Resource Protection: Mississippi Valley Canada Geese: Flyway Management Obstacles
RCED-86-31
Published: Feb 05, 1986. Publicly Released: Feb 05, 1986.
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Highlights
In response to congressional requests, GAO reviewed the Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) hunting regulations and cooperative management program for the Mississippi Valley Population of Canada geese (MVP), specifically the: (1) level of cooperation between the states in the Mississippi Flyway Council and FWS; (2) progress made in reaching the program's goal to increase MVP size; and (3) concern that hunters in the Council's southern states were not receiving an equitable share of the geese relative to the northern states.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| United States Fish and Wildlife Service | If the states' harvest control plans for the 1985 to 1986 MVP Canada goose hunting season prove ineffective, the Director, FWS, should include, starting in the 1986 to 1987 hunting regulations, such restrictions as: (1) specifying each state's MVP harvest objective; (2) expanding special hunting (quota and tag) zones to monitor MVP harvest rates; and (3) requiring states to close hunting seasons early if their MVP harvest objective is approached. |
GAO recommended tightening up on harvest controls if goose kill continued to exceed the harvest objective. FWS and the states took the other path by bringing recent high-kill levels in line with the harvest objective by increasing the harvest objective target, not by imposing severe hunting restrictions.
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| United States Fish and Wildlife Service | Because of the importance of state and federal cooperation to achieve waterfowl management goals, the Director, FWS, should work with the Mississippi Flyway Council to reach agreement on a revised growth rate for achieving overall population and southern distribution goals of the MVP Canada goose program. |
FWS and the MVP Canada Goose Council agreed in mid-1986 to hold the population targets stable at 500,000 for several years, and to adjust the hunting kill levels, based on an expert's model, that includes breeding success, natural mortality, and mid-winter counts. With a zero population growth goal, more geese can be killed by hunters without causing program failure.
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