Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus Occidentalis) and Fishing Piers In Tampa Bay

In the mid-1990's, Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) populations began to decline in Florida and it is suspected that mortality due to fishing line entanglement may be a significant factor. Using observational surveying, a preliminary study on brown pelicans’ relationship with fishing piers in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida identified four primary locations where most bird-fishing line entanglement occurs. To measure the relationship between pelican entanglement and fishing practices, we visited these four piers and counted the number of people fishing, the number of times they discarded bait, dead fish or fish filets, the number of pelicans and the number of injured or dead pelicans. This research began in November of 2019 and continued through the COVID-19 pier closures during April of 2020, and resumed afterwards until the end of May 2020. To infer the impact of people fishing on pelican entanglement, we used a t-test to compare the number of injured and dead pelicans counted during the 59 surveys when the piers were open and to the 16 surveys done when they were closed. The average number of pelicans counted was not statistically different between the surveys done when the piers were open compared to when they were closed, but the average number of entangled or dead pelicans was significantly lower during the closure. This data suggests that the normal operations of these fishing piers is having a significant negative effect on the brown pelican population in Tampa Bay.