Wild Atlantic Puffins and Ocean Warming

Atlantic puffins are experiencing breeding failure and chick starvation as warming seas shift the distribution of sand lance and other small fish that puffin chicks depend on.

Key Facts

Atlantic puffin populations in the Gulf of Maine declined by 40% between 1990 and 2020
Chick starvation occurs when adult puffins cannot find appropriate-sized fish near nesting colonies
Sand lance and herring distribution has shifted northward as Gulf of Maine temperatures rise
Audubon Society Project Puffin has restored Maine colonies from near-extinction since the 1970s
Climate-driven prey shifts affect multiple seabird species across the North Atlantic

Welfare Considerations

Puffin chicks starving in nest burrows is a welfare harm with a specific, human-caused origin in ocean warming. Chicks that receive insufficient nutrition enter a prolonged decline — progressively weakening, unable to thermoregulate, and dying over days of starvation. Adult puffins make repeated foraging trips, flying hundreds of miles, unable to find the right food. The welfare and conservation dimensions of seabird breeding failure intersect here — individual suffering and population-level collapse are driven by the same climate mechanism.

What You Can Do

Support Audubon Society Project Puffin and seabird monitoring programs
Take personal action to reduce your carbon footprint to address ocean warming
Donate to organizations monitoring puffin colony productivity and prey availability
Choose sustainable seafood that does not deplete the small fish seabirds depend on
Engage with climate policy advocacy as an animal welfare issue