Mississippi likely to keep liberal regulatory schedule for next waterfowl season – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper

JACKSON — Waterfowl season ended Tuesday and shortly it will likely be time for biologists to conduct surveys on waterfowl and breeding grounds this summer season. The reviews will probably be included within the Adaptive Harvest Administration report and can help flyway councils in recommending a season framework for 2024-2025.

Mississippi Division of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks will quickly obtain federal frameworks for the 2023-2024 waterfowl season based mostly on the AHM revealed in August 2022. MDWFP will be capable to select season dates to adjust to the federal frameworks. 

Houston Havens, waterfowl program coordinator for the MDWFP, mentioned based mostly on the AHM report revealed in August, the Mississippi Flyway Council advisable a liberal regulatory schedule which is a 60 day season with six geese per day for 2023-2024. 

Whereas some duck populations have seen decline in comparison with the long run common, teal have seen a rise. Particularly, blue-winged teal have seen a 27 % improve towards the long run common with an estimated inhabitants of 6.5 ± 0.3 Million in line with the latest AHM report. Inexperienced-winged teal have been at 2.2 ± 0.02 Million and are at a gentle inhabitants towards the long run common. Havens mentioned he doesn’t count on the early September teal season to increase. 

“I suppose there’s potential for a future growth of the particular teal season, however there haven’t been critical discussions about any adjustments to my information,” Havens mentioned in an e-mail. “Just a few years in the past, the Mississippi Flyway did get the choice to extend the teal bag restrict from 4 to six birds per day through the September season, and Mississippi did benefit from that allowed improve.”

Extremely Pathogenic Avian Influenza struck arduous and heavy to start out the 2022-2023 season. Mississippi and Louisiana began out the waterfowl season with elevated reviews of the illness. The states have since gone a month of not positives from their final positives for HPAI in December. Mississippi had 188 birds take a look at constructive for HPAI this waterfowl season and Louisiana had 92. 

These numbers are loads lower than reported figures for industrial and yard flocks of birds. The US Division of Agriculture reviews 58.2 million birds in industrial and yard flocks have been affected by HPAI. Havens mentioned they don’t count on to see any population-level impacts attributable to HPAI. 

“Season dates and bag limits for waterfowl are pushed by surveys of breeding populations and breeding habitat performed throughout Might annually. So, if there have been vital impacts to duck populations from HPAI, these can be mirrored within the breeding inhabitants survey outcomes later this spring and summer season,” Havens mentioned. “We began off the autumn with plenty of calls about sick or useless birds, however fortuitously issues have slowed down since then.” 

HPAI circumstances spike

Havens was appropriate in calls about useless waterfowl or sick birds slowing down however Mississippi had an inflow of 43 constructive circumstances stream in on February 2, 2023. The USDA reported 42 constructive circumstances for HPAI in black vultures samples from January 18 to January 26 in Clay, Jones, Jasper, Issaquena and Rankin Counties.

One red-tailed hawk examined constructive for HPAI and was positioned in Winston County. All new positives have been discovered useless or dying and weren’t hunter harvested.