ADAPTIVE HARVEST MANAGEMENT WORKING GROUP

The implementation of adaptive harvest management (AHM) is proceeding in two phases. Phase I involves the development of stochastic optimization procedures for harvest management, and the specif cation of regulatory alternatives, population models, and management objectives for midcontinent mallards. This phase has been largely completed, and is providing a comprehensive and coherent structure for informed decision making. The AHM process permits optimal decisions in the face of several sources of management uncertainty, while providing a clear linkage between management decisions and resource monitoring programs, and incorporating feedback mechanisms that are essential to learning. Phase I has not been without problems, however. Foremost among these have been instability in the set of regulatory alternatives, tacit disagreement over ancillary management objectives, and increased uncertainty about regulatory impacts on species other than mallards. Phase II is intended to build upon the AHM foundation for midcontinent mallards, by developing decision protocols for other mallard stocks and other duck speci s. Phase II also involves the exploration of actively adaptive harvest strategies, which involve a tradeoff between short-term management performance and the long-term value of understanding the impacts of hunting regulations and uncontrolled environmental factors on waterfowl populations