Reducing damage to agriculture by migratory geese by means of population control; investigating the use of adaptive organisation of hunting

Highlights from 2013: We have rented a third year with total hunting rights at Nesset in Levanger municipality, meaning that we have completed another season of data collection where we simultaneously have the control over the hunting activity (hunt in d ifferent zones in different periods, always having hunting-free refuges available for the geese), and can register harvest rates, goose behavior and habitat use after each hunting event. Comparing the harvest at Nesset and harvest in Skogn, a site with mo re intense hunting activity, results demonstrate that the average bag per day is larger when the number of hunting events are reduced. A survey among hunters was completed in 2013, and results are presented in a report (Norut Alta Report, see publicati on list, Søreng et al. 2013). The publication to media, press and users have been extensive in the last year. In October 2013 we organized a workshop in Jutland, Denmark, for the reference group. We presented results from our project, and had one extra day learning from a corresponding Danish research/hunting project, met representatives from the Danish Hunting Organization, the ?Naturstyrelsen? and exchange experiences among the two countries. Hunting is an important population regulating tool when ma naging the population of pink-footed goose at an international level. Output form GOOSEHUNT will fuel directly into the database for the international flyway management plan. GOOSEHUNT collaborates with several local initiatives in Mid-Norway where the hunting practice is organized. The need to increase the harvest rate, in the present phase of an increasing population above the internationally agreed target, calls for solutions in order to be able to fulfil the international responsibility. The implem entation of the international plan is the main focus in a newly funded NFR-project ?Adaptive goose management beyond borders? (Miljo 2015). No specific new methods/techniques have been developed during the project period, but we increasingly experience and understand that, if the implementation is to be successful, there is a need for 1) an interdisciplinary approach in project where there are conflicts around resources and several stakeholders are affected, and 2) an involvement of stakeholders at var ious levels and phases.

A dramatic increase in the sizes of wild goose populations in Europe causes serious conflicts with agricultural interests because geese converge on farmland for feeding. Increasingly, calls for increased hunting pressure to control population sizes as a m eans to mitigate the conflicts are heard; however, current hunting practises and conflicting interests often hinder an efficient use of the wildlife resources. The objective of this project is to develop a framework for co-operative local-based goose hunt ing organisation and co-existence between sustainably managed goose populations and agriculture. The knowledge produced will support and facilitate sustainable agricultural practices as well as strengthen the partnership between farming, hunting, nature m anagement, other stakeholders and local communities. The flexible schemes suggested will be developed on an interdisciplinary basis in close co-operation with local interest groups and management institutions. A region in central Norway, Nord-Trøndelag, w here spring-staging pink-footed geese cause economical loss for farmers, will be the case study. Here, advising knowledge considering population control of pink-footed geese is requested by local farmers and authorities. We evaluate the current hunting pr actice, study the social and economic issues important for the farmers, hunters and authorities in the agriculture-goose conflict, including an organised goose hunt, and assess the motivation by, and feasibility of, the stakeholders entering a system base d on voluntary agreements. We develop spatially-explicit models to predict goose distribution under various regimes of hunting, to inform stakeholders on how organisation of hunting can increase the number of geese potentially harvested, taking stakeholde r interests into account.