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SCWA Chapter Local Volunteer Conservation |
It should be no news to waterfowl hunters that over the past several decades and especially the last few years the scaup population has drastically declined. Since 2000 the scaup population has fell from 4.026 million to as low as 3.246 million in 2006. Scaup populations continue to show signs of trouble as thousands of nesting scaup have been found dead in the past few years on some of their favorite nesting spots in the upper Midwest. Researchers are still trying to figure out exactly what is causing this but these problems coupled with a drastic decline in habitat have dropped scaup populations from a high of 7.657 million in 1979 to its current level of 3.738 million. These issues have been a topic of discussion for many years but up until this year it has not resulted in a change in the bag limit.
At the last Service Regulations Committee (SRC) meeting in late June the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided to reduce the scaup limit to 1 for a majority of the waterfowl season and keep it at 2 for the remainder of the season. For South Carolina waterfowlers this means that the limit is one (1) scaup from Nov 26-30 and Dec 12-Jan 5 and two (2) scaup from Jan 6-25. Diver hunters are a different breed of waterfowl hunter. Hunting large open water areas with layout boats and hundreds of decoys takes a little more nerve and at time patience. Scaup have always been the staple of diver hunters and with the reduction of limits to 1 it makes it all of the work involved for many not worth the trouble.
I talked with Dr. Al Afton who is one of the nations top scaup experts from Louisiana State University about the change in limits and specifically why the USFWS decided to change the limit now when the population has actually increased in the past 2 years. He said “it is all due to the harvest model that the USFWS uses to predict the number of scaup harvested compared to the current population”. The USFWS uses different harvest models for each species of duck and the specific harvest model used to predict scaup harvest is very controversial. The models use the number of scaup harvested every year, which is determined by waterfowl hunter surveys and wing surveys, to predict the next years harvest and compare that to the current population and the long-term average population.
I also asked him why the limit on scaup is low in the first place as scaup are the 3rd most numerous duck in North America behind only mallards and blue-winged teal. On top of being the 3rd most abundant duck the scaup harvest rate is only a fraction of that exhibited by most other waterfowl species. “It all goes back to the harvest model that they chose to use” said Dr. Afton. “The whole survey system is biased”, referring to the USFWS’s annual spring breeding pair counts, “it’s set up to count the populations of early migrators such as mallards and not late migrators such as scaup”. This survey is generally done in April and May before many of the scaup arrive at their breeding grounds.
The USFWS is under fire from many of the states and waterfowl organizations about this decision. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, South Dakota Department of Fish and Game, Fish and Parks, North Dakota Game and Fish Department, California Waterfowl, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Delta Waterfowl and the Central and Mississippi Flyways all disagree with the decision. They would like to see some more evidence of why the limit should be reduces and also want the want the current harvest model to be re-examined.
Dr. Afton along with may others believe that the decision to reduce the scaup limit in conjunction with the elimination of the canvasback season this year will ultimately drive most diver hunters from hunting this year. In the Central and Mississippi Flyways diver hunters count of three types of ducks as their staple which include ring-necks, canvasbacks and scaup. Two of those three types of ducks will have reduced limits this year making it tough for hunters to set up just for ring-necks. Here in the Atlantic Flyway places such as eastern North Carolina will experience the same thing. Many of the large flocks of divers that inhabit the brackish impoundments and waters around Pamlico Sound consist of scaup and canvasbacks.
With an increased emphasis on the importance of habitat and the continued research of people like Dr. Afton and Delta Waterfowl, scaup have a chance to make a come back. Understanding scaup better to increase populations will have positive impacts in the future….lets just hope that it’s not to late to bring back those die hard diver hunters that are so important to not only the continuation of waterfowling but also the great tradition that is diver hunting.
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