Document pm2ap37Eay8aJagjd8gBQ1Qow

Irw sriwrirt rii Mow JawMl April 1*71 * 1969 Seabird Wreck: PCBs probably guilty Wr Mill do m* know what initially weakened and starved the itMMsamU of guillemme (Urin nalge) and other seabirds washed ihi iltc shores of the Irish Sea in the autumn of 1969. Out, ihnuU to lire strangely helmed report issued by the Natural I miMHuncnl Research Council (The Seabird Wreck of 1969 in ` the Irish Sen: edited by Dr M. W. Iloldgate) we ean he pretty wrtaiN whnt pave them the coup de grace. More than 12 000 dead birds seem to have drifted ashore, and since many more probably sunk or were washed out into the Atlantic, the true death loll may have been as high ns 50 100 000. Unlike the over publicised deaths oT young seals oTT the Cornish const at roughly the same time, such mortality among gnihemoti b not a frequent occurrence. There have been itajfor wrecks in the past, and the report mentions 11 for jaiivfmus and the auks in the Inst century. One, of guillemots in the Midway Firth in autumn 1907, shares with the 1969 wreck the faet that most eorpaes found were obviously starved. Were * merely seeing in 1969 an unusual but not unprecedented avian catastrophe, or was increasing marine pollution the cause?. In autumn, nditft guillemots are moulting and flightless. There were severe Month in late September 1969, but by then some birds had already come ashore. Probably the harsh weather masel)' increased the stress on tltc birds, causing more corpses to ha washed on shore; It cannot itself hav* been fatal. There teems to have beta no sudden shortage of the fish species on which them birds depend, nor was there evidence of eny toaie blooms of plankton. Ido pathogenic organisms could be found in the corpses, but this does not necessarily rule out an epidemic disease as the initial cause of starvation, since the tests took place some time sfter death. The condition of the dead auks showed empty forcguls and stomachs, with leu than half the normal body weight. Subcutaneous fat was absent, and the muscles were thin and waned. Alt the Rvcrs were dark and full of blood, with unusual internnl lesions which resembled .those in chicks fcJ experimentally with PCBs (polycldorinatcd biphenyls!. See (Sew Scientist, voi 5(1, p 16). Again, most of the kidneys tu-rc pule tv swollen, similar to those of finches killed in the tab \nh t'lll, Levels of mercury, lead, endmturn. arsenic ;md some <ln*r hem metals were high, and so were concentrations of PCBs and organochtorinv pesticides. However, the range of comaininmi,'!. by organochtorines was not markedly higher than that found in healthy birds shot at the same time; seawater concentration, :' metals and organochtorines dnl not seem to be higher than usual. What is significant, though, is the high concentrations of PCBs in the livers of the dead guillemots; the to crape was lit ppm, ranging from 2 to 880 ppm. It seems clear that whatever led to the initial malnutrition, it caused die seabirds to draw on their fat reserves, which is where PCD ami other oreanocMnrins residues are normally carried. The PCD was metabolized and passed to the fiver, kidney and brain. Thus live hcafthi guillemots analysed for PCII had 3.4 ppm in the whole body and only 0.4 ppm in the liver; five simitar Inrds found dead had 3.2 ppm in their (half size) bodies ami 56 ppm in their livers. While u caanel he proved that this was fatal, the lesions in kidney and liver were typical of birds deliberately poisoned with PCD. The Implications of this report are not reassuring. Pollutants seem to be present in the shallow seas around Britain at leu!, which do not, apparently, build up even at the head of food chains to overtly lethal kvcls. llut they do, infcreminlly. mcrcae the chances that a bird under stress from some other cause will die rather than recover. In this instance, PCBs seem to have made certain that the Marved guillemots were poisoned before they could feed again. Sublethal pollution nibbles away at ecological safety margins, and can have a profound effect on the balance of whole populations. Jon Tlnktr > | I j . ; j ] I j Technicians and Irish industry A shortage of skilled manpowutsnd formidable competition industry is approximatety^me to one. as compared with a figure from the induMrial giants of Europbdms always challenged the of four to one in RritafiCTo overcome an historical bias again*; survival of Irish industry. In spite of thia. the past decade was technical cducntjpifm Ireland. Dr O'SuIJivnn proposes that ih; unprecedented for Ireland in lerms of increasing prosperity and profesrional^sfanding of technicians should be radically h*duMrial growth. Much of this mdustriafKMkm, a mixed improvejJ/Moreover, maintenance grants and scholarship* Wearing in many Irish eyes, hns been assisteaslnr foreign shouiiPoc made available to students during the course of their investment and imported expertise. Now, as Ireland views the Jachnkal education. Complementary to upgrading their statu* knplicatkms of possible EEC membership, many of the'sflQp0 generally. Professor C. o'hllucha sees a role for technician wmtB manufacturing firms, which cmnpri.se more than 90 advisers to the National Research Council. As such. rent t*f Ireland's industrial establishments, are facing (liefuture N. technicians could serve in assessing those areas of the In.h **iih iimkrMsiHlttbte apprehension. It is npposric, at a tjirie when ^economy which would benefit most front Ihe input of science. recent setback* in the textile industry have made iltcir impact, 'Technical training in Ireland is largely tlte responsibility ct' ilmt "Irish technology in the 70*" should be tjw'subjcct for tire AnCoNte Industrial Training Authority, which was c*i:thii,hcJ maugurul *ym|to%itiin of the Irish Ijthofnlnry and Allied frehmeimts AsKocintion. Perhaps symbolically, the symposium in 1967 uhdw the Industrial Training Act. Although still in i:> formative phmSmLAnCo aims to provide suitable trammy. for :i'5 wuv hekt in Dun l,of,tair. a SoutMJuWin seaport from which wany Irish emigrated to Hriiainprlne past. M K Cittrinly true tlratJhe government recognises that a levels of staff in imhtMry from management to operative*. Undoubtedly AnCbswill piny a vital role ia the ftnnu development of IrctamFOi^my small industries. It is on ik>: tome l*awd supply of/hiphly qualified manpower is a smalt industries, each cmployhtftlcxs than 50 pimple, that much vetvtpnsiie fi* ihc fmfncr growth of science based industries. of Ireland's industrial future is sthfced. Mr It. Coimvll.in of the A. ( . O'Stilliv.ni. chairman of the Cork Scientific Council. Irish Management Institute states that small firms **$''*' 'mPr,n,,cc technicians in couttilmliMg to manuraciurv standard piodticts will prohaMy not Min qv | SONS 0 3 3 6 0 5