Was the California Brown Pelican Recovery Celebrated Too Soon?

Brown pelican recovery is often heralded as a success story for the Endangered Species Act. California declared the brown pelicans recovered in the state as of June of 2009, and the federal de-listing came in November 2009. Yet organizations like International Bird Rescue Research Center believe the act came too soon for the California population of brown pelicans.

Even though the population size grew enough to consider the species recovered, many of the factors that led to brown pelican endangerment are still prevalent today. Which is why Change.org community member, Dagmar Jesensky, is petitioning California to return brown pelicans to the state’s endangered species list.

Poisoning from the pesticide DDT caused the brown pelican population crash back in the 1960s, along with a number of other bird species, including bald eagles and peregrine falcons. Despite an EPA ban in 1972, DDT is still having effects on bird populations today, such as the federally endangered California condor.

Having just been declared recovered last year, IBRRC worries that, while the number of pelicans in California has “recovered,” the population has not stabilized.

Brown pelicans are considered an indicator species. Dependent on water for food and breeding, chemical contaminants from oil spills and runoff can decimate the population quickly. One notable example from the eastern U.S. is the Gulf oil spill earlier this year.

It’s not just recent oil that is harming wildlife. Turning our attention back to California, a freighter that sank near San Francisco in 1953 appears to still be causing problems for brown pelicans. Approximately 457,000 gallons of fuel went down with the ship. California Department of Fish and Game estimates close to 52,000 birds have been killed as a result of the periodic fuel leakage from 1990 to 2003.

In the San Francisco Bay area, Jesensky has also noticed an increase in sewage spills in recent years. In February 2009, over 1 million gallons of raw sewage and stormwater spilled into San Francisco Bay in the span of a week.

IBRRC cites domoic acid and botulism poisoning, as well as juvenile pelicans dying from starvation, as other dangers to brown pelican survival. Domoic acid, commonly found in red algae, have neurological effects on brown pelicans. Anchovies, a large component of the pelican’s diet, consume vast quantities of toxic algae. There are even indications that domoic acid can cause epilepsy in humans and sea lions.

Jesensky witnessed firsthand the effects of domoic acid poisoning on brown pelicans in the San Francisco Bay area: “Then some pelicans started doing an unnatural thing — they were stretching their long necks backwards in the middle of the flight. It looked as if they were experiencing some kind of a spasm.”

Additionally, IBRRC is concerned about the number of brown pelicans that get caught in fishing lines.

Starvation is no longer just affecting juvenile pelicans. This past winter, a thousand dead pelicans washed up on the shore of California. A collaboration of California Fish and Game, IBRRC and others rushed to save surviving pelicans and try to figure out what caused the unusual deaths.

With all of these threats, what's the obstacle to endangered species re-listing? Since brown pelicans are considered a benchmark — a standard of a successful endangered species recovery program — placing them back on the endangered list, at the state or federal level, would be tantamount to admitting failure.

That doesn’t deter Jesensky, who is petitioning to have brown pelicans returned to the endangered species list for both California and at the national level. The road that lies ahead is challenging, but well worth it to watch these magnificent birds return to their former glory in both health and numbers.

Photo Credit: Franco Folini