PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus) is a priority species close to extinction in the EU, occurring only in Finland and to a lesser extent also in Sweden (about 50 breeding pairs in Fennoscandia including Norway). The world population has decreased dramatically during the last decades to only 15,000-20,000 individuals, but even this figure was suspect - very little was known about the goose's population, migration routes and wintering grounds. Completely unknown wintering areas were discovered in Kazakhstan as recently as 1996. The European Commission has contributed to an International Action Plan for this globally threatened species. The greatest shadows hanging over the future of the lesser white-fronted goose are shooting (often due to misidentification) and other disturbances during its migration, predation by foxes during breeding, plus overgrazing by reindeer and other habitat loss at its nesting grounds.
OBJECTIVES
This LIFE -project set out to tackle the most severe threats and to try to fill in the missing biological information. An inventory of all known and potential breeding grounds in Finland would be made, besides wardening nesting sites and studying the migration routes and wintering grounds of the species by satellite tracking in Finland, Russia and Kazakhstan. The project would also purchase an unprotected 636 hectare staging area in Säärenperä, which would be made a managed conservation area and where disturbance would be restricted. In Säärenperä and the breeding grounds in Lapland the geese would be offered additional food (barley) to improve their condition, and their greatest predator, the red fox, would be controlled by experienced hunters. To combat accidental shooting, articles would be published in hunters' magazines. The Finnish hunters' association was in any case closely involved in this project, being one of the co-financing partners.
RESULTS
The LIFE-Nature project revealed, through satellite tagging, new migration routes and staging places of the lesser white-fronted goose in the eastern part of its range. Combining this new information with earlier tagging and ringing data, the autumn migration routes could now be mapped accurately, an important scientific achievement. The main western flyway consists of several separate routes, which between Scandinavia and central Taimyr in Siberia, direct geese like a funnel towards northern Kazakhstan, the main staging area: From there the routes divide to different wintering areas. The westernmost population migrates via the route Scandinavia -Estonia-Poland-Germany-Hungary-Greece. The eastern main flyway from east Taimyr collects the geese to China, mainly to Lake Dongting. The genetical studies done using material collected during LIFE expeditions revealed that there are two types of lesser white-fronted goose, the eastern and western. The beneficiary did a lot of dissemination work in Finland and countries where migration routes, staging, breeding areas etc of the species exist: informing hunters about the goose, encouraging authorities to protect important staging areas (during the LIFE project, the lesser white-fronted goose became a protected species in Latvia and Turkmenistan), training people to monitor lesser white-fronted goose etc. Research actions: • All available data on lesser white-fronted geese in Nordic countries was compiled and analysed. • Annual inventories and monitoring of Finnish breeding areas and populations were carried out, but the result was that no breeding was observed in Finland. The number of birds recorded in Finnish staging areas varied from 10 to 45, depending on the year. Sport fishing and seaplanes were identified as a problem for lesser white-fronted geese in Lapland, and by project end negotiations had started with the competent authorities to deal with this. • The LIFE-Nature project carried out expeditions in Kazakhstan, monitoring the population size of staging lesser white-fronted geese, the movements of the flocks between lakes and intensity of hunting. • Expeditions also held to staging and breeding areas on the western side of the Ural (tundra of Bolshezemelskaja), Yamal and Taimyr (partly paid by LIFE) • Staging, wintering and breeding areas were identified by catching geese, ringing them and installing satellite transmitters. In spite of technical difficulties, very important data about migration routes and moulting areas was revealed and the importance of northwestern Kazakhstan as principal staging area for the main population was confirmed. LIFE birds fitted with transmitters were killed along the route, proving that hunting is a problem. • The project used innovative techniques for lesser white-fronted goose fieldwork: a digital video camera was bought by LIFE-Nature and used to identify the geese individually by their belly patterns The project sent a questionnaire to authorities and NGOs in 26 countries along the migration routes. Hunting is a threat to Anser erythropus, so a brochure “Hunters – attention, please” was written in Kazakh and Russian by the project and distributed with the hunting licenses by the Kazakh authorities at the beginning of the hunting season (10.000 copies). Staging areas in Karelian Aunus (Russia) were visited (two expeditions co-financed by LIFE-Nature) and the beneficiary’s concerns about the spring hunting in this area by Finnish hunters (prohibited in Finland) generated much media interest in Finland. The national hunters’ organisation recommended to its members not to go shooting there, and as a result, the number of Finnish hunters going to Karelia reduced sharply. Also, the Finnish Customs was supplied with a brochure (“Import of game species from Russia”) co-financed by LIFE-Nature about protected birds species, to prevent people taking them over the border. The brochures “Spring hunting in Aunus – threat to lesser-white-front goose” and “Import of protected birds without environment centre’s permission is prohibited”, plus pictures how to recognise lesser white-fronted geese, were aimed at Finnish hunters going to Russia. Supplementary feeding of geese was done in Hailuoto and Lapland, but mainly attracted Anser fabalis rather than the lesser white-fronted goose. To control foxes in potential breeding area in Lapland, altogether 276 foxes were shot during the project. These breeding areas were also wardened (but no breeding was detected in Finland); the wardening also included monitoring occurrence of red fox, Arctic fox, golden and white-tailed eagles and surveys of Microtus to forecast predation of foxes against geese indirectly. A strategic plan for the important Finnish staging area Säärenperä was drawn up. The most important proposals in the plan were a prohibition to enter the area during the spring and autumn migration period plus hunting prohibition in autumn. Recommendations were also made for biotope restoration and management, and the LIFE project began implementing them - filling ditches, clearing shrubs and trees over 0.6 ha. Grazing was the most important proposed recurring management measure and very detailed information about grazing pressure was given in the plan, to ensure suitable biotopes for lesser-white fronted geese. By project end, two separate coastal meadows (68 + 33 ha) were being grazed by beef cattle, financed through Regulation 2078/92. The biotopes of the lesser white-fronted geese had thus improved during the LIFE-Nature project. 3.6 ha land was bought during LIFE. Most of the commons owners agreed with the hunting restrictions in the plan, but no agreement could be reached on compensation for the full purchase of Säärenperä (636 ha), so expropriation was begun by the Ministry of the Environment after the end of the LIFE project in autumn 2000. There were many articles about the project in the Finnish national hunters' magazine and other newspapers. A slide series, video and photos on CD-ROM were produced. An exhibition about the lesser-white fronted goose was held in Lapland (Sami Museum) and Liminganlahti. A poster was made for the LIFE week 1999. The LIFE-Nature project was presented in the annual game fair. The LIFE project helped to build up an exhibition in China (Hunan region) in winter 1999-2000, hosted by the Forest and Park Service of China which is responsible for the conservation of the most important wintering lake for lesser white-fronted goose, Dongting. Altogether there were 114 persons working for the project, including 56 volunteers. Besides the project’s active networking with Russian, Norwegian, Greek, Kazakh etc authorities, the beneficiary is active in Wetlands International’s Lesser White-fronted Goose Task Force.