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For many
years the U.S. Navy has leased the western Pacific island of Farallon de
Medinilla, Commonwealth of Northern Marian Islands, uninhabited by humans, for
use in bombing practice. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service internal reports
indicate that the Navy bombs the island at least four times a year, and
considers it an especially important target site because so many other targets
have been placed off limits––chiefly to protect endangered wildlife.
This came to light when the Navy requested a USFWS permit to "take"
migratory birds incidental to their bombing activity. At first the USFWS denied
the permit, but then reversed course and issued it. |
Farallon de
Medinilla is steep and inaccessible by sea, and thus harbors one of the few
seabird colonies left in the Marianas. Seabird colonies on oceanic islands are
most inappropriate places to use as bombing ranges because the concentrations of
wildlife are so great there. Animals who may be supported by hundreds of
thousands of square miles of ocean must congregate in high density on available
predator-free land in order to breed. Therefore the actual ecosystem area
affected by the bombs is far greater than the few acres of the colony itself.
Seabird diversity in the western Pacific is already jeopardized by hunting,
fishing, pollution, and habitat loss to logging and development, so remaining
colonies should be completely protected.
The recent discovery of an
endangered ovenbird species on Farallon de Medinilla, Micronesian megapodes,
makes even more compelling the case for an immediate end to the bombardment.
The Navy invited various government experts to do a terrestrial and marine
survey of Farallon de Medinilla on November 3, 1996, including Commonwealth of
the Northern Marianas fisheries biologist Curt Kessler,
herpetologist/archaelogist Scott Vogt, and botanist Art Whistler, along with
USFWS biologist Michael Lusk, National Marine Fisheries Service biologist John
Naughton, and Brigham Young University ornithologist Phil Bruner.
Boobies
Rough seas prevented them from doing the marine survey, but in five hours
ashore they recorded the presence of 16 bird species, including endangered
Micronesian megapodes, as well as masked, red-footed, and brown boobies, the
latter in the greatest numbers known in the Marianas, black and common noddies,
white and sooty terns, red-tail tropic birds, bristle-thighed curlews, ruddy
turnstones, whimbrels, lesser golden plovers, white-throated ground doves, the
only known great frigatebird breeding colony in the Marianas, and non-native
cattle egrets and Eurasian tree sparrows.
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| The reporting parties expressed
concern that the Navy had possibly killed some megapodes, and could kill more,
as well as other migratory birds, if the bombing goes on. |
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Wrote Lusk and Kessler in
a joint report, "There is no question that bombing the island will result
in the death of seabirds, migratory shorebirds, and possibly the endangered
Micronesian megapode. On several occasions we observed boobies nesting very
close to unexploded ordinance. While the unexploded ordinance may not provide an
immediate threat to the birds, it does indicate that bombs do fall in active
nesting areas. Although there may be peaks in the seabird breeding season, our
observations indicate that breeding probably occurs year-round. Two megapode
sightings, the northernmost and southernmost, were near the edges of the island
where ordinance impacts appear to be the greatest.
"Another major concern," Lusk and Kessler continued, "is
the transport of junk cars from Guam to Farallon de Medinilla as targets.
Currently there are about 12 of these vehicles on the island. Even though these
cars may be searched for brown tree snakes before transport, there is still a
good chance that snakes may stow away in the cars and later invade the island,"
devastating bird life much as they have on Guam, where biologist James D.
Reichel of the Saipan Division of Fish and Wildlife has called them "the
most serious threat to all species of birds, small mammals, and lizards in
Micronesia." Vogt brought snake traps to Farallon de Medinilla, but was on
the island too briefly to deploy them.
"It is very difficult to gauge
the impact that naval activity has had on the seabird and megapode population,"
Lusk and Kessler added. "As our helicopter approached and landed, several
hundred seabirds were airborne, but some of the masked boobies began to resettle
on nests within 15 minutes. It was not possible to tell how long other species
such as red-footed boobies were off their nests."
Impact
According to Lusk
and Kessler, "An Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the Navy in
1975 states that boobies were evenly distributed over the island, and estimates
a population of 50,000 boobies and 1,000 white terns. If this estimate is
accurate, then bombing on the island since 1975 has had a tremendous effect."Other
counts in recent years have found fewer birds, but Lusk and Kessler suggest, "It
is possible that bombing has changed the predominant vegetation of the island to
such a degree that nesting habitat was significantly reduced."
Lusk and Kessler suggested that if the Navy bombing can't be stopped, it
should at least be restricted to off-peak times of year for seabird breeding,
that the target area should be limited to the interior portion of Farallon de
Medinilla, where nests are few, that the bird populations should be monitored on
an ongoing basis, and that the bombing should be permitted conditional upon Navy
help in protecting seabirds at other locations, for instance by "eradicating
feral ungulates and non-native predators from another island such as Sarigan."
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NMFS biologist Naughton told me,
when I called seeking further information about the trip, that he had observed
one sea turtle at Farallon de Medinilla, and had concerns for a remnant
population of humpback whales who occur in the area on a seasonal basis. He told
me that spinner dolphins as well as green and hawksbilled sea turtles are common
around the island. |
Photograph courtesy of
Cornell Lab of Ornithology |
The
turtles nest on small pocket beaches. Naughton stated that the National Marine
Fisheries Service issued a permit to "take" marine mammals and sea
turtles because USFWS had issued a "take" permit for the megapodes and
turtles, and that NMFS should go along with the USFWS decision. Naughton said
that NMFS did require the Navy to fly over the island to look for turtles and
marine mammals before bombing. If they are there, the Navy is to wait for the
animals to leave.
U.S. Navy Pacific Division biologist Tim Sutterfield told me that the
USFWS issued a "take" permit for 10 megapodes, on condition that the
Navy fund a goat-and-weed eradication program on other islands in the area. He
stated that the investigators documented only four megapodes on Farallon de
Medinilla––which allows the Navy to kill every known representative of
this endangered species 2.5 times.
Sutterfield explained that the Navy initially requested a permit to
incidentally kill migratory birds, but later learned that NMFS and USFWS lawyers
determined that the Migratory Bird Treaty incidental "take" permit
requirement does not apply to federal agencies while performing their duties. He
concluded by stating that the Navy is preparing to bomb the island in the very
near future, but said he could not disclose the date because the location of the
ships that are to take part in the bombing exercise is classified information.
I asked Sutterfield for a copy of the official Biological Opinion, and was
told to contact the USFWS, as it is a public record and could be gotten faster
from them. I called Margo Stahl, USFWS interagency project leader, and requested
a copy of the Biological Opinion as well as all other pertinant documents. She
told me that she could not provide the information because it was against
policy, and the study was so recent that "the ink is still drying."
She also said that the agency that USFWS wrote the opinion for is responsible
for giving it to the public, but added that she would check the policy to make
sure.
Among points of great concern:
- NMFS issued permits with little regard for the humpback whales and spinner
dolphins, merely on the basis of conformity to the practice of USFWS.
- The possible introduction of brown tree snakes, while officially noted, has
apparently not been officially addressed in the issuance of the permits.
- The USFWS and NMFS permits were both issued on the basis of just five hours
of study on the island.
- The possible prior "take" of megapodes and/or sea turtles
apparently hasn't even been noted or discussed.
In my view, NMFS and the USFWS
committed not only an immoral act but a criminal act when they issued the "take"
permit. Should the Navy use it and proceed with the bombing of endangered
species on Farallon de Medinilla, they will be guilty as well. |