Ontario Tundra Swan Season

Dear Fellow Waterfowlers:

I have posted a cover letter that is addressed to Mr. Toby Barrett (MPP, Haldimand-Norfolk) dated March 08, 2022 regarding the establishment of a limited (tag only) Tundra Swan season for the Province of Ontario which is self-explanatory. The subsequent eight (8) parts, four (4) addendums and one (1) side bar were submitted to Mr. Toby Barrett (who has retired since then) as well as to the other individuals (including the new MPP for Haldimand-Norfolk) identified under the c.c. list of this letter.

The subsequent eight (8) parts are:

Part 1 - History of Swan Hunting in Ontario

Part 2 - Introduction of Tundra Swan Seasons

Part 3 - Tundra Swan Population Dynamics

Part 4 - Trumpeter Swan Population Dynamics

Part 5 - Allotment of Tundra Swan Tags

Part 6 - Distribution of Tundra Swan Tags

Part 7 - Subsistence Harvest of Tundra Swans

Part 8 - Who is Stopping a Tundra Swan Season

I based the contents of these eight (8) parts on some historical facts regarding swan hunting, the Migratory Birds Convention Act (Canada), the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (United States), the Management Plan for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans, the Management Plan for the Western Population of Tundra Swans, the overall Management Plan for Trumpeter Swans and information published in several waterfowl magazines.

The subsequent four (4) addendums and one (1) side bar are:

Addendum A - The CWS Contribution to a Tundra Swan Season

Addendum B - The Delta Waterfowl Contribution to a Tundra Swan Season

Addendum C - The OFAH Contribution to a Tundra Swan Season

Addendum D - An Introduction to Swan Identification

Side Bar - The Ducks Unlimited Canada Position

I will post one of the eight (8) parts, four (4) addendums and one (1) side bar each week following my cover letter. Please respond with your comments on my separate thread "Comments - Ontario Tundra Swan Season" so that the cover letter, eight (8) parts, four (4) addedums and one (1) side bar can be accessed quickly by others to read. Thank you for your continued support regarding this issue.

Jerome Katchin, D.V.M.

798 Highway 59
Port Rowan, Ontario
N0E 1M0

March 08, 2022

Mr. T. Barrett
MPP, Haldimand-Norfolk
Post Office Box 91
Simcoe, Ontario
N3Y 4K8

Re: Ontario Tundra Swan Season

Dear Mr. T. Barrett:

I am writing to advise you that I have recently prepared an eight (8) part presentation with additional explanatory addendums for the immediate establishment of a Tundra Swan season for the Province of Ontario in accordance with the Management Plan for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans that was revised in 2007.

I will attempt to send these eight (8) parts with the additional explanatory addendums to you by e-mail over the next two (2) weeks which should (hopefully) provide you an opportunity to review and "digest" the contents of one (1) part per day. I request that you forward these eight (8) parts with the additional explanatory addendums to whomever you feel should be aware of their contents.

I would like to thank you for the time and support that you have provided to me in the past be it listening to my concerns or reviewing my numerous letters to various individuals regarding this issue but the time has come for a decision to be made ... either by the Province of Ontario or by myself. I am therefore requesting the implementation of a limited (tag only) Tundra Swan season by the fall of 2024.

I recognize that the Canadian Wildlife Service will not be reviewing our waterfowl seasons again until the fall of 2023 which will provide the Province of Ontario sufficient time to prepare a request for such a season ... a season that the Canadian Wildlife Service has assured me would be granted if the Province of Ontario requested such a season.

Sincerely,



Jerome Katchin, D.V.M.

c.c.

Dr. L. Lewis, Member of Parliament, Haldimand-Norfolk
Mr. J. Hughes, Manager, Wildlife & Habitat Assessment, Ontario Region, CWS
Dr. J. Leafloor, Acting Head, Aquatic Unit, Prairie Region, CWS
Mr. J. Fisher, Vice-President of Canadian Policy, Delta Waterfowl
Mr. S. McGuigan, Development Director, Delta Waterfowl
Mr. A. Lombardo, Executive Director, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters
Mr. M. Ryckman, Manager of Policy, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters
Mr. J. Stewart, Acting Manager, Wildlife Section, Conservation Policy, NDMNRF

An Ontario Tundra Swan Season (Part 1)

History of Swan Hunting in Ontario

The idea of having a Tundra Swan season in Ontario should not be controversial as the hunting of Tundra Swans has been part of our historical waterfowling past.

