CANADIAN MARINA FINED FOR KILLING SEAGULLS
Aug 5, 2016
A Canadian yacht club was fined $2,500 for killing or injuring a dozen ring-billed gulls while trying to scare them.
An investigation determined that Club Nautique de Baie-Comeau installed monofilaments over the marina’s breakwater to scare the protected species and prevent them from landing, according to CBC News.
Photo: www.thinglink.com
The thread ended up wounding or killing a dozen of the protected species, prompting the government to take action.
Environment Canada said the yacht club had been employing monofilaments to scare the birds since 2013 and had been warned to stop.
“The installations to scare the rink-billed gulls were still in place, despite the fact that the Club Nautique de Baie-Comeau Inc. had been warned that they were illegal and posed a risk of injury to the birds,” Maja Stefanovska from Environment Canada told the newspaper.
The club was advised to contact specialists to find out how to scare the birds legally but did not, Environment Canada said.
Club Nautique de Baie-Comeau is about an eight-hour drive northeast of Montreal.
Environment Canada said the $2,500 is slated to go toward the Environmental Damages Fund.
It’s the first time there has been a fine for this type of offense since the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994, came into effect.
The agency says it understands scaring migratory birds that present a threat to crops or property may be necessary, but warned that it is prohibited to kill, wound or take birds without a permit.
Story courtesy www.tradeonlytoday.com
