Madsen, J., Cottaar, F., Amstrup, O., Asferg, T., Bak, M., Bakken, J., Frikke, J., Goma, V., Gundersen, O.M., Günther, K., Kjeldsen, J.P., Kruckenberg, H., Kuijken, E., Månsson, J., Nicolaisen, P.I., Nielsen, H.H., Nilsson, L., Reinsborg, T., Shimmings, P., Tapio, T., Tombre, I., Verscheure, C. & Ødegård, P-I. 2016. Svalbard Pink-footed Goose. Population Status Report 2015-16. Aarhus University, DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, 14 pp. Technical Report from DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy No. 82. http://dce2.au.dk/pub/TR82.pdf
This report compiles annual monitoring data on the population status of the Svalbard pink-footed goose for the season 2015-16: 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 (2016-17). 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 2016) was 74,000 individuals, supported by a count of c. 74,800 in early November 2015. This is an increase compared to the year before and strongly suggests that the count in May 2015 was too low. New findings of c. 3,000 pink-footed geese spring staging in the Oulu region in Finland partly explains the reason for the low count. The proportion of juveniles in the population (October 2015) was close to the long-term average, namely 13.8%, in line with predictions based on temperatures in Svalbard in May 2015. The number of pink-footed geese harvested in Norway and Denmark in the 2015 hunting season was c. 11,220, a decline compared to the previous hunting season when hunting was allowed on land in January in Denmark.
