U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grant for Marine Bird Tracking Research

BRI is uniquely qualified for this project, in accordance with 505 DM 2, possessing the expertise, personnel, and equipment (specialized boats and boat trailers, vehicles, trapping gear, etc.) necessary to carry out work throughout our broad offshore study area. During the last 20 years, the group has been an international leader in the research of loons, one of the three focal taxa of our project, directing studies of multiple loon species and founding the International Center for Loon Conservation and Research (www.briloon.org/research/researchcenters/
international-center-for-loon-conservation). Their staff includes at least three experts, who have spearheaded the majority of recent field studies involving loons in the U.S. Atlantic region. BRI also has a long and successful record of carrying out movement studies with our project’s other focal birds, gannets (www.briloon.org/research/research-programs/marine-bird-program) and scoters (www.briloon.org/research/research-programs/waterfowl-program) in the region, and has previously partnered with our project’s other primary collaborators (USGS Patuxent, and the Montevecchi Lab at Memorial University of Newfoundland). BRI is currently involved in complimentary efforts (funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Bailey Wildlife Foundation) to evaluate the effects of offshore wind development on marine birds. Results from these projects will contribute additional information to help meet our project’s objectives. FWS knows of no other organization with the high level of qualifications and readiness to carry out the proposed project. Thus, we selected BRI with minimal competition.

Specific tasks that BRI will perform include: capture and tagging of Red-throated Loons (Gavia stellata), Surf Scoters (Melanitta perspicillata), and Northern Gannets (Morus bassana) with platform terminal transmitter satellite tracking tags (PTTs), and collection and reporting of fine-scale movement data of tagged individuals using Federal waters of the mid-Atlantic U.S. during migration and winter. BRI will also 1) better identify connectivity and distribution of all three study species across seasons, including identifying breeding areas, using PTTs, and 2) test at-sea winter capture methods and PTT attachment techniques for Northern Gannets with a goal of increasing total tracking durations above currently attainable levels.

The service will have substantial involvement in the project including the following activities:

• Assisting with project design and implementation

• Managing project funds and coordinating effective interactions among project collaborators to assure that project objectives are carried out efficiently

• Providing logistical oversight for work in all geographical areas and for all focal species, including planning and moderating project meetings with all collaborators

• Procuring satellite tracking equipment and providing it to the cooperator

• Managing satellite tracking service accounts

• Assisting in field operations and data collection when/if necessary

• Analyzing and presenting location data to meet objectives

• Compiling all data and results from cooperator and other collaborators, and overseeing the drafting of an annual report to project funder, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)

• Overseeing funding distribution and planning for subsequent field seasons (with agreement extension)

• Serving as project liaison to BOEM, and advising them how to effectively implement project findings