Summary

During July 2005 a survey for seabird breeding colonies was carried out in the inner parts of Disko Bay, and in the fjords of Arfersiorfik and Nordre Strømfjord. In total 254 seabird breeding colonies were visited and surveyed (Appendix 1). Kittiwakes were in focus of the survey and all hitherto known breeding sites in the surveyed area were controlled. Generally the population has decreased considerably in both numbers of breeding pairs and in numbers of breeding colonies. In the fjords of Arfersiorfik and Nordre Strømfjord and in the region Sarqalleq (Figure 6 and 7) direct comparison with surveys in 1954 and 1980 is possible (Appendix 2).

The breeding colony of Brünnich’s guillemots at Innaq/Ritenbenk was also surveyed, and here numbers of individuals have decreased since 1998 with nearly 50 % to about 1,700 individuals (direct count, some 200 more on counts from photos) causing serious concern for this colony. The population of great cormorant has increased considerably in most of the surveyed regions (Appendix 1).

A decrease in numbers of razorbill breeding colonies since the 1950s may be a local phenomenon, because an increase was observed in the Maniitsoq-region recently (Nyeland & Mathæussen 2004).

From both Norway and Canada, there have been reports of decrease in breeding populations of glaucous gulls, but a similar trend could not be detected among the glaucous gulls breeding in the surveyed region. The results of the kittiwake survey will be included in a fu-ture status assessment of the West Greenland breeding population.

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