Petit Manan Island. Credit: USFWS

Petit Manan is a 16 acre island located approximately three miles south of Petit Manan Point in Steuben. This island has historically been one of the most important colonial seabird nesting islands in the Gulf of Maine. The Service acquired this historic lighthouse station from the US Coast Guard in 1974. Significant numbers of nesting terns had historically nested on PMI, including 1,500 nesting pairs observed in 1971. However, when human presence on the island ended with automation of the light station in 1972, the numbers of nesting gulls gradually increased to the point they excluded all nesting terns by 1983. The Service initiated gull control in 1984. Within a week of the DRC 1339 application, the terns had returned to the island, where they continue to nest today. Green Island, owned by MDIFW, is connected to Petit Manan by a cobble bar. For much of the past twenty years MDIFW and the Service have managed the two islands as a single unit. The Service continued varying levels of gull control (i.e., poisoning) on Petit Manan and Green Islands between 1984-1990.

Puffin on Petit Manan Island. Credit: USFWS

The seabird colony has continued to grow, and in 2004 the island supported 1,312 pairs of Common Terns, 911 pairs of Arctic Terns, 29 pairs of Roseate Terns, 35 pairs of puffins, and 1,042 pairs of Laughing Gulls. For the first time, we were able to document successful razorbill nesting on the island. The number of common murre and razorbill visiting the island has been increasing each season, but this was the first time a chick successfully fledged from the island. Leach’s Storm Petrels, Black Guillemots, and Common Eiders also nest on PMI. Researchers and students from the College of the Atlantic conducted researched and monitored the colony on PMI between 1984 - 1998. In 1999, the USFWS assumed full management authority on PMI.

Arctic and Common Tern Recovery at Petit Manan Island: 1983-2004

Roseate Tern Recovery on Petit Manan Island Compared to Coast of Maine: 1987-2004

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