EDMONTON — Alberta must do a better job of monitoring and reporting the number of migratory birds that die in northern tailings ponds, admits the province's minister of sustainable resource development.

"We are concerned about the health of the wildlife in Alberta," said Sustainable Resource Development Minister Mel Knight.

"We think that government working with industry can improve the monitoring and reporting of wildlife mortalities and, specifically, waterfowl."

The comments came Tuesday following the release of a research report that found between 458 and 5,029 birds may be dying every year in Alberta's tailings ponds.

That compares to the average of 65 the province says die every year.

Kevin Timoney, one of the researchers involved in the project and member of Sherwood Park-based Treeline Ecological Research, said the report's estimates are conservative.

He said the birds found dead represent an unknown fraction of the true mortality.

Knight disputed the researchers' mortality figures, noting they had been extrapolated from other data.

"If there were 5,000 birds that suddenly went missing one spring morning, somebody would have noticed there was an anomaly," he said.

"As a matter of fact, as you know that happened in 2008."

Knight was referring to the incident where 1,600 ducks died in a Syncrude tailings pond. The company was found guilty on federal and provincial charges in connection with those deaths.

Timoney's report also found landing deterrent systems at tailings ponds are only partially effective.

"The only way to prevent bird deaths is to discontinue the use of tailings ponds," the authors conclude.

The study is slated to appear in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, a peer-reviewed publication.

frank.landry@sunmedia.ca