Communicating HMWG Priorities Annual timetable and FY13 Priorities Buda, TX November 2012
HMWG Terms of Reference Mission To serve in an advisory capacity to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Flyway Councils by providing technical guidance, evaluation, and coordination for the development and improvement of harvest strategies for waterfowl management.
HMWG Priorities – Process to date November – HMWG annual meeting Development of priorities for year ahead Winter Technical Committee meetings March – Flyway Council meetings June and July SRC meetings
Priority-setting process is broken…. HMWG develops priority list in November year x Report to Flyways February and March year x+1 – some Councils formally approve priorities others don’t SRC is made aware of priorities but no formal endorsement in summer year x+1 Meanwhile….technical folks working on tasks and another year goes by……
New Process – adopted July 2012 July 2012 SRC meeting SRC and Consultants agreed to new process for setting priorities for upcoming year In July, adopt HMWG priorities for next 12 months
HMWG Priority setting schedule: July 2012 – Councils and FWS finalize list for FY13 (July 2012 to July 2013) November 2012 – Annual HMWG meeting February 2013 – SRC meeting – scoping discussions February/March 2013 – Flyway Technical Section meetings, discuss FY14 priorities
HMWG Priority setting schedule: March 2013 – Flyway Council meetings, develop recommendations for FY14 priorities June 2013 – SRC meeting – propose changes to priorities list or maintain status quo July 2013 – Flyway Council meetings, SRC meeting; Finalize HMWG priorities for FY14
FY13 HMWG Priorities: HIGH PRIORITY Re-vamp harvest strategies as needed based on preferred alternative in SEIS
FY13 HMWG Priorities: LONG RANGE PRIORITY: Eastern mallard AHM revision Mid-continent mallard AHM model revision Multi-stock management Systems change analyses Western mallard AHM Sea ducks
FY13 HMWG Priorities: ADDITIONAL TOPICS: Coherence Communications Coordination with monitoring programs