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Turkish Hunting Ban Lifted on Red-Breasted Goose ISTANBUL, Turkey, January 21, 2002 (ENS) - The large number of migratory birds wintering in Turkish wetlands have been hard hit by the severe winter conditions that have frozen Eastern Europe and Turkey. Of particular concern is the globally threatened red-breasted goose.
This migratory goose is classified as globally threatened because of high
winter concentrations at small areas along the western Black Sea coast and
many threats in the whole flyway.
As soon as the cold weather front reached Turkey, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Turkey asked the Turkish Ministry of Forestry to close the hunting season across the whole national territory. The ministry decided to halt all hunting activities on January 3. But in a press release issued January 17, the Ministry of Forestry announced the reopening of the hunting season the next day in 23 cities, mainly in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions. The ministry reasoned that as these coastal regions have a better climate, hunting can restart. WWF says that such a reopening of hunting, even on a regional scale, endangers the migratory birds already under the pressure of intensive waterfowl hunting. Turkish coastal areas are the only places where the birds can escape the prevailing freezing temperature in the rest of the country. Located on the migration path among Europe, Asia and Africa, these wetlands have great importance for water birds. WWF is strongly opposed to this decision, and is urging the Turkish Ministry of Forestry to cancel it. The ministry's decision will be detrimental to the red-breasted goose and the threatened Dalmatian pelican, as well as species such as gulls, terns, ducks, herons, egrets, ferruginous ducks, and pygmy cormorants, says WWF. The red-breasted goose is classified as "vulnerable" by Birdlife International, the world's largest nonprofit bird conservation group.
Although the population was estimated at 88,000 in 1996, it has since come under pressure from the intensification of agriculture in its winter feeding grounds around the Black Sea where it can be regarded as a pest. This small goose is distinguished by a bright rufous cheek, throat and breast with a narrow white border. It breeds only in north-central Siberia, in the high Arctic tundra, near the coasts or along river mouths. Then it flies south to its winter feeding grounds around the Black Sea in countries such as Turkey and Bulgaria. It is under threat from industrialization at some of its breeding grounds in the Siberian tundra around the Taymyr Peninsula. A further problem is hunting particularly along its migration route through Russia. Bulgarian bird scientists counted 62,600 in January and February 1999. A few red-breasted geese make their way into western Europe during the winter, particularly into England and the Netherlands, but in these areas there is also the possibility that a sighted bird is an escape from a wildfowl collection. Except for the Russian Confederation of Independent States, Turkey is the richest country in wetlands among the countries of Europe and the Middle East.
Any wetland that shelters more than 25,000 water birds is categorized as A-level according to criteria established by the World Conservation Union-IUCN. Turkey has 19 wetlands which are categorized as A-level. In 11 of these wetlands, some precautions are applied for the protection of birds. But according to Uygar and Stacy Özesmi of the Department of Environmental Engineering at Erciyes University in Kayseri, most Turkish wetlands are not under protection status. "NGO's were the first to initiate wetland conservation in Turkey, and the first inventory of Turkey's wetlands was done by The Society for the Protection of Nature in Turkey (DHKD) in 1989 as part of an inventory of important bird areas," they write. This inventory included 61 wetlands and is currently being updated by the DHKD. The second wetland inventory was done by The Environmental Problems Foundation of Turkey and included 70 wetlands. The Ministry of the Environment estimates that there are 250 wetlands in Turkey covering one million hectares (3,860 square miles). Turkey signed the Ramsar Convention for the protection of wetlands in 1993 declaring five Ramsar sites: Kus Golu, Seyfe Golu, Sultan Sazligi, Burdur Golu, and Goksu Delta. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2002. All rights reserved. |
Discarded
pesticide canisters, Menderes Delta, Turkey (Photo by Michel Gunther
courtesy WWF)