Birdsong, Earth's heartbeat

A few weeks ago I posted a thought on Substack Notes…

“Globally seabird populations have plummeted by 70% in just 50 to 60 years. What changed in that time? Fishing methods… Main drivers for this fast decline? Overfishing and accidental bycatch. This should serve as a terrifying indicator of the real state of the oceans. Why this isn’t front-page news is baffling.”

It reminded me of just how important seabirds are to us as messengers from the sea. The same quiet warning echoes across the land. Fewer birds in the sky often mean less life in the forests, meadows, and wetlands below. I recently came across a post that captured this feeling perfectly (check it out below). It’s almost as though what birdsong is to biodiversity, a heartbeat is to human life. With every bird we lose, the Earth’s heartbeat grows a little quieter each day…

Currently, mass starvation is causing a mass die-off of seabirds in California. Seabirds live off forage fish—sardines, krill and anchovies. These are also the fishing industry’s most fished fish, often turned into fishmeal for the salmon industry, or fish oil for supplements.

This year, already fragile seabird populations were hit by a marine heatwave that is pushing these fish deeper, in search of cooler temperatures. This means that seabirds aren’t able to reach their main food source. Cormorants, pelicans, murres and grebes have been seen walking ashore and dying within minutes.

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A healthy ocean ecosystem would be able to withstand shocks like marine heatwaves, however years of overfishing acts as a baseline stressor that strips the ecosystem of its resilience. This is called the “no buffer effect”, essentially when a marine heat wave hits a healthy ocean a dense fish population provides a buffer; even if most fish dive deeper enough remain in the surface for birds to fish. However, with fish stocks already depleted —a study found that Pacific sardine population plummeted by 98% over the last two decades — there are less fish in the surface, and the fish that are still in the surface are quickly scooped up by the commercial fishing industry. This means seabirds face a double threat: marine heatwaves and commercial fishing, a deadly combination that is driving the mass die-offs now being witnessed along the California coast.

As I ponder the difficulty of turning the silence of birdsong into a deafening alarm bell, I can’t help but think that nature has never stopped speaking—we have simply stopped listening.

So here at Seaspiracy we took it in our hands to show the Californian government that we’re listening. And we’re worried. Below a list of actions you can take from the comfort of your home!

Stop California’s seabird die off

• Email to Director of the CDFW Meghan Hertel asking her to put in place forage fish catch limits during marine heatwaves.

• Email to Chair Sanchez, Dr. Cliff, and Deputy Secretary Hansen leaders of the California Air Resources Board to Highlight Ocean Heat in California’s Climate Strategy.

• Email to the leaders of the California Ocean Protection Council to address the seabird crisis in California

• Email Amy Hutzel the New Executive Officer of the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority to start supporting coastal wildlife.

• Email the leaders of the California Natural Resources Agency to mobilize a plan to protect our seabirds.

• Email the CDFW to increase transparency on the seabird crisis.^The emails are prewritten for you. It takes two seconds to send!

  Protect seabirds now!