Friends of the Pelicans Inc.

Want to join me in making a difference? We're raising money to benefit Friends of the Pelicans, Inc., and any donation will help make an impact toward rescuing and advocating for hooked/tangled Brown Pelicans and other seabirds. We are in dire need of a boat to rescue hooked and tangled Brown Pelicans that can't fly and that are stranded in the water and floating away from the Skyway Fishing Pier, or when two, or even three sometimes, Pelicans become tangled together with Sabiki rig hooks and line, and end up floating out of reach of rescue, float away into oblivion, or end up drowning when they are in a terrible panic trying to get untangled. This is one of the most horrific sights we witness as bird rescuers. It's heart-breaking to watch them struggle and us not be able to do anything to help them because we don't have a way of reaching them with a boat! We have a place to store a boat near the Skyway Pier... we just need the boat! A boat can reach these pelicans so we can save their lives! Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to the birds and to our rescue organization!

 

Over the last two years, since we've had our paid seabird rescuer Khan stationed at the Skyway Fishing Pier State Park, we've rescued just over 2,000 Brown Pelicans and seabirds!

 

At Friends of the Pelicans, Inc., our mission is to protect the rights of all birds, and pelicans in particular, to live free from harm due to human interference, specifically fishing line entanglement and hooks. Friends of the Pelicans seeks to stop this continuing tragedy through our organization’s three main goals of:

 

1. Preventing fishing line entanglement at state, local and private fishing piers and fish cleaning stations.

2. Educating the public and anglers on how to prevent fishing line entanglement and what to do if a bird is accidentally tangled/hooked.

3. Rescuing entangled/hooked birds at fishing piers, fish cleaning stations, seabird roosts and rookeries.

 

The Brown Pelican is a common sight in Florida and all along the Gulf Coast. Almost everyone who sees them thrills at the sight as they glide effortlessly across the water, soar on the wind, or dive headfirst from a hundred feet in the air straight into the water. It’s a wonderful sight that residents and tourists alike love to see and enjoy. Unfortunately, a sight that is almost as common and that most people don’t ever see is the way they all too frequently become entangled in fishing line and die a horrible, torturous death, struggling and alone in the mangroves or other roosting sites.

 

Fishing line entanglement is the number one cause of death for Brown Pelicans. If free of human interference, Brown Pelicans could live to the age of 40 years in the wild. However, studies show only 30% of all pelicans will survive their first year – only 2% will live to reach the age of ten years. In addition to pelicans, fishing line entanglement also kills Great Blue Herons, Great & Snowy Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Tricolored Herons, Ibises, Double-Crested Cormorants and all of the other seabirds roosting in the mangrove rookeries.

 

In 2014, Jeanette Edwards, founder of Friends of the Pelicans, Inc. and an avid fisherwoman, came upon two dead Brown Pelicans tangled in fishing line at a mangrove island near her home. The sight of these pelicans and seeing how they had each suffered such a horrible death prompted Ms. Edwards to begin patrolling the island looking for any tangled birds. Now 4 years later she has come across 85 birds at her rookery alone. Of those 85 birds she rescued 54 and came across 31 that had already died.

 

This is a very serious problem and the issue of entanglement does not affect only Brown Pelicans. Of the 85 birds she came across 53 were pelicans and the remaining 32 were wading birds such as herons and egrets who had become tangled in the fishing line left in the mangroves. As mentioned above 31 of those birds were already dead. As a Certified Public Accountant, Ms. Edwards has kept very detailed records and photos of each bird that was rescued or that had already perished.

 

In addition to the birds that were rescued she has also collected several large containers of fishing line, hooks and lures from the mangroves - some over 20 yards of line in length - which has undoubtedly saved many more lives.

 

To grasp the magnitude of this problem, in November 2017 Ms. Edwards expanded her patrolling to other rookeries. On just 2 visits to a small rookery in Miguel Bay near the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier, she came upon 24 dead pelicans in varying stages of decomposition as well as numerous skeletons hanging in the mangroves. In addition to the 24 dead pelicans, she was also able to rescue 4 pelicans during those two trips. In just two trips she came upon 28 birds - almost half the number of birds rescued at her own rookery during a four-year period, all due to the close proximity of this rookery to the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park. These rookeries close to fishing piers are the major rookeries we focus on.

