Regulation of the hunting season as a tool for adaptive harvest management?

Summary

This paper, published in the journal Wildlife Biology, describes the first results of season length extension on the harvest of the pink-footed goose, which has been selected as the first test case of adaptive harvest management of waterbirds in Europe. In Denmark, the season (previously 1 September to 31 December) was extended to include January in 2014–2015 with the aim to increase the harvest and, in the longer term, reduce the population size. The total harvest in Denmark increased by 52% compared to previous years, and almost 50% of the Danish harvest was taken in the January extension. In this case, the outcomes from the first extension of season suggest that season length adjustment can be an effective tool to regulate harvest, though dependent on winter weather conditions and hunters’ motivation for shooting geese.

The study is described in a paper published in Wildlife Biology and is available on-line.

A PDF copy is attached: