Hunting impact on waders in Spain: effects of species protection measures

The hunting impact on waders in Spain was studied to test the efficiency of species protection measures. Using information on ringed bird recoveries i n Spain of 28 species a hunting impact index was calculated. The results sh ow a high hunting pressure similar to that of other groups of birds. The hu nting impact on quarry species was higher than on protected species. The ch ange of protection level in a group of species from quarry to protected spe cies resulted in a decrease in hunting impact. A negative trend in the hunt ing impact was found during a 15-year period. This result could be due to u nder-reporting or falsification of death causes in the recovery report. How ever, recoveries of shot and dead birds showed a positive relationship in c ontrast with expected if found dead reports increased by falsification, sug gesting that there has not been a falsification of the ring recovery report s. Nevertheless, in spite of the decrease in the hunting pressure when prot ection measures were applied, hunting impact remains very high on protected species for a long time and studies evaluating the impact of hunting on th e population dynamics of waders needs further study.