Scotland and Northern Ireland take emergency measures to reduce disturbance to waterbirds during severe cold winter - UK hunting organisations call for extra voluntary restraint

Bonn, 26 January 2010 - A temporary
legal suspension of the shooting of ducks, geese and waders
came into effect in Scotland and Northern Ireland over a
period of two weeks in early January due to severe cold
weather. In addition, UK hunting organisations called for
further voluntary restraint by hunters in all parts of the
UK prior to and following the statutory suspension.

The measures are part of a carefully elaborated scheme
developed in Great Britain to reduce the disturbance to
waterbirds during periods of prolonged cold weather.

Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) in winter / Photo: Sergey Dereliev (UNEP/AEWA) For
many waterbirds, midwinter can be an ecological “bottle-neck”
during which they have difficulty obtaining enough food,
especially in times of severe cold weather when the ground
is frozen. In such conditions many birds face difficulties
in feeding and roosting due to extensive snow and ice
covering their habitats. In addition to facing reduced
prospects for survival, many birds adapt their behaviour
to the cold weather by saving their remaining energy reserves
and appear to be “tame” as they are reluctant
to fly away when approached.

The call for voluntary restraint from shooters and the
statutory suspension aim to reduce disturbance to the
birds caused by waterfowl shooting in order to help them
conserve their limited energy reserves and maintain body
condition to see them through the difficult period. Conservation
bodies have also urged reduction of other forms of waterbird
disturbance, such as recreational activities near coasts
or frozen waterbodies.

“Although it has been 13 years since shooting was
last legally suspended in a British severe winter, the
suspension of shooting in Scotland and Northern Ireland
has been straightforward. This is due to the well-understood
procedures having been previously agreed between the various
parties involved (government departments and their statutory
agencies, and UK shooting and conservation NGOs).”
said David Stroud, Senior Ornithologist at the Joint Nature
Conservation Committee – the British government’s
UK nature conservation advisory body.

The system and the underlying protocol leading to the
temporary legal suspension of waterfowl shooting during
extreme cold weather has been operational in the United
Kingdom since 1981 and has been progressively refined
in the years since.

Once severe weather fulfils previously agreed criteria,
the British Association for Shooting and Conservation
(BASC) and other hunting organisations normally call on
Britain’s waterfowl hunters to exercise voluntary
restraint in shooting where appropriate. Once stricter
criteria are met (after thirteen days of continuous severe
cold weather), the relevant Secretary of State(s) have
the power under Section 2 (6) of the Wildlife and Countryside
Act to impose a Protection Order which temporarily (up
to a total of fourteen days) suspends the shooting of
waterbirds.

“As in previous years, conflicts have been avoided
by all involved having clearly agreed as to those conditions
that will trigger a statutory suspension of shooting,
as well as the maintenance of frequent and good communications
between all involved.” said Stroud.

John Harradine (Director of Research) at the British
Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) added:
“Part of the agreed procedures is for BASC, in conjunction
with key partners, to consider a call for extra restraint
in waterfowl hunting once the severe weather has lasted
at least seven days. This is a call for voluntary action
depending on the local conditions and needs of the hunted
waterfowl. It would last as long as and wherever conditions
were difficult and up to the start of any full statutory
suspension. This winter voluntary restraint by hunters
was widely practised in all parts of the United Kingdom
and even continued where still needed in Scotland after
its statutory suspension was lifted.”

“The operation of this system perhaps provides
wider lessons as to how countries should prepare for other
emergencies, or rapidly developing situations which have
the potential to affect waterbirds.” said Stroud.

“It underlines that contingency planning in advance
is totally essential so that all parties clearly understand
their roles and are not having to rapidly make-up policy
‘in real time’. And also that following each
time we have such an incident, we have a full review of
the procedures the following spring, involving all parties,
to thoroughly de-brief ourselves and see what lessons
can be learnt for the future. That feedback loop is totally
essential to continue to improve procedures” stressed
Stroud.

The UK system is a prominent example of a national emergency
response by one country to try to minimize the effects
of extreme cold weather on waterbirds in the AEWA region.
It may contain elements that would be of wider applicability
to other countries interested in developing a similar
system, not only for those countries that lie close to
the frost-line in the northern winter and support large
numbers of wintering waterbirds, but also for other temperate
countries given predications of increasingly variable
future climate. Future periods of extreme cold may occur
in countries where these have not been typical.

The AEWA Action Plan requires that Parties shall develop
and implement emergency measures for waterbird populations,
when exceptionally unfavourable or endangering conditions
occur, such as extreme weather. The protocol for the introduction
of a temporary shooting ban in the United Kingdom is also
featured as a case study in the section on “Extreme
weather” in the AEWA
Conservation Guidelines (p. 6) on identifying
and tackling emergency situations for migratory waterbirds
and the British system has also been thoroughly reviewed
in a paper in the Edinburgh proceedings (see link to the
full
article below).