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Unique management plan for pink-footed goose to be implemented this year

The Svalbard population of pink-footed goose continues to increase. Particularly in Norway the geese cause damage to agricultural crops and they threaten vulnerable tundra plants on the Svalbard breeding grounds. Over 40 years there has been a fourfold increase in the population to more than 80,000 individuals.

Pink-footed geese have cen be hunted in both Denmark and Norway, but not in the Netherlands and Belgium where the geese move for the winter. Photo: Magnus Elander©. Click for full size photo.

The latest coordinated count on 5 May 2013 in Norway and Denmark showed a population of 81,500 geese, yet another increase relative to 2012. The objective of a – within a European context – unique management plan to be implemented this spring is to reduce the population to 60,000 individuals.

Professor Jesper Madsen, DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, Aarhus University, is an expert in migratory waterbirds and the prime initiator behind the agreement on the management plan built on the concept of adaptive management. He emphasizes that implementation of the plan has now gained further relevance seen in the light of the continued growth of the population.

The plan and underlying management cooperation between the four host countries for pink-footed goose (the Netherlands and Belgium besides Denmark and Norway) have been confirmed in the international agreement on conservation of migratory waterbirds, the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), under the Convention for Migratory Species.

The objective of the plan is to maintain the population in the long term at around 60,000 individuals in such a way that the population is not threatened but will not increase dramatically. The plan for the pink-footed goose consists of a series of simultaneous initiatives to regulate the size of the population and to ensure its habitat and food sources along its migratory route. This implies cooperation with local hunters, authorities, farmers and nature conservation organizations.

”Hunting of pink-footed goose is allowed in Denmark, but the plan will seek to optimize the hunting and minimize the risk of wounding. We already have a constructive dialogue with the Danish Hunters’ Association as the plan contains demands to the hunters and their skills. Moreover, the plan entails that adaptations must be made of national and regional practices within, among others, area use and supportive programmes counteracting the plan’s overall aim of securing the ecological needs of the goose population during its annual cycle and its natural migration patterns during the year,” says Jesper Madsen.

Optimal hunting strategy

Presently Professor Jesper Madsen cooperates with two groups of hunters in, respectively, Western Jutland and Northern Jutland. The hunters will participate in a voluntary experiment during the coming hunting season for pink-footed goose lasting from 1 September until the end of the year.

One element of this cooperation is that the hunting ground within the two experimental areas is shifted on a weekly basis. In this way the birds will be free of hunting for one week in an area where they can forage in peace, while simultaneously allowing the hunters a weekly hunting premiere. Another element is training of hunters with the aim, among others, to minimize the risk of wounding.

”There is a similar situation in Norway and also here attempts are made to improve the organization of hunting,” says Jesper Madsen and draws attention to all the hunting-related issues of the plan:

“We are now to define an optimal hunting strategy which is to result in an agreement between Denmark and Norway on how to manage the hunting exploitation of the geese. Concurrently with the hunting season revision we work with annual predictions of an optimal harvest strategy based on computer model simulations of the development of the goose population, using input data on the recent population estimate,  the Svalbard breeding ground conditions – these will be available in late May – and finally on the number of geese killed the previous hunting season. On the basis of these figures we will determine the number of geese which can be shot in 2013. In recent years the number of geese shot has ranged between 11,000-12,000 in Denmark and Norway,” says Jesper Madsen.

Emergency brake

Both Denmark and Norway are ready to pull the emergency brake and introduce a ban on hunting if one of the annual predictions shows that the population is declining below the objective of 60,000 individuals.

“Everybody – also the hunters – has a clear interest in finding the optimum balance for the population size of pink-footed goose. The hunting pressure must not become so strong that the population goes into decline,” says Jesper Madsen.

The plan is a so-called adaptive plan and the adaptive management concept means that the plan’s various initiatives and impacts on the goose population are continuously scientifically monitored and evaluated to enable adjustment according to needs.

The adaptive concept holds significant research perspectives for the development of models predicting how the population will respond to the various measures, for instance increased hunting. The subsequent monitoring will show whether our predictions were fulfilled or not. This we will use to adjust our hypotheses and models. Thus, in a number of years we will have better tools for use in our consultancy services to the regulating authorities,” says Jesper Madsen.

In August, he will travel to Svalbard in order to systematize the monitoring of the goose impacts on the vulnerable tundra areas in collaboration with his Norwegian colleagues. The increasing number of pink-footed goose adversely affects the tundra vegetation and thereby the whole ecosystem.

“The tundra ecosystem will not completely disappear, but it may suffer dramatic degradation,” says Jesper Madsen.

Contact:         Professor Jesper Madsen, tel. +45 2944 0204, jm@dmu.dk
                      DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, Aarhus University
                      Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University

Antallet af kortnæbbede gæs slår rekord (homepage of the Danish Nature Agency) (in Danish)

Unik europæisk forvaltningsplan for vandfuglebestand (In Danish)