Concerning problem stretching 'for kilometres' along Aussie coastline
Australians along the east coast are finding the bodies of short-tailed shearwaters, months after their migration period ended.
More dead birds have been spotted lining Australia's east coast beaches "for kilometres" after a marine scientist told Yahoo News earlier this month migratory species are suffering from the region's warming oceans.
New photos captured at Cronulla Beach in Sydney's south on the weekend show dozens of deceased short-tailed shearwaters dotting the shoreline, partially covered in sand. It's a scene hundreds of people across NSW and Victoria have shared on social media in recent weeks.
And while wildlife authorities say it is typical for this time of year as the birds make their annual migration from the northern hemisphere, research group Adrift Lab is frustrated "reputable organisations" continually blame long-distance migration for the birds dying, deeming it "normal" or "natural".
"This has almost nothing to do with migration, we can't stress that enough," marine scientist and Adrift volunteer Jennifer Laver told Yahoo following earlier reports this month.
"If it was natural, if it was just exhaustion due to migration, then we should actually see this as a widespread annual phenomenon and in thousands of other highly migratory species," she said.
Shearwaters arrive on Aussie shores starving, scientist says
Laver says warmer than average waters are wiping out their food source and by the time the birds get to Australia they are starving.
"What we know is that the Tasman Sea is an ocean warming hotspot. It's warming between two and four times faster than anywhere else," she said. "And what that suggests, very strongly, is that if birds die when water is warm, more birds are going to die in more years."
Many casualties after birds' annual 15,000km migration
While many locals living in coastal areas in both NSW and Victoria are quite familiar with the sight of the dead birds, some concerned passersby still remain shocked when stumbling across the masses. Authorities say due to the birds' stable population numbers — in excess of 18 million globally — the deaths don't have too much of an impact on the species overall.
Short-tailed shearwaters largely migrate from Alaska, about 15,000 kilometres away in North America, to their breeding grounds throughout Bass Strait and the Victorian coastline. And while much of their habitat has been destroyed for coastal developments, thousands of essential breeding burrows are now protected.
Incredibly, the birds make this journey largely without stopping. Some experts say the individuals that wash ashore on beaches are those unable to make the entire journey, whether it be due to age or illness, meaning that only the fittest arrive at their destination to breed.
NSW Department of Environment senior threatened species scientist Nicholas Carlile told Yahoo News Australia this month the deaths during migration are a natural pressure the birds face during the journey.
"It is part of the natural process that we have within our ocean environments, which by their very nature are stochastic," he said. "So there is huge variation with food availability." He believes that despite the pressure of climate change and changing food resources, shearwaters will adapt.
But Laver disagrees.
"The death of thousands of long-lived sentinel species is a warning. It is dangerous to normalise this."
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