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Caspian Terns get Cold Shoulder by Jonathan Brinckman The Oregonian - November 7, 1999

Federal agencies have agreed on a plan to shoo Caspian terns off an island in the Columbia River five miles east of Astoria and move them to another island closer to the ocean.

The agencies and university researchers will prevent the terns, which feast on young salmon that are migrating to the ocean, from nesting on Rice Island by fencing off their nesting areas and scaring them away.

Keeping terns off the island and limiting them to four acres of East Sand Island should reduce their predation on young salmon and steelhead trout by 25 percent to 45 percent. That would save about 8 million fish.

The plan was a compromise by federal officials who are responsible for salmon, some of which are protected by the Endangered Species Act, and officials responsible for protecting Caspian terns, which are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.