Canada increases Black Duck limits

mike braden

mike braden

Well-known member
There are many exciting regulation changes to the 2013 Canadian waterfowl season! Check them all out here: http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/media/deltanews/130904-canada.php

http://www.deltawaterfowl.org/media/deltanews/130904-canada.php

I find this very interesting. While meeting with the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife this past spring and deciding the new season dates for NJ, I was informed that NJ will basically never see an increase in the near future for the Black Duck limits because the Black Duck "are barely holding their own" and yet 5 months later, Canada announces an increase in Black Duck limits for certain regions?!?!?!?!

Wow.......
 
Here is the response from our state biologist.


This is an interesting political dilemma. This is driven by an agreement which calls for "parity" or equal sharing of the black duck resource between the US and Canada which is based on historical 50:50 split of black duck harvest between the 2 countries. Canada is barely able to keep up with the US on black duck harvest.
 
And the second half of the response is that if Canada's take drops below 40(going from memory) % the US seasons will have to be cut to get the take back in balance even if the BLK Duck population is doing well. Don't you love politics!

Scott
 
One of the interesting challenges these days is to find a black duck in Ontario that doesn't have mallard in it. Not as common as we would like
 
I too fear there will be no pure black ducks left for my daughter to try and hunt....No more will the glint of a spent shell steer them away ,no more no no never no never no more ,,,,,
Dumb farm ducks have invaded the black ducks last hope of survival here in atlantic canada.....you will get a chance maybe for a wary black duck of pure genes if you hunt the wild coastlines ,forget it if your near people or the interior as the Mallard has come to stay.....and there genes are evident in more species then one cares to mention...I will shoot a mallard before anything else just to get them out of the gene pool....one mallard in the flock its the one im tryin for....

we get these nuclear blackducks with huge bodies and heads with realy mixed up plumage....sometimes there not so smart and decoy easy....where as a black duck may circle 4 or 5 times before they commit...the others straight in .....

there is also a problem for our justice system as they will have to keep a biologist on hand for every case of mistaken identity...
sherm...
 
We seem to get a lot of "pure" black ducks early in the season. Come the late season, we we see a lot more hybrids mixed in with the flocks that overwinter on the Maine coast.

I'm jealous of Shermie and his six blacks, while over here on the other side of the Bay of Fundy I only get 1. I'm not one to complain about bag limits, but I fear Canada's action will greatly increase pressure from US hunters to get a second black in the bag limit.
 
Dont be jealous my friend alot of stars have to line up for one in the past to fill a 4 blk duck limit let alone 6 this year.

I hunt coastal waters so they are very wary and you have to bring your A game if you want to get a try at them
 
Jeff,

[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] "I'm not one to complain about bag limits, but I fear Canada's action will greatly increase pressure from US hunters to get a second black in the bag limit." [/font]

USA getting a 2nd blk duck isn't in the cards. The US/Canada split is hard written into the international treaty. For the US to go to 2, Canada would have to greatly increase their take and as Shermie pointed out 4 bird limits were tough to get. The twisted part is, that to get the second b.d. we'd need large numbers of US hunters to cross the border and start taking advantage of Canada's larger limits to increase Canada's harvest. Then if the black duck population didn't collapse we would "have to" increase our limit to keep up with US's share of the 50/50 split. Is your passport in order?

Scott
 
Jeff,

[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica] "I'm not one to complain about bag limits, but I fear Canada's action will greatly increase pressure from US hunters to get a second black in the bag limit." [/font]

USA getting a 2nd blk duck isn't in the cards. The US/Canada split is hard written into the international treaty. For the US to go to 2, Canada would have to greatly increase their take and as Shermie pointed out 4 bird limits were tough to get. The twisted part is, that to get the second b.d. we'd need large numbers of US hunters to cross the border and start taking advantage of Canada's larger limits to increase Canada's harvest. Then if the black duck population didn't collapse we would "have to" increase our limit to keep up with US's share of the 50/50 split. Is your passport in order?

Scott

Passport is good, but not sure I trust the boat trailer on that long a ride. I'd rather be conservative and stick with one black. But I really do worry about the arrangement undercutting support for overall US/Canada regs setting process. I hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
 
Further to Paul's comment about hybrids, the explanation that I read regarding this limit change from 1 to 2 was that the Black duck population is being impacted by cross-breeding with Mallards and that hunting in Canada has been determined to have negligible impact. There was no mention of the harvest split between Canada/US.

For source, I believe that this was in the news section of this month's Ontario Out of Doors Magazine, which is the publication of a major hunter/fisher organization in the province. And I think I recall that they were quoting the Canadian Wildlife Service. (I don't have the magazine here at the office, so yes, that is about as sketchy a citation as you will find short of wikipedia...)

Happy weekend,
Dano
 
Link won't open article directly but enter "black duck Canada harvest split" and first entry should be it.

50/50 split [/url]

excerpt:

Allocation of allowable harvest between the United States and Canada. The allowable harvest is determined for each country through the use of a parity function that aims to optimize harvest allocation options that are closest to the allocation objective sought. The allocation objective is: Aim for a 50% distribution of the allowable harvest in each country, but accept annual variations in the range of 40-60% in either country.


This description of the harvest allocation objective recognizes the historical equity in American black duck harvest between Canada and the United States while acknowledging incomplete control over harvest. Harvest parity between the 2 countries will be assured through the use of a constraint which discounts combinations of country-specific harvest rates that are expected to result in allocation of harvest that is >50% in one country. The constraint applies a mild penalty on country-specific harvest options that result in one country receiving >50% but <60% of the harvest allocation and a stronger discount on combinations resulting in one country receiving >60% of the harvest allocation.
Enjoy!
Scott
 
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HMMMM me thinks i could support my addiction with fresh American cash in my pocket ,,,,,,,
Scott ya have me thinking.......but the poor ducks .......oh my.......just for my greed............
 
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