Gåsetrekket i Vesterålen og Nord-Trøndelag 2004:En evaluering av effekter av iverksatte tiltak

• Main Authors: Tombre, I., Madsen, J., Bakken, J., Kristensen, P. H., Nicolaisen, P. I., Røsshag, B.
• Format: Book
• Language: Norwegian
• Published: Norsk institutt for naturforskning 2004
• Subjects: Norway; Sortland; Svalbard; Vesterålen; Anser brachyrhynchus; Barnacle goose; Branta leucopsis; Nordland; Northern Norway; Pink-footed Goose
• Online Access: https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/gaasetrekket-i-vesteraalen-og-nordtroendelag-2004(dff58e00-7e9d-11dd-a5a8-000ea68e967b).html; http://www.nina.no/archive/nina/PppBasePdf/oppdragsmelding/2004/840.pdf

After several years of conflicts between spring staging geese and agricultural interests in Norway, 1 million NOK was provided by the authorities in order to carry out various alleviating initiatives in 2004. Hence, the Governors of Nord-Trøndelag and Nordland initiated a pilot project for the goose species pink-footed goose Anser brachyrhynchus, barnacle goose Branta leucopsis and greylag goose Anser anser. The present report summarises goose registrations in some of the municipalities involved; Steinkjer and Inderøy in Nord-Trøndelag, Mid-Norway (pink-footed goose), and Sortland in Vesterålen, Northern Norway (pink-footed goose and barnacle goose). Registrations in the Nord-Trøndelag municipalities, Verdal and Levanger, are also included. Pink-footed and barnacle geese stage in Norway during spring on their way to their breeding grounds in Svalbard. In Trøndelag, the spring was extremely early in 2004. Geese also arrived early, with the first individuals recorded the 27th of March. Due to the early spring, farmers also started the grain sowing early and in May most geese were feeding on newly sown fields. In late spring seasons, such fields are only used during the last phase of the staging period. Accordingly, for newly sown fields, the goose pressure was massive in 2004, partly due to an early season, partly due to the high number of geese present. A co-ordinated count was conducted at the 8th of May, and almost 32 000 geese were counted in the county (out of a total population estimate of 43 000). This is probably an underestimate due to all hiding possibilities in the region, and it is assumed that at least 75 % of the Svalbard population of pink-footed goose stayed in Nord-Trøndelag in early May. Intensive scaring of geese registered at several locations in the county apparently increased the flight distance between goose flocks and disturber, and a shy behaviour characterised geese in areas of intensive scaring. However, our data also suggest that geese may tolerate human activities in sites where they are allowed to feed. In the municipality of Sortland in Vesterålen, scaring was one of the initiatives organised in the project (as opposed to Nord-Trøndelag where scaring was an unorganised and at individual initiative). The other initiative was the so-called free-areas, where geese were allowed to disperse freely. Scaring clearly had a negative effect on local goose numbers, but local variations were significant. In some of the free-areas goose numbers were even smaller than in some of the scaring locations. This was partly due to the topography of the area, partly due to characters of the neighbouring initiatives. Hence, data from this spring in Sortland, where all involved farmers received compensation based on the size of their property, suggest that some farmers suffer considerably more than others considering goose pressure on their fields. The various initiatives should, based on registrations in the present study, be organised at a larger scale where neighbouring properties practice the same kind of action (scaring or free-areas). This will allow a more efficient scaring regime at the same time as the geese are able to fulfil their energetic needs on larger coherent and undisturbed areas