The Waterbird Harvest Specialist Group and AEWA have recently published revised guidelines on the sustainable harvest of migratory waterbirds in Europe and Africa.
The harvesting of waterbirds in all its modes and motivations can provide both threats and opportunities for the conservation of waterbirds. These much-needed guidelines demonstrate the principles by which managers and users of huntable waterbirds can minimise the threats and maximise the opportunities.
They also show that effective flyway-wide management can be achieved, as demonstrated by the success of the first examples of adaptive management of migratory waterbirds that have recently been implemented in the AEWA region, which highlight new opportunities for coordinated management.
The guidelines take a forward-looking perspective with the hope that this will inspire Parties to advance their policies for the sustainable harvest of migratory waterbird
populations.
The guidelines can be downloaded from the AEWA website.