It's been a terrible summer for Pelicans -
here's some (not all) press that ran in case you haven't
seen it. There is going to be a meeting in Santa Cruz
about this issue Wednesday night.
Published Saturday, Sept. 1, 2001, in the San Jose
Mercury News
Injuries to pelicans
prompt limits on fishing off wharf
SANTA CRUZ - So many California brown pelicans have
been hurt off the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf in the last
month that officials closed part of the wharf to fishing,
and a Bay Area bird rescue center has had to appeal for
extra money to feed the injured birds.
Karen Benzel of the International Bird Rescue Research
Center in Cordelia said staff members treated about 100
pelicans in August. Because they hunt close to shore, the
birds often get caught on fishing hooks and tangled in
fishing lines.
The California brown pelican has been on the U.S.
endangered species list since 1970. Benzel said that only
5,000 breeding pairs remain.
Under the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory
Bird Act, fines for harming California brown pelicans are
severe: as much as $50,000 and possibly a year in jail.
But Bill Talkin, chief enforcement officer for the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service in the California-Nevada
region, noted that fishing off the wharf is legal.
Sunday, September 2, 2001
Scores of pelicans hurt by
fishhooks
By DAVID L. BECK, San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE - Victims of their own appetite for
anchovies, California brown, pelicans have been ''hooked,
snagged and otherwise injured'' by the dozens off the
Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf during the last month. The
situation has become so alarming that state and local
officials have closed part of the wharf to fishing, and
the International Bird Rescue Research Center in
Fairfield, has had to appeal for extra funds to feed the
injured birds.
''We've had 100 pelicans come through'' in August,
said Karen Benzel of the center. ''All of us,'' she
added, ''are running out of energy and funds.''
Benzel and others would prefer that the entire wharf
be off-limits to fishing for the time being. ''It's just
a tragedy,'' she said. ''I'm heartbroken that that pier's
not going to be closed this weekend.''
The California brown pelican has been on the U.S.
endangered species list since 1970. Benzel said that only
5,000 breeding pairs remain.
The pelicans are known as aggressive fishers that
don't mind sharing space with human fisherfolk. As a
result, the birds get caught on hooks and tangled in
fishing lines.
The lines prevent them from fishing or flying, and the
hooks infect them unless removed quickly. The bird center
urges people to use barbless hooks, which it says hold
fish as well as hooks with barbs do, but are easier to
remove from the flesh of impaled birds.
Rangers and biologists have been working the Santa
Cruz pier for three days, explaining the situation and
warning people to fish farther out on the pier because
the pelicans have been feeding close to shore.
Fishing is temporarily allowed only from the east
parking lot - a bulge in the wharf opposite the Miramar
restaurant and facing the boardwalk - to the end of the
pier. It is banned on the northern third.
Dannettee Shoemaker, Santa Cruz recreation
superintendent, said many of those fishing close in on
the wharf are ''day trippers'' unfamiliar with the danger
they pose to pelicans. A few have argued, she said,
''because they feel it is their right to fish anywhere on
the pier. And on a typical day, they're right.''
But for about the last week and a half, she said
Friday, ''we've had a huge number of pelicans actively
feeding off the wharf because of the anchovies that are
so close to shore." They're having a feeding frenzy. It's
a wonderful spectacle to watch, until one of them gets
snagged or hooked or whatever.'' Shoemaker said the
northern section of the wharf would remain closed to
fishing ''until the bait moves on and the pelicans spread
out. . . Old-time fishermen are saying, 'Oh, couple
weeks, they'll be out of here,' which would be about the
middle of next week.''
SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL
September 1, 2001
Park rangers planning
relief for pelicans
By BRIAN SEALS
SENTINEL STAFF WRITER
SANTA CRUZ With the plight of brown pelicans
continuing on the Santa Cruz Wharf, city park rangers and
state Fish and Game Department personnel will be out this
weekend to try to keep the birds from becoming ensnared
in fishing lines. The city temporarily closed the front
segment of the wharf to fishing Aug. 22 until the pelican
action subsides.
Drawn by small bait to the waters near the wharf, the
federally protected birds get stuck in fishing lines that
can lead to injury and, in more severe cases, death.
Volunteers with Native Animal Rescue have continued to
keep tabs on the wharf to rescue the endangered birds
should they get caught. It's a seasonal occurrence, but
volunteers say birds are getting caught more this year.
"It didn't help very much," Native Animal Rescue
volunteer Molly Richardson said of the pier's partial
closure to fishing.
Nora Rojek, seabird biologist with the state Fish and
Game Department, said the agency would have people on the
wharf this weekend to inform fishermen about the
pelicans. The department also has a boat stationed around
the wharf to help rescue the birds.
Fisherman Rafael Morales of Santa Clara helped
untangle a bird from his fishing net Friday afternoon.
"It's like flies in your home &emdash; you don't want
them but they come in," Morales said.
Meanwhile the rehabilitation center where volunteers
take the birds says it is running out of money with the
influx of birds this year. "We've kind of reached the end
of our rope," said Karen Benzel of the International Bird
Research Rescue Center in Suisun City. She said the
center has taken in 160 birds this year and estimated
about 70 percent are from Santa Cruz. She said
rehabilitating the birds cost about $100 each for food
and medicine.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Rich Marks
Native Animal Rescue
831 462 0726
Karen Benzel
International Bird Rescue Center
California Headquarters
510/814-7227 phone
510/769-7619 fax
For more information, and how you can help, please
e-mail Karen at: karenbenzelpr@home.com
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