Shot seabirds tossed like trash: ‘They shouldn’t be dead on a beach’

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Dozens of shot seabirds were found tossed like garbage on a Newfoundland beach, prompting calls for a crackdown on the province’s unique murre hunt.

Tom Humphries of Conception Bay South near St. John’s was disgusted to find a black bag and some small cartons full of about 50 carcasses during a seaside walk.

He first noticed something was awry when he saw eagles swooping over the area a few weeks ago, he said Tuesday.

“If you’re shooting animals or anything, eat the whole damn thing. Why throw them out?

“There’s people that like murres.”

Also known locally as turrs, the popular migratory seabirds were once a vital source of winter meat in a hunt that was protected when the province joined Canada in 1949.

Humphries notified biologist Bill Montevecchi, a seabird specialist at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Montevecchi said the wasted birds are a sign that federal hunting rules, such as possession limits of 40 birds at a time, are not being followed.

Hunters must have permits and follow seasonal rules overseen by Environment and Climate Change Canada.

“I have no problem with the hunt,” Montevecchi stressed in an interview. “I just have problems with birds being killed that shouldn’t be.

“They shouldn’t be dead on a beach because somebody shot them thinking: ‘Oh, maybe I’ll eat them. Oh, I guess I won’t, I’ll throw them all out,” he said.

“It’s literally just killing birds for target practice. You might as well shoot beer bottles, really.”

According to “The Canadian Encyclopedia,” murres typically weigh about 1,000 grams and are up to 46 centimetres long. That’s almost twice the size of an Atlantic puffin at around 25 centimetres long and 500 grams.

Murres have dark brown or black plumage. They’re shot by hunters in boats often equipped with enough horsepower to move faster than the birds can fly, Montevecchi said.

Illegal sales of the birds and hunting that exceeds “bag limits” of 20 murres per day are issues he regularly hears about from hunters who won’t speak out due to “social pressure,” he added.

“We have an incredible shortage of enforcement officers on the water.”

Comment from Environment and Climate Change Canada was not provided by deadline.

Montevecchi laughed and offered an old joke when asked how he prepares a feed of seabird.

“You get a beach rock and you put it in the pot with the turr and you put it in the oven. When the beach rock is soft, you know the turr is ready.”

More seriously, he said, breast of turr slow-baked with a bit of bacon is just one of many ways it can be an excellent dish.

“It’s an acquired taste, like seal or flipper. But it’s something that’s really good and Newfoundlanders have eaten them for a long time.”

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