Extend eagle study

Wildlife biologist Linda Welch made an alarming discovery during her recent eagle contaminant study — an eagle nesting in Frenchmen’s Bay near Acadia Park had died with the highest level of PCBs in blood ever recorded. PCBs (Polychlorinated biphenyls) are among the most toxic substances on earth. Eagles are very close to humans in the food chain. The Frenchman’s Bay eagle is a big canary in a coal mine with very big implications for human and economic health. An unhealthy environment harms our economy.

We need more data to craft sound enviromental policy. Endangered-species biologist and eagle expert Charles Todd says if the contaminant study is not extended, we will lack scientifically appropriate data for future comparison. With the support of the Governor’s Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Ray Owen, I have introduced a bill authorizing completion of the study. Even if you don’t care about eagles, the preliminary data has dire implications for human health.

The highest level of dioxin-equivalent chemicals ever found in any living organism was discovered in an eagle egg collected from a nest off Merrymeeting Bay (Bowdoinham). Overall Maine eagles have higher levels of PCBs, DDEs and mercury in their systems than eagles of any other nesting region in America. Ninety percent of Maine eagles have higher than normal DDE residues (DDT byproduct).

Nationally, eagles are doing better. Federal officials plan to change their rating from “endangered” to the less dire “threatened.” Maine’s eagle population has grown since the DDT heyday, but unlike all other U.S. eagle-nesting regions, Maine eagle breeding rates have not improved in 13 years. Nesting pairs in Maine reproduce at 40 percent below the national rate.

If we fail to extend the eagle study for one year now, we will need a multi-year study later. Now a one-time appropriation (about $80,000) of state and federal money would be enough. We need more data to answer the following questions definitively:

1. Are current toxin data consistent over a long period?

2. Why are eagles in some Maine regions suffering higher concentrations of toxins than others?

3. What are the long-term mortality rates with such high toxin levels?

4. What is the long-term effect on reproduction and egg-shell density?

5. Why are Maine eagles poisoned at uniquely high rates? Scientists believe this answer will have important implications for human health.

Mainers who care about their health will agree that we need definitive answers to these critical questions. We owe our national symbol, the health of our children and the future of our economy no less. Rep. Sean Faircloth D-Bangor