Seagulls breed discord at Rotterdam Port

Workers at Europe's largest port in Rotterdam are under attack, the Wall Street Journal reported.

When they have to work on the chimneys, cooling towers and other elevated parts of the port's infrastructure, they have to go out in pairs, and remain alert and vigilant against an airborne enemy: seagulls.

In this industrial hub, the tension between humans and gulls is heightened during the birds' breeding season, which lasts between April to August, when the 90,000 to 100,000 seagulls which descend on the port are anxious to protect their offspring from perceived threats. The birds flock to a 500-hectare area within the port's 10,500 hectares, which allows them to see any predators approaching.

Under the Netherlands' Flora and Fauna Act, wild birds are protected by law, and humans are prohibited from disturbing the birds or their environment during the breeding season, said Murco Mijnlief, a spokesman for the Dutch ministry of agriculture, nature and food quality.

"We have to allow birds to nest more or less everywhere . . . If you remove them from one place, they will automatically pop up in another," Mijnlief said.

Construction work on Maasvlakte 2, a US$3.81 billion Rotterdam port expansion that will expand the port's size by 20 percent, is being put on hold for the seagull chicks.

"The seagulls dominate our policy," during the breeding season, said Tie Schellekens, a spokesman for the Port of Rotterdam. In the meantime, the port is assembling cables and doing other work that won't get in the seagulls' way.

Last year, the port spent around $6,370 a week for a fleet of 15 tractors to drive around the traditional breeding area, in an effort to deter the birds from nesting there. It didn't work. And once the birds build their nests, the law says they have to be left alone.

This year, the tractor fleet has been scaled down to five, but port authorities are resigned to the fact that they'll have to wait for the gull chicks to hatch and leave their nests before resuming construction. The first phase of the 2,000-hectare port expansion, a container terminal, is scheduled to come online in 2013.

The port expects the birds to stay in their favored Europoort area until it is filled with industrial activities, after which they are likely to migrate to vacant areas in the expanded port. These are likely to be fully developed by 2035, after which the gulls could move to an area at the southern tip of the port which acts as a depot for contaminated sludge and sediments.

Until then, the port of Rotterdam may join up with its rival in Antwerp, Belgium, to investigate the seagull problem.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)