Report No. 86: Adaptive Harvest Management Report 2016 Progress Summary

Summary

The Adaptive Harvest Management strategy (AHM) for 2013-2015 prescribed a harvest quota of 15,000 per year, to be shared by Norway and Denmark.

Total harvest during the initial AHM period for the 2013-2015 hunting seasons was similar, but more variable (mean = 11,944, sd = 1,798), than during the preceding three years (mean = 11,380, sd = 588). The high variability in harvest during the 2013-2015 hunting seasons has been attributed to the higher-than average harvest in Denmark in January 2015, as a result of an extension of the hunting season (for 1 year). The pink-footed goose population size was similar, but less variable, during the three years of AHM (mean = 74,823, sd = 1,165) compared to the preceding years (mean = 76,867, sd = 6,859). However, recent population counts confirm the suspicion that the count in May 2015 of 59,000 was biased low, and adjustments have been made.

As agreed by the International Working Group (IWG), beginning with the 2016 hunting season, harvest quotas will be prescribed on an annual basis rather than every three years because of the potential to better meet population management objectives. The optimal harvest quota for the 2016 hunting season is given as 25,000. The large increase in quota compared to that during first three years of AHM reflects stakeholders’ desire to reduce population size to the goal of 60,000, recognizing that population size remains relatively high and above-average production is expected in 2016 due to a warm spring. The annual harvest quota is expected to average about 8,700 (sd = 9,600) over the long term, although high annual variability in the annual quota can be expected. The optimal harvest strategy remains “knife-edged”, meaning that small changes in the population status can precipitate large changes in the annual harvest quota. This is recognised as a concern to hunters, and the IWG is actively investigating ways in which large swings in harvest quotas might be dampened.

For more details please see the attached report.