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No. 58: Svalbard Pink-footed Goose. Population Status Report 2014-2015

Madsen, J., Cottaar, F., Amstrup, O., Asferg, T., Bak, M., Bakken, J., Christensen, T.K., Gundersen, O.M., Kjeldsen, J.P., Kuijken, E., Reinsborg, T., Shimmings, P., Tombre, I. & Verscheure, C. 2015. Svalbard Pink-footed Goose. Population Status Report 2014-2015. Aarhus University, DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, 16 pp. Technical Report from DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy No. 58. http://dce2.au.dk/pub/TR58.pdf

Summary

This report compiles annual monitoring data on the population status of the Svalbard pink-footed goose for the season 2014-15: This data is used to assess the population development and provides input for the modelling of an optimal harvest strategy for the population for the coming hunting season (2015-16). This is part of an adaptive harvest management framework set up to support the implementation of the AEWA International Species Management Plan for the population. The estimated population size (May 2015) was 59,000 individuals, a 22% decrease compared to 2014. The proportion of juveniles in the population (October 2014) was below the long-term average, namely 10.3%. The number of pink-footed geese harvested in Norway and Denmark in the 2014-15 hunting season was c. 14,800, an increase compared to previous hunting seasons. This was primarily  a result of opening hunting on land in January 2015 in Denmark.