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Fishermen targets in California pelican-killing probe
SEAFOOD.COM NEWS
The Chronicle Publishing Co. The San Francisco Chronicle
23rd JANUARY 2003
Federal and state officials investigating the killing of 22 endangered brown pelicans are focusing attention on fishermen because of recent encounters with the birds pilfering their baits.
But commercial fishermen condemned the shootings Tuesday, and along with a state Fish and Game Department biologist, said they were likely the work of a kook.
'I can't conceive of it,' said Gary Freedman at Berkeley Marina, which offers commercial passenger fishing trips on San Francisco Bay and the ocean.
'There's always some pelicans at our bait receivers, and nobody would ever be abusive to them in any way,' Freedman said. 'Nobody even talks about it. For something like this, anybody worth his salt in this industry who saw anything wouldn't let it go by. They'd blow the whistle on them.'
Two wounded pelicans were found in the Bay Area on Friday, one shot in the head in Sausalito, and the other found along a road in San Jose, shot in the wing. Both died. Another 14 have been shot and six others mangled in the past month off Southern California.
'This appears the work of one sick individual,' said Dale Steel of the state Department of Fish and Game, a supervising biologist for species conservation and recovery programs.
As an endangered species, the California brown pelican is protected under both state and federal laws. There are only 5,000 breeding pairs remaining in the wild. Violators of the Endangered Species Act face a year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000 per offense.
In the past year, there have been several incidents in which pelicans were hooked by accident when diving and pilfering bait.
The worst episodes occurred at Santa Cruz, according to Karen Benzel of the International Bird Rescue Research Center.
A big run of anchovies attracted large numbers of salmon and pelicans. Benzel said that 200 pelicans were injured when encountering hooks or fishing line. Of these, 35 died and 164 were treated at the rescue center -- at a cost of $40,000 -- and later released. She said there were probably others that were not documented.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers these numbers alarming given that so few breeding pairs of brown pelicans remain in the wild.
Benzel said requiring the use of barbless hooks, recycling fishing line, and posting signs in multiple languages that describe how to properly unhook birds would diminish the problem. 'There is a right way and a wrong way to do things,' she said. 'Some of them are doing it the wrong way.'
Like many, Carl Rollins of Emeryville Sportfishing found it incomprehensible that anyone would harm a pelican. 'Why would anybody shoot a pelican?' Rollins asked. 'We love the birds. We love nature.'
Rollins said that in 250 party boat trips, he's seen a pelican hooked only once. 'They treated it like a child, holding it with gloves, closing its beak, then unhooking it,' Rollins said. 'We all cheered when it flew off.'
At Montara Lighthouse, Barbara Steinberg spent a morning watching pelicans feeding, first hovering over baitfish, then diving and plunging into the water in giant crashes.
'We sat on the bluff drinking our coffee and watched the pelicans,' she said. 'Then you hear about some of the stories of what people do to animals. I don't understand it in any circumstance.'
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