‘Pink-feet’ population status 2015-16

The 2015-16 annual review of the Svalbard pink-footed goose population has now been published. The report provides an overview and commentary on the population status of the Svalbard pink-footed goose in 2015.

The population estimate for the Svalbard pink-footed goose (rounded to the nearest 1,000) for the spring of 2016 is 74,000 geese. The increased effort to improve population estimates has been of benefit and the latest counts (November 2015 & May 2016) show that the population estimate of spring 2015 (59,000) was definitely too low. The optimal harvest strategy for the forthcoming 2016-17 hunting season is reported separately on this website.

For more details about the population estimate please see the 2015-2016 Population Status Report.

The Danish Centre for Environment and Energy (DCE) has published a press release (in Danish) with commentary on the population status and its implications for the 2016-17 hunting season in Denmark. The press release can be found on the Aarhus University DCE website here. An English summary of this press release can be found here.

Date added: 16.06.2016