted seabird surveys for a total of 32,779 km within the focal study area, comprising six BOEM Planning Areas from May to December, 2017–2021. For all planning areas combined, 10 species accounted for 90% of total birds recorded on transect and species composition was similar between summer (June-August) and fall (September–November). Seabird density was highest in Hope Basin followed by Navarin Basin and Norton Sound. We recorded 18 marine mammal species and 4,580 individuals, primarily walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) in the Chukchi Sea and gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) in Hope and Norton basins. We tagged 92 red phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius) at Arctic-breeding sites in Alaska (2017–2020); most individuals migrated west and then south through the Bering Strait, after which, individual routes tended to diverge as individuals migrated along both the Russian and Alaskan coastlines. The high abundance of both seabirds and marine mammals in the Bering Strait region, including Hope Basin, necessitates careful mitigation of human activities in this region. The cumulative effects on seabirds of changes in oceanographic conditions, prey types and distribution, and human activities will need to be considered when assessing potential impacts of proposed developments.