Eighteen dead shearwaters (genus Puffinus) have washed ashore at Humpy Cove. Additional birds were observed by other community members at Wide Bay and Morris Cove.
From late June to early August, thousands of short-tailed shearwaters were reported dead and washing up on beaches in the Bristol Bay region, or observed weak and attempting to feed from salmon gillnets in inland waters,
Large shearwater die-off at a Pilot Point beach.
Short-tailed shearwaters breed in the areas off Australia. They come to Alaska to gorge on krill, tiny copepods, fish and a variety of other marine food. Shearwaters that were not dead were found to be extremely weakened, some of them trying to eat scraps from Bering Sea fishermen’s nets.
"Within a week we saw thousands of shearwaters along the beaches, and witnessed hundreds dead. They would sit on the tideline unable to walk, foraging on dead fish that had washed ashore and trying to feed on the fish in the nets of the set net sites as well."
The timing coincides with other sea bird deaths reported in St. Paul Island, Pilot Point, and Ugashik.
Observations From Members 