Campaign to stop Greenland seabird slaughter

Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 1 May 08;

Conservations groups have launched a campaign to end the annual slaughter of seabirds on Greenland.

They say thousands of birds will be killed this Spring because the government has caved in to hunters.

Greenland's government agreed an extra month of shooting despite a huge fall in bird numbers.

The RSPB, Audubon in the US and two Canadian conservation groups have appealed to Greenland to restore the ban on hunting in March - imposed by law in 2001 - to give birds like kittiwakes, eider ducks and Brünnich's guillemots chance to recover their numbers.

Greenland boasted 100,000-strong seabird colonies 40 years ago but they are now down to just a few thousand because of intensive hunting and egg collecting.

In Iceland the decline to endangered status of Brünnich's guillemot is blamed on Greenland's hunters.

ºThe first meeting of a special taskforce involving politicians, conservationists and hunters is due to take place on May 1 to try and find a solution which is acceptable to all groups.

Hunting is a tradition on Greenland with more than one-tenth of the 56,000-strong population involved in the sport. About 2,000 make a living from the sale of seabird meat at town and city markets. The vast majority hunt for pleasure but the use of powerful speedboats and semi-automatic guns is decimating bird populations.

Graham Wynne, Chief Executive of the RSPB in a letter to Greenland's Cabinet, said: "Indigenous peoples worldwide pride themselves on their ability to live sustainably with nature and I see your Government's aim is sustainability.

"But I am afraid the record of seabird protection in Greenland shows a very different story. It is a story of the destruction of nature through an unwillingness to manage hunting, resulting in seriously damaged populations of many seabird species."

Under Greenland's 2001 Bird Protection Act, the country's first legislation promoting the sustainable use of wildlife, hunting between February 15 and the autumn was banned.

But in each of the seven years since hunters have lobbied for restrictions to be relaxed and politicians relented in 2004 and again this year.

They rushed through their decision on February 29 allowing the hunting of kittiwakes and eiders throughout March. The government claimed birds numbers had risen sufficiently to withstand the extra month's hunting.

Eider ducks have declined by as much as 80 per cent in 40 years and the 150,000 Brünnich's guillemots, seen at a breeding colony in Uummannaq, northern Greenland 60 years ago, have gone completely.

Hasse Hedemand, of the Greenland conservation group Timmiaq, said: "Seabird numbers are no-where near the level you could call sustainable and the decision this year to allow more birds to be killed is a tragedy.

"Greenland is a unique and special place but our international reputation is being tarnished by this unsustainable hunting. Most of the shooting is recreational involving people who do not depend on it for their livelihoods.

"There is a long tradition for hunting in Greenland, but with increasing numbers of people, fast boats and firearms, it is the politicians' responsibility to ensure that the hunting is sustainable."

"Thousands of tourists come to Greenland for our landscapes, our icebergs and our wildlife but many are returning home disappointed and disillusioned. Our wildlife is in a sorry state compared to 50 years ago. This shouldn't have been allowed to happen."