European Seaduck Working Group activities
The main ongoing activities are:
1) develop and implement a coordinated flyway-scale strategy for seaduck monitoring, particularly focused on at-sea counts in the non-breeding season for the International Waterbird Census;
2) support the development of the AEWA action plan for Velvet Scoter;
3) support the implementation of the AEWA action plan for the Long-tailed Duck.
Strategy for coordinated seaduck monitoring in Europe
Two workshops have taken place (the first at the Wetlands International headquarters in Ede in November 2014, and the second at the Aarhus University station in Kalo in May 2016) to bring together technical experts to address key issues related to the coordination of seaduck monitoring in Europe. The workshops focused on population size and trend estimates, including: i) data needs and strategic priorities, ii) methodologies and use of technology, iii) capacity building and resourcing needs, iv) future coordination of monitoring activities, and v) data management, analysis and reporting.
A strategic plan that sets out the needs for enhanced and coordinated European seaduck monitoring will be produced and available here in due course.
Action Planning for the Velvet Scoter
As part of BirdLife International’s EU funded Euro SAP project, the existing EU Management Plan for Velvet Scoter will be updated in 2016. It will also be extended to include all range states and as such it will be published as an AEWA Single Species Action Plan. For further details please contact the Secretariat.
Action Planning for the Long-tailed Duck
An AEWA Action Planning workshop for the Long-tailed Duck took place at Roosta, Estonia, on 23-25 April 2014. The workshop was hosted by the Estonian Environmental Board and the Ministry of the Environment of Estonia and co-organized by the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat, Wetlands International and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. Further details can be found here.
The workshop collated information for the production of a Single Species Action Plan (SSAP) for both populations of Long-tailed Duck that occur in the AEWA region – the Iceland/Greenland population and the West Siberia/North Europe population. This SSAP was adopted by AEWA Parties at the Meeting of Parties held in Bonn in November 2015. An International Working Group will be established in 2016 to oversee the implementation of the SSAP. For further details please contact the Secretariat.
Other activities
April 2012: Seaduck status workshop (Jindrichuv Hradec, Czech Republic)
A workshop was held at the 3rd Pan-European Duck Symposium to assess the state of current seaduck knowledge and identify immediate conservation priorities. This resulted in the prioritisation of Long-tailed Duck for conservation planning.
June 2011: Seaducks in the Baltic Sea
A workshop on seaducks and their food in the Baltic Sea was held on 14-15 June 2011, hosted by Kjell Larsson (Gotland University). Further details can be found here.
April 2002: Steller’s Eider and Common Eider workshops (Roosta, Estonia)
Reports on these workshops are available in the Seaduck Specialist Group Bulletin No.9 (June 2002).
November 2000: Scoter and Steller’s Eider workshops (Fuglso, Denmark)
Reports on these workshops are available in the Seaduck Specialist Group Bulletin No.9 (June 2002).