Our Indigenous Peoples have been hunting Tundra Swans since they first settled North America and they continue to do so under a specific amendment in 1994 to our then current "migratory birds" regulations that permitted a regulated traditional harvest of the birds as well as their eggs ... more on this later.

Furthermore Samuel de Champlain and his surveyor crew documented that they "lived off the land" harvesting ducks, geese and swans (Trumpeter Swans and Tundra Swans) as well as other wildlife starting in 1620 as they surveyed the frontier (south western Ontario) of what was known as Upper Canada back then. It was common knowledge at the time that settlers in the established areas of Upper Canada (eastern Ontario) were also harvesting ducks, geese and swans (Trumpeter Swans and Tundra Swans) as well as other wildlife. With the exception of these two (2) species of swans this practice has continued to this day.

Unfortunately the ever-expanding growth of the human population in Upper Canada and subsequently in Ontario after Confederation in 1867 along with unregulated hunting (especially the commercial "market hunting" of the day) decimated our swan populations to the point where drastic and urgent action was required to save these two (2) waterfowl species ... especially the larger Trumpeter Swan.

The "Convention (Treaty) for the Protection of Migratory Birds" was signed by Great Britain (on the behalf of Canada) and the United States of America in 1916. The Canadian Government subsequently passed the "Migratory Birds Convention Act" in 1917 and the American Government subsequently passed the "Migratory Bird Treaty Act" in 1918 effectively ending the harvest of Trumpeter Swans and Tundra Swans until such time that their respective populations could sustain a regulated and controlled harvest.

The regulated and controlled harvests of Tundra Swans from their respective populations were eventually possible by the implementation of the Management Plan for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans starting in 1983 and the Management Plan for the Western Population of Tundra Swans starting in 1962.

Please refer to Part 2 regarding "Introduction of Tundra Swan Seasons" in North America for further information on the seasons that are currently available to waterfowlers.

Jerome Katchin, D.V.M.

An Ontario Tundra Swan Season (Part 2)

Introduction of Tundra Swan Seasons

The introduction of Tundra Swans seasons in North America was based upon the guidelines established by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans and the Western Population of Tundra Swans under their respective management plans.

The following states introduced a limited (tag only) Tundra Swan season in accordance with the provisions within the Management Plan for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans.

Eastern Population:

Montana 1983
North Carolina 1984
North Dakota 1988
Virginia 1988
South Dakota 1990
New Jersey 2007*
Delaware 2019**
Maryland 2019**

Note: New Jersey* had a "standing authorization" for a season in 2007 but a wildlife biologist for the Canadian Wildlife Service confirmed that New Jersey had subsequently established a season in his Tundra Swan Season Assessment that was released in 2013.

Note: Delaware** was reported to have been granted a season and Maryland** was reported to have been offered a season by the USFWS in 2019 as published in Wildfowl Magazine.

The following states introduced a limited (tag only) Tundra Swan season in accordance with the provisions within the Management Plan for the Western Population of Tundra Swans.

Western Population:

Utah 1962
Nevada 1969
Montana 1970
Alaska 1988

Note: Montana harvests birds from the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans as well as from the Western Population of Tundra Swans.

Note: The USFWS introduced an experimental five (5) year "General Swan Season" for Utah, Nevada and Montana (western harvest) in 1995 that permitted the incidental harvest of Trumpeter Swans while the Tundra Swan season for Alaska remained the same. This experimental "General Swan Season" became established in 2000 due to the low incidental harvest of Trumpeter Swans during that five (5) year period.

Please refer to Part 3 regarding "Tundra Swan Population Dynamics" for further information on the current Tundra Swan populations.

Jerome Katchin, D.V.M.

An Ontario Tundra Swan Season (Part 3)

Tundra Swan Population Dynamics

The two (2) distinct populations of Tundra Swans are managed separately under their respective management plans.

The Management Plan for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans (2007) provides for maintaining a population goal of 80,000 birds based upon a mid-winter survey. The eastern population of Tundra Swans was estimated to be 100,000 birds in 2010 ... an excess of 25% over the population goal of 80,000 birds.

Note: The current ten-year (2007-2017) population average is approximately 103,400 birds.

