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Laskeek
Bay Conservation Society Seabird Monitoring Program
Each
summer, a small but dedicated group of researchers and volunteers
ventures to beautiful Laskeek Bay in the Queen Charlotte Islands,
B.C. From their secluded camp on Limestone Island, they report
regularly on their long-term monitoring program for Endangered
ancient murrelets, and life in these remote islands.
Click
the box below to read their 'Limestone Log' updates on AquaNews:
The
Laskeek Bay Conservation
Society is a grassroots non-profit organization dedicated
to conservation, education and advocacy in the marine and forest
environments of the Queen Charlotte Islands/Haida Gwaii. We
are committed to increasing the public's understanding of the
natural environment through sensitive biological research that
is not harmful to wildlife or its habitat, and through interpretive
and educational opportunities for residents of and visitors
to the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Established
in 1990, the Society continues with a long-term seabird monitoring
program on ancient murrelets begun in 1984 by Dr A.J. Gaston
of the Canadian Wildlife Service. Other monitoring and advocacy
programs involve introduced species, other marine and forest
birds, marine mammals.
The
Queen Charlotte Islands Marine Environment
The
sea around the Queen Charlotte Islands, with its shallow shelf
areas, many islands and strong ocean currents, is a rich feeding
ground for marine life. The abundant ocean plankton and fish
support a population of about 1.5 million nesting seabirds,
comprising 30% of B.C.'s seabird population. Seabirds are in
turn an important part of the food chain for abundant bald eagles
and peregrine falcons. At least ten species of whales, sea lions,
seals, dolphins and porpoises frequent the area.
The
Laskeek Bay area encompasses the coastal waters
of Hecate Strait from Cumshewa Inlet to Lyell Island. Its islands
lie partly within Gwaii Haanas National Parks Reserve/Haida
Heritage Site, and the rest are protected as a BC Wildlife Management
Area.
The
area's old-growth, temperate rainforest provides nesting habitat
for about 20,000 pairs of ancient murrelets and an unknown number
of marbled murrelets. Grassy and rocky seashores are nesting
sites for Cassin's auklets, fork-tailed storm petrels, pigeon
guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, pelagic cormorants, glaucous-winged
gulls and black oystercatchers. About 30 pairs of bald eagles,
four pairs of peregrines falcons, and 18 species of songbirds
nest in the area. Many thousands of sooty shearwaters, loons
and other migrating birds pass by in the spring on their way
to more northerly breeding grounds.
Get
Involved
You
can volunteer as a member of the monitoring team at the Limestone
Island field camp during the spring and early summer seasons.
In order to coordinate with transportation to the camp, you
must commit to a one-week stay or longer. Volunteers are also
needed for in-town support of the field camp, and for the Society's
interpretive and educational activities.
For more information, visit www.laskeekbay.org
or contact:
Laskeek
Bay Conservation Society
Box 867
Queen Charlotte, BC V0T 1S0
Canada
Email:
laskeek@laskeekbay.org
Phone/Fax: (250) 559-2345
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