Waterfowl

Concern is mounting that several species of seaduck might have undergone large scale declines in the Americas. This comes after the establishment of one of the most ambitious international conservation programs aimed specifically at waterfowl. The North American Waterfowl Management Plan in the US and Canada was originally focused on prairie nesting ducks but more recently it has expanded to consider seaducks. The Seaduck Joint Venture is filling the gaps in the biological knowledge of seaducks with the purpose of providing advice for their conservation. The Waterbird Society provided one of the earliest venues for discussions about sea ducks through a symposium at the annual meeting held in Grado, Italy in 1999.