The Management Plan for the Western Population of Tundra Swans (2001) provides for maintaining a population goal of 60,000 birds based upon a mid-winter survey. The western population of Tundra Swans was estimated to be 80,000 birds in 2010 ... an excess of 33 1/3% over the population goal of 60,000 birds.

Note: The current ten-year (2007-2017) population average is approximately 86,300 birds.

The two (2) distinct populations of Tundra Swans have continued to increase and in 2012 the continental population of Tundra Swans (eastern and western populations combined) was reported to be approximately 228,000 birds ... up from 180,000 birds in 2010.

Note: The current ten-year (2007-2017) population average is approximately 189,700 birds.

The continual increase in the number of Tundra Swans prompted the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2017 to recommend increasing the current number of 9,600 tags available for the eastern population of Tundra Swans to 12,000 tags. This recommendation was subject to an environmental assessment ... results are pending.

Note: The current number of 5,000 tags available for the western population of Tundra Swans remain the same since fewer than that number of tags are actually distributed at this time ... more on this later.

Please refer to Part 4 regarding "Trumpeter Swan Population Dynamics" for further information on the current Trumpeter Swan populations.

Jerome Katchin, D.V.M.

I guess we are giving up on a Sandhill hunt so we are now on the Tundra Swan song.After we exhaust all avenues on this one we can try for a loon hunt.They eat fish.Giving you an A for effort

Nice try but if you thought the cormorant cull was controversial a swan hunt would be many times more contentious. Fighting an emotional battle with science is generally a losing proposition.

Hello Guys,

I will respond to the comments made by Couliewalker and Badenoch under my "Comments - Ontario Tundra Swan Season" thread.

Please respond with your comments under my "Comments - Ontario Tundra Swan Season" thread so that the cover letter, eight (8) parts, four (4) addedums and one (1) side bar can be accessed quickly by others to read.

I have already posted my entire presentation ("Ontario Tundra Swan Season") on the Stomp's Long Point Page (Channel 68) "waterfowl" forum if you would like to read everything at once.

Posting weekly installments every Friday will ensure that this thread remains current for the duration of this "waterfowl" season.

Jerome

PS The term "waterfowl" includes ducks, geese and swans.

An Ontario Tundra Swan Season (Part 4)

Trumpeter Swan Population Dynamics

The implementation of an additional Tundra Swan season in Canada would require due consideration for the potential incidental harvest of a Trumpeter Swan during that Tundra Swan season as an additional Tundra Swan season in the United States would require. This legitimate concern regarding a Tundra Swan season in Canada has already been addressed by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) in its Tundra Swan Season Assessment that was released in August of 2013.

An international (Canada and the United States) range-wide (Continental Population) survey of Trumpeter Swans is conducted every five (5) years during the summer months as part of the overall Trumpeter Swan Management Plan. There are however three (3) sub-populations of Trumpeter Swans in North America. These are the Pacific Coast Population, the Rocky Mountain Population and the Interior Population (which includes the resident birds in the Province of Ontario).

The following Continental Population totals includes both adults (white swans) and cygnets (grey swans).

1968 - 3,722 1985 - 10,908 2000 - 23,647 2015 - 63,016*
1975 - 5,085 1990 - 15,625 2005 - 34,803 2020 - Canceled
1980 - 8,847 1995 - 19,756 2010 - 46,225

Note: The Continental Population nearly doubled between 2000 and 2010. The 2010 total included 34,249 adults and 11,976 cygnets.

I do not have the actual numbers for the 2005 sub-populations but they were approximately:

Pacific Coast Population at 24,000 birds
Rockey Mountain Population at 5,000 birds
Interior Population at 5,000 birds

I do not have the actual numbers for the 2010 sub-populations but they were approximately:

Pacific Coast Population at 25,000 birds
Rockey Mountain Population at 10,000 birds
Interior Population at 11,000 birds

Note: The Interior Population more than doubled in size between 2005 and 2010.

The range-wide (Continental Population) survey of Trumpeter Swans conducted in 2015 was a little different in that only "white swans" (adults and sub-adults) were counted. The 2015 total was 63,016 "white swans" which would probably be more than doubled the 2005 total if the 2015 cygnets were counted in the total.

There was a dramatic shift in the sub-populations that was observed in this survey.

