DUCKS UNLIMTED

Forest and Bird, Volume 18, Issue 3, 1 August 1987, Page 32

DUCKS UNLIMTED

A Force for Conservation?

Do Forest and Bird members have anything in common with duck shooters? As the Public Lands Coalition — a third of which is made up of Acclimatisation Societies — has recently proven, such partnerships can be extremely beneficial. Tauranga member Ann Graeme argues the case for Ducks Unlimited.

Bes Unlimited NZ is a private nonprofit membership organisation dedicated to the preservation, restoration, creation and maintenance of wetland habitats in New Zealand, and to the propagation of our country’s rare waterfowl. Unlike Forest and Bird members, many Ducks Unlimited members are farmers and duck shooters. Although Ducks Unlimited members

write submissions and lobby politicians, they are not as outspoken or as politically assertive as our own Forest and Bird Society. However, this difference of attitudes towards political action does not mean we should ignore them. By working with them we could combine our talents and perhaps motivate valuable allies in the political battle against wetland destruction.

Ducks Unlimited activities

With practical advice, assistance and finance, Ducks Unlimited encourages the development and improvement of wetlands on members’ properties. Their most notable property is the Sinclair wetlands near Dunedin, recognised as amongst the top 20 privately owned wetlands in the world. The Sinclair wetlands were gifted to Ducks Un-

limited by member Hortrie Sinclair, and are managed jointly by Ducks Unlimited and the QEII National Trust. Ducks Unlimited is now fundraising to build a complex of manager's and visitor's accommodation and education facilities on pasture adjoining the wetland. Our most recent project began in May 1986. It is the installation of a pipe from the Raumahanga River adjacent to Lake Wairarapa to reflood the 80 acre Home lagoon, which has been dried up by nearby drainage. Ducks Unlimited has organised and financed the project, with financial assistance from the Wildlife Service and the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, and the work is being carried out by the Wairarapa Catchment Board. Ducks Unlimited encourages waterfowl populations through specific ‘‘operations’’ Operation "Gretel" is the name of the grey teal project. Grey teal introduced themselves to New Zealand from Australia last century but their numbers never increased because of the lack of suitable nest sites. In Australia grey teal nest in holes in trees (particularly eucalypts) near lagoons, but we have few suitable trees in New Zealand. Ducks Unlimited members are erecting nest boxes in swamp areas considered suitable for grey teal. The ducks adapt well to the artificial nest boxes and in several areas all the boxes are being used each season. The nest box design makes it difficult, if not impossible for rats or mustelids to rob the nests, so usually most of the clutch are hatched. Members of local Ducks Unlimited chapters have erected more than 900 boxes throughout New Zealand and their efforts are now being joined by local Acclimatisation Societies. The grey teal population, estimated at about 20,000 in 1974, has risen to around 40,000 in the 1984 count and the provision of nest boxes must take much of the credit. Operation"‘Pateke" — From being widespread in the early 1900s, the endemic brown teal has declined dramatically to become our rarest species of waterfowl, mainly found in North Auckland and Great Barrier Island. Operation ‘‘Pateke’"’ is aimed at reversing this decline by breeding brown teal (pateke) in captivity and releasing them into suitable wild areas. Close liaison is kept with the Department of Conservation. Thirty-two Ducks Unlimited members hold over 50 breeding pairs of brown teal. The breeding aviaries are inspected, and permits to keep the birds are issued by the Conservation Department. Each autumn all the progeny (except a few kept for breeding) are released at selected sites in Northland, notably Mimiwhangata Conservation Park, Matapouri estuary and Takou Bay. The survival and breeding of these birds in the wild has since been confirmed. This year 110 birds have been released, and since its inception in 1976, Operation Pateke has released 550 brown teal into the wild. Ducks Unlimited hopes that in the long term our effort can increase the population to a level where the species is no longer endangered. Ducks Unlimited is also financing a Ph.D. research programme into

