It has been reported (http://news.bbc.co.uk./1/hi/scotland/4719695.stm) that many Puffin chicks are starving in the large colony of St Kilda (Scotland). The claim is that the appropriate oil-rich fish for the chicks (herring and sand eel) are in short supply and that the chicks are being fed bony snake-fish that are more commonly associated with southern waters. There has been an immediate leap to global warming as an explanation. This might well be a contributing factor but there have been other occasions since the 1970s when Shetland seabird reproduction (Arctic terns, kittiwakes, guillemots, great skuas and Arctic skuas) has been reduced in relation to reduced sand eel stocks (Monaghan [1992] 'Seabirds and sand eels: the conflict between exploitation and conservation in the North sea. Biodiversity and Conservation 1: 98-111). Over-fishing for these fish (to make fish-meal for agriculture has been a factor in the past).
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