Gannet's epic trip hints at fish stock problem
A RECORD-BREAKING foraging trip by a gannet may indicate problems with fish stocks.
Alderney Wildlife Trust's bird tracking project has uncovered the longest ever recorded foraging trip made by an adult northern gannet.
The gannet, named Cosmo by its sponsor, flew 2,700km during the trip, which took it from its colony on Ortac to the waters of the North Sea off Norway.
It was previously believed that the birds' trips were limited to distances of up to 300km.
AWT people and wildlife officer Claire Thorpe said it had come as an exciting surprise to see how far their gannets flew to forage.
'The data prompts a lot of questions,' she said. 'The number of birds tagged is very small, so we don't know if this behaviour is relatively common or unusual. It was away for five days – a long time to be away from young – so it could be that it was a young gannet whose nest failed. But it did come back to Ortac.'
She said it could also be an indication of fish stocks.
'We have a lot of seabirds around Alderney but the populations of most are really small,' said Miss Thorpe.
'However we have a lot of gannets and it could be that there is not enough fish available locally to support them, compared to off Norway.'
