This spring, farmers applied for fewer permits from the Nature Conservation Agency (the Agency) to carry out the lethal deterrence of migratory birds from sown fields. Moreover, as has also been observed in previous years, the primary purpose of obtaining a permit – deterring birds from sown fields – is being respected, as information has been received on only 21 geese taken out of the total maximum limit of 1000 birds.

The Agency is now in its fifth year of issuing special permits to farmers allowing a limited take of migratory geese during the spring migration in order to reduce damage to agriculture. While there was considerable demand for permits in the first years, a certain number of farms are gradually establishing themselves as regular applicants, applying for such special permits year after year and using them as required.

According to the information available to the Agency, there are several reasons for this, but the main ones are farmers' attempts to use other methods of deterring migratory birds first, as well as the fact that the use of firearms is permitted for hunters, and not all farmers are hunters as well.

In individual cases, information has been received that although a farmer had obtained a permit for the lethal deterrence of geese, they had not managed to engage hunters, or the arrangements with the hunters – a contract, for example – had not been put in place.

In conversations with farmers and hunters, another reason cited is that geese often feed in fields where deterrence involving the taking of individual birds is not permitted, and there are also situations where a permit has been obtained but there has been no need to use it, because the geese migrated through quickly and did not settle to feed in that particular farm's fields

This spring the Agency issued 40 permits for the limited taking of geese with hunting weapons, for the purpose of scaring them off and protecting crops, while allowing individual birds to be taken. Until 15 May, no more than 1000 geese in total could be taken in this way across Latvia – 500 bean geese (Anser fabalis) and 500 white-fronted geese (Anser albifrons). The information received from farmers indicates that 21 geese were taken – 12 white-fronted geese and 9 bean geese.

On the whole, the permits have been used correctly, and the infringements identified are minor.

“We thank farmers and hunters for their understanding and cooperation. We are also very grateful to our colleagues at the State Forest Service, who join the Agency's inspectors in monitoring compliance with the permit conditions. What solutions are available for preventing the damage caused by migratory birds depends entirely on cooperation between all the parties involved – including whether it will be possible to issue such permits by way of exception in the years to come,” says Gita Strode, Director of the Agency's Nature Conservation Department.

Geese and swans are migratory birds that gather in large flocks and stop periodically while travelling in order to rest, feed and wait out unfavourable weather. Migrating to and from wintering grounds is a very “expensive” undertaking for birds – it requires a great deal of energy. Such regular stopover sites are therefore vital if the birds are to reach their destination. Migratory birds settle in environments altered by people – on agricultural land – because they lack natural feeding and resting places, and because food is more readily available to them in cultivated areas.

https://www.daba.gov.lv/lv/jaunums/lauksaimnieki-mazak-piesakas-atlaujam-zosu-letalajai-atbaidisanai