Oak Hammock Marsh, Man., July 26, 2006 - While a recently released preliminary report of waterfowl showed healthy increases of most breeding duck species, the continental scaup population reached a record low of 3.2 million birds in 2006, about 50 percent below the North American Waterfowl Management Plan population goal. This decline is drawing considerable attention from members within the waterfowl community, who are seeking answers to this troubling downward trend.
Earlier this year, more than 50 scientists and managers representing 18 state, federal, academic and nongovernmental organizations from the United States and Canada gathered to set new directions for getting at the root of the reasons behind the scaup enigma.
“Although we still don’t know what’s limiting scaup population recovery, we are making progress,” said Stuart Slattery, a Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) research scientist and a co-organizer of the workshop. “We have a big challenge ahead of us that will require hard work, focus and resources. But the waterfowl community is pulling together, and that’s a great thing for the ducks.”
Because the factors limiting scaup population recovery are unknown, management actions to reverse declines are uncertain. Workshop participants agreed that information on spatial and temporal patterns of population change, breeding season demographic rates, effects of habitat change on those rates and harvest management are required to better understand to problem.
The meeting also focused attention on the Western Boreal Forest, where DUC is currently involved with research that addresses some of these information needs, often in partnership with other agencies. Analyses of population trends conducted by DUC scientists suggest that some key limiting factors for scaup may be acting in this vast region.
“These analyses are partly why DUC established a remote research camp at Cardinal Lake, about 50 miles south of Inuvik, NT, where data on scaup arrival body condition, nesting success, duckling survival and habitat use have been collected since 2002,” said Slattery. “As well, DUC is cooperating on research designed to understand potential relationships between landscape change, like deforestation or agricultural encroachment, and both waterfowl abundance and wetland productivity.”
DUC has also helped fund 13 collaborative projects focused on scaup issues in places ranging from breeding grounds in boreal Alaska through Prairie Canada to staging areas in the upper Midwestern United States and wintering areas in east central Florida.