The Goose Specialist Group of Wetlands International seeks to strengthen contacts between all researchers on migratory goose populations in the northern hemisphere.
The 12th meeting of the Goose Specialist Group on the expanding goose populations and their management, has been held from 9-14 October 2009 in Höllviken, Sweden.
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| Photo courtesy of Johan Nilsson |
This meeting in Höllviken, the XIIth meeting since the first meeting of our group in 1995 in Poland, was very well organised by Leif Nilsson. It was great to see 98 members and interested persons (from 19 different countries) gathered together in Höllviken, Sweden during a meeting at a very well chosen venue (Well done, Leif!). It was gratifying to see the lively discussions, and strengthening of contacts between researchers that often work together in remote arctic places. Our special guests from China and North America were impressed by the special open and friendly atmosphere during this meeting.The meeting was a very lively one that gave rise to a board that energetically will support our activities in the future in a much more ambitious way. The 8 members of this new board are Tony Fox, Thomas Heinicke, Konstantin Litvin, Jesper Madsen, Johan Mooij, Ingunn Tombre, Berend Voslamber and Bart Ebbinge (chairman).
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| Taiga Bean Geese - Photo courtesy of Nicky Petkov |
One of the decisions was to revive the GOOSE BULLETIN and an editorial board consisting of Johan Mooij (editor-in-chief), Fred Cottaar, Tony Fox & Berend Voslamber is already working hard on the coming issue which will be mailed to all members soon. I wish the new Editorial Board of the Goose Bulletin all the energy it takes to keep this Goose Bulletin alive as a platform of information exchange for goose researchers and those interested in goose management.
In the new GSG-board we still have to discuss “who will do what”, and as soon as this will become more clear, we will inform you through this website and the GOOSE BULLETIN , so that every member knows which person to contact for specific questions. A more elaborate report about the meeting will soon appear in the new Bulletin that will be mailed to all members of the Goose Specialist Group, and will appear on this website.
Ingunn Tombre has accepted the task to bring our membership list up-to-date. Our membership is for free and open to anyone, and if you would like to join, please register with Ingunn Tombre.
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| Taiga Bean Geese - Photo courtesy of Nicky Petkov |
After the conference during a three-day excursion by bus to the more important goose-sites in south Sweden (Tåkern, Kvismaren, Östen, Hornborgasjön and Getterön) Leif and Christina Nilsson showed us impressive flocks of Taiga Bean Geese (Anser fabalis fabalis).
The special homepage (http://www.zoo.ekol.lu.se/waterfowl/GSG.htm for the 2009 GSG-meeting will remain open to collate all papers for the final proceedings of this conference in Ornis svecica with all information about the conference.
Bart Ebbinge (chairman)
Special announcement.
The proceedings of the 10th meeting of the Goose Specialist Group in Xanten in January 2007 have now been published as a special volume of de Vogelwelt.
I would like to thank the Editorial team consisting of Johan Mooij, Regina Müller and Paul Schnitzler for their unstinting hard work to accomplish this great achievement. All Xanten-participants have already been sent a copy, but a few more copies are available at a cost of € 30 (excluding postage) for interested people who could not attend the meeting.
If you are interested in such a copy, please contact Johan Mooij johan.mooij@t-online.de
The Goose Specialist Group of Wetlands International and the IUCN Species Survival Committee seeks to strengthen contacts between all researchers on migratory goose populations in the northern hemisphere. A database with goose censuses from the western palearctic is supported by a network of national coordinators. Annual meetings are held since 1995. At present 400 people have joined the group.
The present global coordinator is Bart Ebbinge, based at the Alterra, Green World Research Institute in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Regional coordinators are Ray Alisauskas based at the Canadian Wildlife Service in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada) for North America and Masayuki Kurechi of the Japanese Association for Wild Geese Protection in Wakayanagi (Japan) for East Asia.
Membership
At present about 400 people are on the mailing list of the Goose Specialist Group. Ingunn Tombre has accepted the task to bring our membership list up-to-date. Our membership is for free and open to anyone, and if you would like to join, please register with Ingunn Tombre.