Pacific Coast Population at 24,240 "white swans"
Rockey Mountain Population at 11,721 "white swans"
Interior Population at 27,055 "white swans"

The continual increase in the number of Trumpeter Swans (especially within the Interior Population) prompted the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2017 to recommend a "General Swan Season" for the eastern portion of the United States that would permit the incidental harvest of Trumpeter Swans during the established Tundra Swan seasons. This recommendation was subject to an environmental assessment ... results are pending.

As stated in Part 2 the USFWS introduced an experimental five (5) year "General Swan Season" for Utah, Nevada and Montana (western harvest) in 1995 that permitted the incidental harvest of Trumpeter Swans while the Tundra Swan season for Alaska remained the same. This experimental "General Swan Season" became established in 2000 due to the low incidental harvest of Trumpeter Swans during that five (5) year period. An average of 9.6 Trumpeter Swans has been harvested per year between 1995 and 2016.

The range-wide (Continental Population) survey of Trumpeter Swans was canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic however I participated in The Trumpeter Swan Society's bird count that was conducted on February 01, 2020. I counted four (4) Trumpeter Swans in Coletta Bay that day.

Please refer to Part 5 regarding the "Allotment of Tundra Swan Tags" for Canada and the United States including how these tags would be redistributed to accommodate the implementation of an additional Tundra Swan season in Canada.

Jerome Katchin, D.V.M.

An Ontario Tundra Swan Season (Part 5)

Allotment of Tundra Swan Tags

The allotment of tags for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans and the Western Population of Tundra Swans is based upon the provisions within their respective management plans.

Eastern Population of Tundra Swans

In 1988 a Sport Hunting Plan was developed for the allotment of tags for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans that became part of its management plan. This Sport Hunting Plan allotted the tags for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans based upon the provinces and states where the birds are produced, migrate through and overwinter.

Consequently the tags were evenly distributed to the production area (33%), the migration area (33%) and the wintering area (34%) with a further distribution within each of these areas to specific jurisdictions as indicated below:

Production Area:

Alaska 3%, Yukon 2%, Northwest Territories 28% for a total of 33%.

Note: About 4% of the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans breed in Alaska ... specifically in the area known as the "north slope". The Western Population of Tundra Swans breed along the west coast of Alaska.

Note: The territory of Nunavut (previously part of the Northwest Territories) was established in 1999 so its tags would obviously come from a portion of those tags originally allotted to the Northwest Territories.

Migration Area:

Canada (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario) 11%, Central Flyway States 11%, Mississippi Flyway States 11% for a total of 33%.

Note: The Eastern Population of Tundra Swans migrate through Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario as well as eastern Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York.

Wintering Area:

Atlantic Flyway States 34%.

Note: The Eastern Population of Tundra Swans winters in Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland Virginia and North Carolina.

I hope that this explains why Canada is only allocated 41% of the tags while the United States is allocated 59% of the tags. The Management Plan for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans was last updated in 2007 and provides for a total of 9,600 tags to be distributed according to the demand for them. Consequently the tags originally allotted to Canada (currently without any Tundra Swan seasons) are being utilized by American waterfowlers as permitted by the management plan. The recipient of a tag permits the individual to harvest one (1) Tundra Swan during the season but the individual may apply for a second tag should some tags remain available after the start of the season.

Note: As stated in Part 3 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has now recommended increasing the current number of 9,600 tags available for the eastern population of Tundra Swans to 12,000 tags.

Western Population of Tundra Swans

The allotment of tags for the Western Population of Tundra Swans is different than for the Eastern Population of Tundra Swans since there are currently only a few jurisdictions (none in Canada) with a relatively low demand for the tags. The Management Plan for the Western Population of Tundra Swans was updated in 2001 and then again in 2017 but without any significant changes.

The management plan provides for a total of 5,000 tags to be distributed according to the demand for them however only 3,150 tags for the "General Swan Season" in Utah, Nevada and Montana have been made available since 2000 with a one (1) bird per permit and another 900 tags for the Tundra Swan season in Alaska with a three (3) bird per permit. Individuals may apply for a second tag should some tags remain available after the start of the season.

Note: An implementation of a Tundra Swan season in Canada would simply result in a return of the appropriate number of tags to that Canadian jurisdiction as originally described in the Sport Hunting Plan that was developed in 1988.

Please refer to Part 6 regarding the current "Distribution of Tundra Swan Tags" in the United States including how many of these tags could be redistributed back to Canada.

Jerome Katchin, D.V.M.