Opportunities for hunting in 2013/14

The report has been reviewed and accepted by the International Working Group. Its predictions are based on the underlying population models, updated with the current population size (81,500 individuals) and the total harvest in Norway and Denmark (11,000) in the previous hunting season (2012) as well as the spring conditions in Svalbard in May 2013 (which was average), used as a proxy for the breeding output. The strategy suggests that the appropriate annual harvest quota for the 2013‐2015 period is 15 thousand. For comparison, the estimated harvest in 2012 was 11 thousand. If the harvest quota of 15 thousand were met, the autumn 2013 population count is expected to be 76 thousand. If only the most recent 3‐year mean harvest were realized (11.5 thousand), an autumn population size of 80 thousand is expected. Thus, it may be that harvest is approaching the magnitude needed to stabilize the population.

For more details please see the Adaptive Harvest Management Report 2013-2015.

The outcome of the coming 2013 hunting season will be evaluated and reported in the spring of 2014. You can find out more about periodically produced reports in the Annual Reports section.

Date added: 30.08.2013