1st Meeting of the Svalbard Pink-footed Goose International Working Group

Bonn, 21 May 2013 - The first meeting of the AEWA Svalbard Pink-footed Goose International Working Group (AEWA SPfG IWG) took place on the 23 April 2013 in Copenhagen, hosted by the Danish Nature Agency. The meeting was well attended by national delegations from three of the four range states along the flyway of the Svalbard population of the Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus): Norway, Denmark and Belgium, while a Dutch delegation was unable to attend. National delegations were composed of representatives from the respective government authorities, as well as invited national hunting, farming and conservation organisations and national experts. Observers from the Federation of Associations for Hunting & Conservation of the EU (FACE) and the Finish Nature Agency also attended.

This momentous meeting, for European waterbird management, was held to discuss and agree on the strategy and actions needed to implement the International Species Management Plan (ISMP) for the Svalbard population of the Pink-footed Goose. The ISMP is the first European test case of an adaptive flyway management plan which sets out to manage a population potentially threatening sensitive ecosystems, on its breeding grounds in Svalbard, and causing conflicts with agricultural interests, along its migration route, whilst ensuring that the population maintains its favourable conservation status. The plan details a number of objectives aimed to collaboratively manage the population size of the Svalbard Pink-footed Goose following the principles of adaptive management, thereby securing its living conditions and habitats along its flyway, whilst ensuring that hunting of the species, in Denmark and Norway, is sustainable.

The meeting began with brief updates from the range states about the population and its management in each country. This was followed by a presentation from Dr. Fred A. Johnson, of the U.S. Geological Survey, updating about the setting up of a modelling framework to support the Adaptive Harvest Management of the Svalbard Pink-footed Goose. This was one of the main focuses for the meeting, as a key element of the ISMP is the sustainable harvest of this quarry species in order to maintain a stable population size, at around 60,000 individuals.

Dr. Fred Johnson and other experts from Aarhus University, Denmark presented information concerning development of a process for a three-year, adaptive cycle of decision making for setting harvest quotas for the Svalbard Pink-footed Goose. The process involves alternating between: (a) an optimization procedure, which identifies a harvest quota based on resource conditions and the weight of evidence on nine alternative models of population dynamics; and (b) an adaptation procedure, which compares model predictions of population size with observations from the monitoring program to update model weights, which reflect the level of confidence in each of the alternative models. The optimal harvest strategy provides a three-year quota for every potential combination of the number of young and adults in the autumn population and the number of temperature days (i.e., days above 0°C) in May in Svalbard as an indicator of the breeding conditions and offspring produced prior to the hunting season. Recent harvests have been slightly below what appear to be optimal to stabilize the population near 60,000 individuals.

The working group discussed the requirements for implementing a sustainable harvest strategy, based on a three-year cycle for regulating hunting and starting in 2013. As part of this first phase for implementing an Adaptive Harvest Management strategy, it was agreed that an annual assessment of population status, harvest levels in Denmark and Norway (the species is protected in The Netherlands and Belgium) as well as model evaluations are essential to avoid uncontrolled population responses and to gain more knowledge as quickly as possible on population processes and responses to management. The annual review process will flag any dramatic decline in the population, which might be caused by unforeseen circumstances, and trigger possible emergency management actions. Under such extraordinary circumstances Denmark and Norway agreed that they will collaborate to take immediate action to close a hunting season for a period of one year, to be successively reviewed as part of the annual assessment for the Adaptive Harvest Management of the population.

A presentation was given by Dr. Ingunn Tombre of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) on the latest developments, throughout the flyway, in habitat restoration, managing agricultural conflicts and the monitoring of arctic tundra degradation. Recent work in Svalbard indicates that the extent of goose grubbing is increasing, calling for a more systematic monitoring plan.

The working group recognised that implementing the ISMP requires continued monitoring of the population as well as carrying out other actions to manage conflicts and ensure suitable habitats throughout the flyway. An on-going programme, supported by The Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund, for monitoring the impact of goose grubbing on the vulnerable arctic tundra in Svalbard was seen as crucial and fully supported by the working group. Belgium reiterated their continued commitment to grassland restoration projects making reference to the ISMP objectives. Both in Denmark and Norway projects are currently conducted between hunting organizations and academic institutions to optimize hunting and educate hunters to shoot geese with minimal crippling, whilst ensuring that geese are able to utilize local food resources. A new website for the AEWA SPfG IWG, provided by the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat, will be made available shortly to present progress on the work, including monitoring information and management actions.



The AEWA SPfG IWG is coordinated by Aarhus University under a Memorandum of Cooperation with the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat. For more information on the meeting, please visit the meeting page on the AEWA website or contact the AEWA SPfG IWG Coordination Unit, led by Professor Jesper Madsen ([email protected]).