MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • June 16, 2024
Some species are declining due to the effects of human activities. To help those species, we need conservation actions. A recent article in Conservation Biology reviews the practice of killing gulls on offshore islands in the Gulf of Maine to protect nesting terns, whose eggs and chicks are subject to gull predation. The argument has been that gulls have increased unnaturally over the past century in the Gulf of Maine because of human impacts. The terns are doing poorly because of the increased gull numbers. The authors of a recent article in Conservation Biology dispute the narrative that gulls are overpopulated in the Gulf of Maine. They argue that gull removal is based on precarious reasoning and may be deterring conservationists from finding more effective ways to improve the plight of terns. ~ Herb Wilson