DISTRIBUTION, ABUNDANCE, AND CHANGES OF SEABIRD POPULATIONS OF THE GASPE PENINSULA, QUEBEC, 1979 TO 1989

Censuses conducted around the Gaspe Peninsula in 1979 and 1989 reveale d 13 species of breeding seabirds, comprising about 230300 adults. The Northern Gannet (Sula bassanus), Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridac tyla) and Common Murre (Uria aalge) made up 82% of the total; the rema inder included Leach's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa), Great Cor morant (Phalacrocorax carbo), Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), Herring Gull (Larus a rgentatus), Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), Common Tern (Ster na hirundo), Razorbill (Alca torda), Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) and Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica). Except for the Herring Gull, all species increased in numbers between 1979 and 1989, a general ten dency observed elsewhere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.