– I have a bucket and window washing and outdoor brush nearby. If it sucks, I go out right away and start washing, says store owner of Intrepid Arctic Gifts, Souvenirs & Tours, Ingrid Joshi. Joshi’s shop is located in the center of Tromsø. At the neighboring building, a disused room has been taken over by seagulls. As a result, the cobblestones around Joshi’s shop have been painted white with seagull poop. Several times a day, the store owner in Tromsø, Ingrid Joshi, has to wash up after the seagulls that live by the building. Photo: Andrine Gald Myklebust / news – The seagulls are very good at shitting in the same place I just washed. That’s how it is all day, says Joshi in the middle of a round of washing. It was the Northern Lights that first told Joshi’s story. Outside an empty shop in Tromsø, the seagulls have started to nest. Photo: Andrine Gald Myklebust / news There is a shortage of space when it comes to nesting areas for the many seagulls. Photo: Elena Berg Hansen / news The seagulls have made their mark in the center of Tromsø. Photo: Elena Berg Hansen / news Fearing eviction and red numbers Joshi is not alone in finding the seagulls problematic. Political editor in Nordlys, Skjalg Fjellheim, believes the city looks like a bird mountain. – There is of course an aesthetic problem with all this shit and the noise these birds bring with them, he says to news. Fjellheim recently wrote a comment in which he claims that the seagulls in practice have now replaced the people at the top of the city’s food chain. Political commentator in Nordlys, Skjalg Fjellheim is not happy with how many seagulls there are in Tromsø. Photo: Nordlys – The problem is that there have been too many of them. The situation has completely gotten out of control in Tromsø. It makes the city a more unpleasant place to stay, he says. Fjellheim is afraid that the large proportion of seagulls can destroy both business and tourism, as well as make the city less attractive in general. – There are more of the seagulls every single year. And that is despite the fact that Tromsø municipality says they take it seriously. Now he is calling for “powerful action” from the municipality. – This is not how we can have it. – The municipality has not given up Deputy Mayor of Tromsø, Marlene Bråthen (Sp), says that the bird theme is an annual discussed topic. Last year, the municipality formed a committee that would contribute with solutions. – We have made two seagull hotels, as a place the seagull can rather stay, she says. She says that the hotels have worked well, but that they want to do more. Deputy mayor of Tromsø, Marlene Bråthen, says the municipality is working on several solutions to the seagull problem. Photo: Andrine Gald Myklebust / news – The municipality has not given up. As I understand it, there are many who are not happy with the situation. So then it is up to more people to look at solutions in the future. Tromsø introduced “seagull hotels” like this last year. Photo: Dan Henrik Klausen / news She says that the situation is difficult, much because one of the three seagull species in the city, the crutch, is red-listed. Crutches have been threatened since 2017. They previously lived by the sea, but climate change and overfishing have brought many of them ashore. – We try to do our part, but it is difficult when there are three different species that have different behavior patterns you have to adapt to. Crutch Bird species in the gull family Also called three-toed gull because the hind toe is practically missing Also known as Rissa tridactyla Crutch has a size and appearance similar to herring gull, gray and white, but the legs are black and the wing tips are black (without white tips like herring gull) Young birds and adults in winter clothes has a black spot behind the eye, and the young birds have a black band over the neck Liver of fish and marine zooplankton Is a migratory bird The population has declined in recent years, and is listed on the Norwegian Red List as “vulnerable” on the mainland and ” near endangered »on Svalbard Hunting for crutches was previously allowed, in the same way as hunting for several other gull species. With the introduction of new hunting regulations in 2007, however, it was protected; the background is the population decline Source: Store norske leksikon Want to save the crutches Since January, Ingeborg Solvang has been working on a project that she hopes can contribute to the crutches not being eradicated. Solvang is a research fellow at the Department of Social Anthropology at UiT Norway’s Arctic University. It was in Tromsø that first mentioned the case. – They are an endangered species that has come to the city and is increasing in number. It is because their situation is getting worse and worse, she says to news. Solvang believes that society must find a way to live with the various gull species and especially take into account the critical situation of crutches and other endangered birds. Ingeborg Solvang is working on a project that works to ensure that the gull species’ crutch is not eradicated. Photo: Private – You see that other cities live close to the same birds, but have a more positive or relaxed attitude to it. She thinks one must especially look to Newcastle. – There they have a crutch council that makes measures that are good for both the birds and the people in the city, she says.
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Races against seagull handling – thinks the city looks like a bird mountain – news Troms and Finnmark
