ADAPTIVE PINTAIL HARVEST MODEL

CWA is stepping up efforts to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to obtain changes in the federal management model for pintails. We are seeking a change from the current strategy of offering all four flyways the same framework package in order to allow for some liberalization in California’s pintail bag limit.

The Science: Beginning in 1998, the Service and all four flyways agreed to abide by a pintail strategy that calls for no liberalization of the current highly restrictive framework until the model can project a minimum six percent population growth in the next year’s breeding population estimate. Unfortunately, the current pintail model assumes that every bird harvested takes one full bird out of the following spring’s breeding population – and therefore assumes other factors such as disease, predation, and excess drakes do not vary from year to year.

The Politics: The four Flyway Councils, the Service Regulations Council, and the California Department of Fish and Game have continued to adhere to the nationwide pintail management strategy even though it is flawed in its bent toward harvest impacts. The status quo is based on limited current pintail survival data and lack of funding to update the established regulation-setting model.

Action: CWA is seeking changes in the model to account for variation in other mortality factors that offset the impacts of harvest. We are also working with state and federal biologists and other nonprofit groups under the Pintail Action Group to collect pintail survival and harvest data to demonstrate that pintails will benefit more from efforts to improve breeding success as opposed to setting extremely restrictive hunting regulations. To learn more about pintail banding and the pintail program, click here >>

Top regional Service staff have confirmed that the Service is planning to accommodate variation in other mortality factors into the pintail model for the 2007-8 framework, assuming it has the budget to do so. CWA and the California Outdoor Heritage Alliance are seeking options to assure that the Service gets adequate funding for the work.

In December, members of the Service’s Harvest Regulation Committee met with the Pacific Flyway Technical Committee to review the most recent pintail harvest model. CWA will keep you apprised of progress in this area.