Puffins are an endangered species, whose numbers have declined largely due to climate change and overfishing.

If puffin hunting is banned, that population is expected to decrease by over 10% over the next decade. If hunting continues to be permitted, however, the population is expected to decrease by 30% or even as much as 50% within that same period.

The Icelandic puffin population has shrunk by 70% in the last thirty years. The Managing Director of the Icelandic Travel Industry Association (SAF) has stated that this is bad news for the ecosystem and for companies within the tourist sector, who have marketed the puffin as a kind of national symbol. Decline much worse than […]

The season’s first puffins arrived on Grímsey island—the only part of Iceland to cross the Arctic Circle—a few days ago and the birds are generally arriving in Iceland significantly earlier each year than they used to.

The heaviest puffling (baby puffin) ever recorded in Iceland was weighed by scientists in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago recently, and the director of the South Iceland Natural History Institute believes the puffin stock overall may never have been bigger than now. The news comes after many failed breeding seasons since 2000 and worries for the species’ future.

A total of 78% of puffin nests on the islands were occupied in a recent survey. Puffins have been hard hit in recent years due to a diminished food supply. It remains to be seen how successful the breeding season will be.

Warming seas appear to have led to a large reduction in the number of puffins around Iceland in recent decades.

The puffling season is at its height and locals and visitors are busy helping lost baby puffins out to sea.