the ecology of brown teal on Great Barrier Island. Operation "Whio" although accurate figures are not available, there is a growing awareness that blue ducks are declining in numbers. Mt Bruce and Ducks Unlimited have had some success in breeding blue ducks, and Ducks Unlimited members will be assisting in returning some of these strange and beautiful birds to the mountain streams where they are no longer found. Operation "Branta’"’ — has involved the distribution of South Island Canada geese to the North Island, where wild flocks of some 4,500 geese are now established. Operation "Royal Swan" is our newest project. The exotic Mute Swan population, once numbering several thousand birds on Lake Ellesmere, has shrunk to less than 200 birds, probably due to the devastating effects of the Wahine storm. In April 26, 1986, Mute Swans were collected from the Isaac Wildlife Trust and distributed to Ducks Unlimited members throughout New Zealand. it is intended to eventually establish 50 pairs with members, and then begin releasing birds into suitable wild areas. Mute Swans in the wild are no threat to our native waterfowl, and the project has the approval of the Conservation Department. The Conservation Ethic As a non-hunting ‘"‘pure’’ conservationist, I was at first very sceptical of Ducks Unlimited’s motives. Are Ducks Unlimited really conservationists? About 60 percent of their active members are waterfowl hunters and trade members include sporting goods stores and gun merchants. Are they simply boosting duck numbers so that one day rare species may be prolific enough to be shot? Despite my dislike of shooting, I now realise my first reaction was ignorant prejudice. Ducks Unlimited hunting members have a very real interest and concern for wildlife. (Sir Peter Scott said recently that his great interest in waterfowl had stemmed from his years as a duck shooter). Certainly, Ducks Unlimited would welcome the day when our rare birds are so plentiful that their populations could sustain hunting, but it would be wrong to suggest that Ducks Unlimited is motivated by such self interest. It is not legitimate hunting of sustainable wild populations that jeopardises our waterfowl. It is the destruction of their habitat. The hunter can be just as great a force for conservation as can the mainstream conservationists. In 1983 Ducks Unlimited received the Wildlife Service Conservation Award, recognition of the conservation efforts of an organisation largely made up of duck hunters. Are the "Operations" worthwhile? No-one would argue that the preservation or restoration of habitat is the best way of assisting waterfowl. Enhancing the habitat with nest boxes also seems ecologically sound. But can the same be said for captive breeding? I have heard conservationists say that preserving the habitat is the only valid way of saving a dwindling species and that to

perpetuate them through captive breeding is to manipulate the species, to ‘‘play God’’ in an unacceptable fashion. Extinction, they argue, is a natural process. But at the present time I would consider that it is not natural selection processes but human activities that are causing the greatly accelerated dwindling and extinction of species which we are witnessing. If these activities have led to the decline of the brown teal (as they almost certainly have) | think it is morally responsible to use our human ingenuity to try and redress the situation and assist the survival of the species. That the captive-bred brown teal are seen to be surviving and breeding in the wild suggests that we have not manipulated them to an unacceptable degree. Their period in captivity has not destroyed their ability to survive and multiply out of captivity. In my eyes, the real criticism of captive breeding is that it is selective. Worldwide, great effort is being made to assist threatened bird and mammal species which are visible and appealing to people. The giant panda is a classic example. Yet even such anthropomorphic conservation has some merit. Protecting the panda’s home range for pandas, must mean protecting a whole ecosystem in which countless unregarded species live. And the panda has considerable educational value, for it can represent the vulnerability of the natural world, and focus interest on conservation. It has been my experience when trying to interest people in conservation, that things unseen are things uncared for. Who would care about the Antarctic continent and its wildlife if they had not seen and learnt about them on film or TV? Who has not felt a deeper commitment to forest conservation after hearing the song of the kokako at dawn? Such experiences make people care, and this is where Ducks Unlimited's operations have great value. They involve people seeing and working for waterfowl. Like other Ducks Unlimited members, | get enormous pleasure from our small wetland and its waterfowl and our neighbours take pleasure and pride in our free-flying birds. Many Ducks Unlimited members make their wetlands available for visiting and host school parties and interested groups. By making waterfowl visible and accessible to people, Ducks Unlimited helps in a small way to arouse public interest in our waterfowl and our wetlands. In an increasingly city-oriented world, we need to interest and involve people in our wildlife. I see lack of interest and caring as the greatest threat to our wild places, and we all, hunter and naturalist, Ducks Unlimited and Forest & Bird members, have a contribution to make. #