A MONITORING PLAN FOR BRACHYRAMPHUS MURRELETS IN ALASKA Milo Burcham Nick Hatch USFWS and NPS Monitoring Report # June 2015 Report # September 2014 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was funded through grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Management office in Anchorage, Alaska and the National Park Service, Glacier Bay Field Station, Juneau, Alaska to Oregon State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife in Corvallis, Oregon. Many thanks to K. Maas- Hebner and K. Raum-Suryan for helping write sections of this monitoring plan. C. Rose created the maps. The plan benefited greatly from edits and input from A. Wilson, xx, and xx. The ideas and outline for this monitoring plan were based on meetings and input from the following people and agencies (but see Appendix A): Kathy Kuletz, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Scott Gende, National Park Service David Irons, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service John Piatt, U.S. Geological Survey Michelle Kissling, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Robb Kaler, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Kim Nelson, Oregon State University James Lawonn, Oregon State University This publication should be cited as: Nelson, S.K., K.J. Kuletz, and S.M. Gende. 2015. A monitoring plan for Brachyramphus murrelets in Alaska. USFWS and NPS Monitoring Report no. XX. For more information please contact: USFWS, Migratory Birds NPS, Glacier Bay Field Station 1011 E Tudor Road 3100 National Park Road Anchorage, AK 99503 Juneau, AK, 99801 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.fws.gov/alaska/mbsp/mbm/ http://www.nps.gov/glba/ i TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... i 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 2. OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................... 4 3. JUSTIFICATION ................................................................................................... 5 4. PARTNERS .......................................................................................................... 7 5. STUDY AREA ....................................................................................................... 7 6. METHODS ............................................................................................................ 8 7. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................... 8 7.1 Kittlitz’s Murrelet ............................................................................................ 11 7.2 Marbled Murrelet ........................................................................................... 14 7.3 MAMU vs. KIMU Identification ....................................................................... 18 8. MONITORING STRATEGY ................................................................................ 19 9. POPULATION MONITORING ............................................................................ 24 9.1 Historic At-Sea Population Estimates and Trends ......................................... 24 9.1.1 When Surveys Have Been Conducted ................................................... 24 9.1.2 Where Surveys Have Been Conducted .................................................. 25 9.1.3 Population Trends .................................................................................. 27 9.2 Historic Survey Methods and Recommendations .......................................... 28 9.2.1 BRMU Survey Recommendations from the Literature ............................ 31 9.3 Recommended Methods for Future BRMU Population and Trend Surveys .. 35 9.3.1 Vessels ................................................................................................... 36 9.3.2 Observers ............................................................................................... 36 9.3.3 Ship Speed ............................................................................................. 36 9.3.4 Survey Lines ........................................................................................... 36 9.3.5 Survey Methodology ............................................................................... 37 9.3.6 Survey Period ......................................................................................... 37 ii 9.3.7 Data Collection ....................................................................................... 37 9.3.8 Species ................................................................................................... 37 9.3.9 Criteria for Stopping Surveys .................................................................. 38 9.3.10 Stratification .......................................................................................... 38 9.3.11 Replicate Survey Lines ......................................................................... 38 9.3.12 Modeling/Analyses ............................................................................... 39 9.3.13 Where to Conduct Surveys ................................................................... 39 9.3.14 Gaps in Location of Historic Surveys .................................................... 40 10. PRODUCTIVITY ............................................................................................... 41 10.1 Inland Nesting sites ..................................................................................... 41 10.2 Recommendations for Monitoring Nesting Productivity ............................... 44 10.2.1 Covariates for Monitoring BRMU Reproduction .................................... 49 10.2.2 Covariates for BRMU Habitat Monitoring .............................................. 49 10.2.3 Priorities for Inland Monitoring and Research ....................................... 50 10.3 At-Sea Juvenile Surveys ............................................................................. 51 11. THREATS ......................................................................................................... 52 10.1 Food limitation ............................................................................................. 52 10.2 Loss of Nesting Habitat ............................................................................... 53 10.3 Low Reproductive Success ......................................................................... 53 10.4 Predation/Depredation ................................................................................ 54 10.5 Fisheries Bycatch ........................................................................................ 55 10.6 Marine Pollution........................................................................................... 55 10.7 Climate Change/Glacial Recession ............................................................. 56 10.8 Disturbance ................................................................................................. 57 11. RESEARCH ...................................................................................................... 58 12. NEXT STEPS ................................................................................................... 59 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 60 FIGURES ............................................................................................................... 83 TABLES……………………………………………………………………………………85 iii Appendix A. Contributors to the Plan ..................................................................... 93 iv 1. INTRODUCTION Marbled (Brachyramphus marmoratus) and Kittlitz’s (Brachyramphus brevirostris) murrelets are small diving seabirds (Family Alcidae) that generally occur in sheltered marine waters of the North Pacific. Marbled Murrelets breed in older- aged coastal forests from Alaska to central California, but also nest on the ground and on rock ledges in parts of Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington (Nelson 1997, Bradley and Cooke 2001, Carter and Sealy 2005, Bloxton and Raphael 2008). Kittlitz’s Murrelets are endemic to coastal Alaska and the Russian Far East and breed on talus slopes often near glaciers (Day et al. 1999). Murrelets in the genus Brachyramphus (i.e., Marbled, Kittlitz’s, and Long-billed B. perdix) fly long distances inland to their solitary nests (generally up to 40 km), are cryptic and secretive at nest sites, and active primarily at dawn and dusk (Nelson 1997, Day et al. 1999, Lawonn 2012). These species are thought to be declining over much of their ranges due to numerous anthropogenic threats including habitat loss, oil spills, interactions with commercial fisheries, predation, human disturbance, and climate change. Marbled Murrelets are listed as threatened in California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Both Marbled and Kittlitz’s Murrelets are species of conservation concern in Alaska (USFWS 1992, 1997, 2009), ‘Priority Species’ in the draft Landscape Conservation Cooperative plans (LCC 2014), and on the American Bird Conservancy and National Audubon watch lists (ABC 2007). Brachyramphus murrelets are poorly understood, difficult to monitor, and declining throughout much of their ranges. Evaluating the status and trends of a species is vital to their conservation and management yet determining Brachyramphus murrelet productivity and status and trends is challenging because they spend most of their lives at sea; most breed in isolated areas where they