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An Assessment of Sufficiency of Data Availability on UK Waterbird Harvests for Accurately Estimating the Scale and Sustainability of Harvest of AEWA-Listed Waterbird Populations 2025

Abstract

A number of waterbird species that are legally huntable in the UK are listed on Table 1 of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), to which the UK is a Contracting Party. As such, the UK has an obligation to ensure that any use of these species is sustainable. To establish if harvest is sustainable, Parties are required to understand the numbers of birds hunted – so-called “hunting bags”. Currently, UK hunters voluntarily record data on hunting bags, but there is no systematic, mandatory, or enforceable system to collect this information. It is therefore important to understand whether the current data collection on hunting bags is sufficient to reliably determine whether the harvest of AEWA-listed species and populations is sustainable.

The aims of this report are:

  1. To review and assess the sufficiency of evidence for the size of UK hunting bags of waterbird populations listed in AEWA Action Plan Table 1.

  2. To identify any important evidence gaps and suggest options for filling them.

  3. To review the reliability of a recent assessment (Ellis & Cameron 2022) of the sustainability of UK waterbird hunting and the robustness of the methods used.

This report may not be fully accessible for all users. If you need a copy in a different or more accessible format, please contact Communications@jncc.gov.uk.

Resource type Publication

Topic category Environment

Reference date 2025·07·01

Citation
Madden, J.R., Ellis, M. & Cameron, T. 2025. An Assessment of Sufficiency of Data Availability on UK Waterbird Harvests for Accurately Estimating the Scale and Sustainability of Harvest of AEWA-Listed Waterbird Populations. JNCC Report 779 (Research and Review Report), JNCC, Peterborough, ISSN 0963-8091.

Lineage
The review will consider the harvest of waterbirds by legal means (hunting), but harvest that is permitted via licenced take and/or falconry is outside the scope of this report.

Responsible organisation
Communications, JNCC publisher

Limitations on public access No limitations

Use constraints Available under the Open Government Licence 3.0

Metadata date 2025·08·05

Metadata point of contact
Communications, JNCC

Temporal extent 2020·12·31 2024·12·31

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