Oil and California’s seabirds: an overview

clear: efforts to address seabird mortality from oil pollution have received great attention in California (more so that other areas of western North America) over the past three decades, yet relatively little has been reported in the scientific literature (see summaries in Burger & Fry 1993, Carter et al. 1998, Ohlendorf et al.. 1978). Several papers from this symposium are published in this issue of Marine Ornithology. This paper is intended to help introduce the topics covered in these papers and to fill gaps created by non-submitted manuscripts. HISTORY – THE EARLY DAYS Development of inland and coastal oil fields in southern California began in the late 19th century, with pipelines to major ports for transport by ships in the 1890’s. San Francisco Bay and Long Beach Harbor (Los Angeles) developed into the largest oil ports in western North America with smaller oil ports in San Diego Bay, Avila Beach, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, and Humboldt Bay (USFWS 1997). Oil transport through California ports increased rapidly during and after World War II, as the California economy and population grew more rapidly than in other areas of western North America. Oil drilling on the ocean floor from offshore piers began in 1896 near Santa Barbara (Summerland) and from artificial oil islands off Long Beach in the 1950’s (McCrary et al., 2003). For many years, oil piped ashore from offshore piers near Summerland was transported to larger ports by tanker but eventually pipelines extended directly to major ports. In 1958, th