Study finds 'double whammy' harmed murrelet's population

Study finds 'double whammy' harmed murrelet's population: "Study finds 'double whammy' harmed murrelet's population
Protection - Researchers blame logging coupled with overfishing for the seabird's declining numbers
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
MICHAEL MILSTEIN

Logging ceased across wide expanses of coastal old-growth forests through the 1990s to protect the marbled murrelet, a small seabird that lays its single egg atop mossy branches.

But now scientists scrutinizing century-old feathers have found evidence that a whole other factor besides logging also hammered the secretive bird: overfishing. Fleets that hauled sardines and other fish from the West Coast may have left murrelets to rely on poorer quality food, undermining their breeding, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, reported."