Assessment of the Harvest Potential for Sea Ducks
Sea Duck Joint Venture, Harvest Management Subcommittee
Background:• In 2010, the Sea Duck Joint
Venture canvassed the management community to determine priority information needs for decision-making.
• Information to support harvest management decisions was considered to be the most important need.
Purpose of the SDJV Harvest Management Subcommittee:
• Further engage with the sea duck harvest management community to determine specific information needed to support decision-making,
• Determine what the SDJV research/monitoring programs can do to support those needs, and
• Develop recommendations/action items to incorporate into the next SDJV Strategic Plan (2013-17) to support harvest mgmt. information needs.
Participants:
Steps Identified:• Conduct an assessment of the harvest potential
for 5 species of sea ducks (black, surf & white-winged scoters, long-tailed ducks and American common eiders) using Potential Biol. Removal– Compile existing demographic information for each
species/geographic area – Where demographic information is lacking, obtain
expert opinion and agreement on parameters to use in the assessment
– Conduct the assessment and provide results for review, discussion and feedback at relevant meetings
• Identify and prioritize information gaps for the SDJV to address in support of harvest management decision-making
Discussion Points/Questions:• What survey information should be used to
determine Nmin for each species & geographic area?
Discussion Points/Questions:• What source(s) of information should be used
to determine Nmin for each species & geographic area?
• What sources of information should be used to estimate rmax for each species and geographic area?
Discussion Points/Questions:• Common eider banding has been occurring in
the northern portion of the Atlantic Flyway for many years.
Discussion Points/Questions:• Geographic extent of certain populations
(American COEI, breeding/wintering LTDU’s)
Proposed Next Steps:• Finish compiling demographic information for
black, white-winged and surf scoters (Dec. 2012)• Form species groups that will review information
for each of the 5 species and select parameter estimates (Dec. 2012)
• Where demographic information is lacking, species groups will obtain expert opinion and agreement on parameters to use in the assessment (Jan. – Feb. 2013)
• Conduct the PBR assessment and provide results for review and discussion at relevant flyway meetings (Feb. 2013)
Proposed Next Steps:• Identify and prioritize information needs for the
SDJV research & monitoring subcommittee’s to address (Mar. - Jun. 2013)
• Report back out to relevant flyways on progress, recommendations and plans for addressing information gaps by the SDJV (July 2013)
• Use feedback to update and incorporate priority information needs into the SDJV Implementation Plan & proposal process (July-Aug. 2013)
• Provide update on progress, direction, etc. at the next HMWG meeting (Nov. 2013)