Summary

Description

Petit Manan Island is a 3.5hectare 9 acre island that lies approximately 4kilometers 2.5miles from the coastline of Petit Manan Point, Steuben, Washington County, Maine. A gull control program was initiated in 1983 by refuge personnel. Within 2 weeks of gull removal, several pairs of terns began recolonizing the island. By 1992, over 1,800 pairs of terns were nesting on Petit Manan Island, including over 60 pairs of the federally endangered roseate tern. Also nesting on the island were approximately 500 pairs of laughing gulls Larus atricilla, 10 pairs of Atlantic puffin Fratercula arctica and several hundred pairs of black guillemots Cepphus grylle. Because the island became one of the most diverse seabird nesting colonies in the Gulf of Maine, and the most important nesting island for roseate terns in Maine, a baseline study of contaminants was initiated for nesting terns. Being a relatively abundant nesting tern species on Petit Manan Island, and easily accessible for scientific collection, the Arctic tern was selected as the indicator species for this contaminant survey. The purposes of the survey were to determine the baseline levels of trace element and organochlorine contaminants in Arctic tern eggs on Petit Manan Island and to evaluate the potential contaminant threat within breeding terns of Petit Manan Island.