Seabirds and oil spills in the North Sea

Seabirds often fall victim to oil spills at sea, but the number of casualties is falling.

Current situation

Birds that spend much time swimming on the sea are at greatest risk from oil spills. Gannets and auks are particularly vulnerable. In the last 30 years, 79% of the adult gannets and 49% of the juvenile gannets found washed up on Dutch beaches have had oil on their feathers. Over the years the proportion of oily gannets and also of oily auks has declined.

Technical note

The graph shows the percentage of oil-spill victims for all auks washed ashore (razorbills plus guillemots plus little auks plus puffins) and for gannets in certain bird-monitoring areas along the North Sea coast in the winter. The gannet numbers also include counts made along the Waddenzee (Wadden Sea) coast.

The percentage refers to the number of oily birds in relation to the number of birds washed up without any oil on their feathers. Data collected by the Dutch Seabird Group.

References

• Camphuysen, C.J. (1999). Olievervuiling op zee en olieslachtoffers op het strand: de registratie van dode zeevogels op de Nederlandse kust en de toepassingen als graadmeters van de conditie van de zee. CSR Report 99.012.
• Camphuysen, C.J. (2001). Northern Gannets, Morus bassarus found dead in the Netherlands 1970-2000. Atlantic Seabirds, 3 (1): 15-30.