| "The research is important because a lot of people are pushing for decisions, and managers may not have access to a lot of data to help them make those decisions." | |
| Gregory Breese, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
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Because migratory shorebirds don't acknowledge national boundaries, coastal resource managers often must make decisions that may impact a species without having access to relevant scientific research. Managers in Delaware have worked to create an international association that will help provide decision makers with the information they need to balance the health of the ecosystem with the needs of development and industry.
"Many different research efforts are underway, but not everyone is aware of all that research," says Gregory Breese, senior staff biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Delaware Bay Estuary Project. "The research is important because a lot of people are pushing for decisions, and managers may not have access to a lot of data to help them make those decisions."
Research data is now being compiled by the Western Atlantic Shorebird Association (WASA), which is a group of researchers, wildlife and coastal managers, government representatives, and naturalists from North and South America, including the U.S., Canada, and Argentina. Information collected is from research projects on birds that migrate south for the winter along the Western Atlantic Flyway, which spans from the Canadian Arctic down along the eastern coasts of the Americas to Tierra del Fuego. Development, fishing, and recreational use of habitat and food sources may be having a negative impact on some species of shorebirds, Breese says.
Betsy Archer, program manager for the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve, says the idea for WASA was conceived in 1998 when a group of volunteer ornithologists was working in Delaware to get an accurate census of three long-distance migratory bird species, the Red Knot, Sanderling, and Ruddy Turnstone.
"We realized that we had a lot of the same problems managing migratory species and protecting habitat," Archer explains. "We all agreed that it was important to collaborate and that we needed to have some means to communicate." The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to support an international association.
Breese says the group is providing services to researchers, such as organizing volunteers or setting up accommodations during field studies, and is compiling data from various research entities. WASA also has an outreach component where information is analyzed and discussed, and is provided to habitat managers and educational groups.
One of the tools the group has developed is a web page where sightings from anywhere in the world and data about shorebirds can be posted. The group also has gotten grants to purchase dataloggers and transmitters that have been used to "follow birds to their nesting ground in the Arctic," Archer says.
By working together, the group hopes to "develop an understanding of the migratory pattern of shorebirds," Breese says. "Our focus is on fostering research that tells us about the shorebirds, where they are migrating, where they stay, and population trends. Right now there are a lot of questions that aren't answered. We hope that WASA and the WASA web site will help us answer those questions."
For more information on WASA, point your browser to http://www.vex.net/~hopscotc/shorebirds/. You may also contact Betsy Archer at (302) 739-3436 ext. 11, or bdarcher@state.de.us; and Gregory Breese at (302) 653-9152 ext. 15, or gregory_breese@fws.gov.
