The North American population of Northern Gannet is concentrated in six breeding colonies in eastern Canada. The birds nest on cliffs and atop plateaus, with three colonies along the eastern coast of Newfoundland and three in the Quebec portion of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Severely harvested by humans in the 19th century, the population recovered during the 20th century, except for a short period in the early 1970s when declines related to DDT contamination were observed. Since 2009, the population has levelled off in both the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland. Overall though, the population in Canada has increased since the 1970s. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.
Historically, Northern Gannet populations suffered from large-scale killing by fishermen and later from the effects of DDT (Chapdelaine 1996). DDT contamination resulted in poor hatching success but, after it was banned in the 1970s, the population began to increase once again. Today, breeding colonies are protected as provincial reserves or as federal migratory bird sanctuaries (Mowbray 2002). Gannet populations appear to be negatively affected by current changes in abundance, distribution, and availability of their preferred prey during the breeding season (Rail et al. 2013, Montevecchi et al. 2013). Offshore windfarms are avoided by Northern Gannets, which may have an impact on the species through the loss of habitat (Garthe et al. 2017). Oil spills could also potentially affect the species.
Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:
Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.