 

On one trip to the Miguel Bay Rookery in 2018, during breeding season, Ms. Edwards witnessed dozens of adult egret and cormorants hanging dead near their nests. Some with their young still in the nest. Fortunately, she and the others with her were able to free one great egret who was hanging next to a nest with two young chicks inside. Unfortunately, we are unable to patrol the island every day, sometimes going weeks without being able to check, which is why we have now created a network of volunteers among homeowners living near these rookeries.

 

This data is provided from only two mangrove monitors who monitor only two small rookeries, one of which is not near a busy fishing pier. There are dozens of rookeries around the Skyway Fishing Pier State Park, which is the longest pier in the world. These islands are full of hanging birds. Without anyone to free them and/or at least retrieve the line from the mangroves, the line continues to kill year after year with the line accumulating and killing more each year. This is a silent, unseen problem that is killing thousands of birds a year in a very painful, tortuous and inhumane way. Simply making people aware of this and enlisting their help makes a huge difference in the longevity of these birds. The mangroves are their sanctuary. They should not have to fly home to a sanctuary where death traps are waiting for them.

 

Specific Programs aimed at Prevention:

 

1. Pier Technician

 

Hire individuals trained in bird rescue to man popular state and local fishing piers in order to quickly rescue and release hooked birds before the line is cut or broken and they fly away trailing yards of fishing line, which is a certain death sentence for that bird and usually many others.

 

2. Pier Monitors

 

Creating a network of volunteers who will volunteer a few hours of their time one day a week or even one day a month to walk along busy piers educating tourists and other fishermen about what to do if they hook a bird, as well as handing out informational material.

 

Specific Programs aimed at Rescuing Entangled Birds

 

1. Seabird Rescue Patrols

 

This would involve hiring two individuals to monitor the waters and rocks by the Skyway Fishing Piers by boat, and other major fishing piers, one or two days a week to look for and rescue birds in the water that are tangled in fishing line. These birds, when unable to fly, will swim to the rock islands by the Skyway Bridge, clamor up onto the rocks, and stay there until they die. They are very easy to spot and rescue. Oftentimes, when struggling to free themselves of the fishing line, as they flap and hop, they fall into deep crevices in between the boulders, where they are stuck and cannot get out. They will slowly die of starvation and stress in the crevices. When the high tide comes in, they drown. This is a horrible way to die!

 

2. Mangrove Monitors

 

We have created a network of volunteers to patrol rookeries near major piers. This involves contacting various homeowner associations that are in close proximity to bird roosts and rookeries and putting on presentations about the issue of bird entanglement, which is so prevalent, and yet relatively unknown by the majority of homeowners. The objective of the presentation would be to obtain volunteers who live near these rookeries and who are out on the water on a regular basis to volunteer to patrol these rookeries when out, in order to look for any entangled birds which they could either rescue on their own, or call us so we can arrange to have the bird(s) rescued. They would also look for and retrieve any line left behind in the mangroves.

 

Friends of the Pelicans needs your help! Please help us achieve our mission of protecting the right of all birds to live out their lives free from harm due to human interference by volunteering for one of our programs, or by a donation to help us obtain a jet ski to rescue pelicans and seabirds that are wrapped up in line, in the waters by the Skyway Fishing Piers, and out of our reach, that end up floating away to die when we can't get any nearby boaters to help rescue them. We need you! Thank you for anything you can do to help out.

 

A huge thank you to Kahn for his expert cast-netting skills and hook line removal skills working tirelessly five days a week on this pier. Thank you to all the volunteers that devote their time and resources to help save the pelicans' lives.  We owe them a great deal of gratitude!

Featured in the News:
https://www.fox13news.com/news/boater-helps-good-samaritan-perform-zipline-rescue-of-entangled-pelican-on-skyway

https://www.friendsofthepelicans.org/

https://www.facebook.com/friendsofthepelicans