James, here on the Atlantic Flyway, I've hunted waterfowl for 75 years, living near sanctuaries on the Eastern and North Shores of the province. I'm looking at a harbour with a refuge as I write this.
I haven't seen concentrations in refuges where ducks and geese aren't flying to other parts of the harbour to farmers' fields or ponds and lakes. I'm not aware of disease reports.
Raw sewage was fouling the harbourI until I forced the town of Antigonish to build a sewage treatment plant by threatening legal action under health, municipal and water acts.
I'm not questioning what others are seeing, only what gunners are experiencing in our waterfowling paradise. (A string of 15-20 geese---no vee---just flew by my window, 15 metres above our mature pine and black spruce.)
King, my take on it (and why I echoed jOe's comments about refuges) is based on the idea that the problem doesn't start with the need for refuges....it starts with generalized loss of habitat. And the only way to counter that is to establish more duck friendly habitat everywhere that can be. And, as been found so clearly by both looking to our past and the current example in Africa, if you want to save a species that is suffering because of loss of habitat....get hunters involved, not government. Hunters will put up money endlessly when there are clear objectives that support their passion.
So government established refuges that bar hunting, bar the use of that resource from those most likely to support and care for that resource. Only in the minds of office bound government bureaucrats, with hidebound ideology, does that make sense.
