http://www.theage.com.au/environment/webber-choppers-tern-for-the-worse-20121201-2aoel.html ===============================
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Thanks – good TV and “fun and adventure” must surely take a back seat to preserving a few terns??????
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This is a reply to my question from Eric Woehler, BirdLife Tasmania convenor:
************** * the colony was known to Parks & Wildlife Service (PWS) and the permit issued for the Mark Webber Challenge specifically prohibited helicopter operations over beaches to protect beach-nesting shorebirds and terns, and feeding/roosting sites of seabirds and shorebirds. BirdLife Tasmania works with PWS in conducting beach-nesting bird surveys of the areas to be used by the MWC in the weeks before the event to identify sensitive/no-go areas which are incorporated into the event planning. * the helicopter was observed 20m above the beach and all nesting fairy terns were massively disturbed by the helicopter; the incident was witnessed by a senior PWS Ranger. * the colony was being monitored and there were approximately 70 nests with eggs/chicks present. Based on fairy and little tern surveys over the last 4 or 5 years, we have fewer than 200 pairs of fairy terns in Tasmania, and fewer than 10 pairs of little terns in Tasmania; we believe the colony disturbed by the helicopter represents between 30 and 50% of the breeding effort this season. * the permit was specifically for the MWC and was not a statewide permit ***************
This sounds to me like the pilot, or somebody instructing them, paid no attention to the information that had been provided.
Peter Shute
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“He said a permit issued by the state Parks and Wildlife Service specifically called for the protection of beach-nesting birds to prevent just such an event.”
Would this be a permit for that landing, or a general state wide permit?
Peter Shute