Conservation and Management

Conflicts with agriculture and fisheries: Assessing damage
Somewhat like the way Defenders of Wildlife who pay farmers for livestock when wolves kill them in North America, the Netherlands have a similar concept of dealing with damage waterfowl has done to crops for the farmers. From a tax fund (Defenders of Wildlife is purely from donations) taken from hunting license, pays farmers when waterfowl ruin crops.
Preventing damage
Instead of finding ways to resolve issues after they have been created, it is best to find preventative measures which is cheaper in the long run. However, this is difficult to do. There are techniques such as the "scaring method" where the animals are just scared off properties. This only works for a short while and will only work if there is other land that is suitable for these animals. An example of this is seen in the Western Canada Geese and Aleutian Cackling Geese of our local area! These geese often eat off the same grasslands where local cows graze as well. Farmers need these grasslands to make profit, but these geese keep eating their grass! So there is a property where waterfowl can go, the only issue is it is lower quality than that of the farmers. With the scaring technique, however, it can hopefully scare the geese away long enough to prevent damage done to the crops.
Problems for fisheries
Lethal removal of sawbills is being down at fisheries in order to prevent damage of the fisheries. The odd part is, however, we are not even sure how bad the impact of these sawbills are! We just want to make sure we do not take risks. 
Hunting regulations
Since the creation of guns and multiple ammunition, hunting waterfowl has become far easier and therefore mass removals are far more achievable for waterfowl populations. But we do not want mass removals, we want sustainable yield which will allow future generations to take waterfowl as we take it today.
Limits
There are limitations on when people are able to hunt. We call these time periods open seasons. In North America, we base the open seasons for the time periods which the birds are migrating to and from their wintering and breeding grounds along the flyways. The season can vary depending on the status of a population of a species if they are not doing so well for that year. Also, bag limits can be put into place to limit the amount of take with different limits depending on the species as well as the sex.
Endangered Waterfowl Species

1. Northern Screamer - Chuana chavaria
2. Emperor Goose - Anser canagica
3. Blue-winged Goose - Cyanochen cyanopterus
4. Orinoco Goose - Neochen jubata 
5. Chubut Streamer-duck - Tachyeres leucocephalus
6. Falcated Duck - Anas falcata
7. Spectacled Duck - Anas specularis
8. Ferruginous Duck - Aythya baeri
9. Steller's Eider - Polystica stelleri
10. American Comb Duck - Sarkidiornis melanotus sylvatica
11. Florida Duck - Anas fulvigula fulvigula
12. Austrailan Black Duck - Anas superciliosa rogersi 
13. Lesser Grey Duck - Anas superciliosa pelewensis
14. Andean Teal - Anas andium andium
15. South Georgia Pintail - Anas georgica georgica 
16. South American Pochard - Netta erythropthalma erythropthalma

1. West Indian Whistling-duck - Dendrocygna arborea
2. Lesser White-fronted Goose - Anser erythropus
3. Hawaiian Goose - Branta sandvicensis 
4. Red-brested Goose - Branta ruficollis
5. Salvadori's Teal - Salvadorina waigiuensis
6. Eaton's Pintail - Anas eatoni 
7. Philippine Duck - Anas luzonica
8. Auckland Island Teal - Anas aucklandica
9. Baikal Teal - Anas formosa
10. Marbled Teal - Marmaronetta angustriostris
11. Baer's Pochard - Aythya baeri
12. Steller's Eider - Polystica stelleri 
13. Recherche Cape Barren Goose - Cereopsis novaehollandiae grisea
14. Middendorf's Bean Goose - Anser fabalis middendorffi
15. Thick-billed Bean Goose - Anser fabalis serrirostris
16. Tule Greater White-fronted Goose - Anser albifrons gambeli 
17. Dusky Canda Goose - Branta canadensis occidentalis
18. Peruvian Torrent Duck - Merganetta armata leucogneis
19. Colombian Torrent Duck - Merganetta armata columbiana
20. Australian Cotton Pygmy Goose - Nettapus coromandelianus albipennis
21. Merida Teal - Anas andium altipetens
22. Kerguelen Pintail - Anas eatoni eatoni

1. White-headed Duck - Oxyura leucocephala
2. Swan Goose - Anser cygnoides
3. White-winged Duck - Cairina scutulata
4. Blue Duck - Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos
5. Hawaiian Duck - Anas wyvilliana
6. Meller's Duck - Anas melleri
7. Madagascar Teal - Anas bernieri
8. Brown Teal - Anas chlorotis
9. Scaly-sided Merganser - Mergus squamatus
10. Madagascar White-backed Duck - Thalassornis leuconotus insularis
11. New Zealand Grey Duck - Anas superciliosa superciliosa
12. Tropical Cinnamon Teal - Anas cyanoptera tropica
13. Andaman Teal - Anas gibberifrons albogularis
14. Galapagos Pintail - Anas bahamensis galapagensis
15. Crozet Islands Pintail - Anas eatoni drygalskii
16. Colombian Ruddy Duck - Oxyura jamaicensis andina 

Extinctions
Since about 1600, several species have gone extinct, mainly due to human expanse. Now all we have is the skins they left behind and a distant memory.

Threats
We have all heard of the issues of lead poisoning from bullets, and as far as hunting is concerned in North America, those lead bullets are banned. Something that is extremely hazardous to the waterfowl world, however, has not been banned is damns! The damns can create salination of the wetlands in which these creatures occupy, making some habitats insuitable. Or they can damn up areas so much, that no more water even reaches wetlands in which these animals rely on.
Creative conservation

Managers are finding different ways to approach conservation issues. Say many of the animals are starving because agriculture has taken over an area and therefore, grazing is no longer feasible for many waterfowl. Some people are actually feeding these wild animals to increase the carrying capacity. Increasing carrying capacity also needs to be met with the recreation of the habitat these animals once lived in. Since many of the wetlands have been drained, trying to reestablish these ecosystems are fundamental for survival. With groups such as Wildfowl Wetlands Trust and refuges, wetlands are coming back into existence.
Restocking and reintroduction

During our class discussion, we spent a lot of time thinking about the ethics of reintroduction. Some people wondered if it is worth the money.... is it worth the effort? What if the animal we put back in the world isn't as close to the "normal" waterfowl we made extinct in the wild in the first place? What if it's genetics have been altered more than we know?
Personally, I believe we should try all we can to keep the species we have on the earth presently. We do not know what the may have meant now or in the past, but maybe we will realize their significance sometime in the future and losing that animal could make us lose an important part of history, and maybe an important part of how the world worked. My only issue is, I am not sure which species were meant to go extinct naturally or which ones are human caused. As of now, I believe the majority are human caused extinctions so we should try all we can to preserve the species that are still "hanging on." Like the Laysan Teal, it went from 42 to 200 in only three years! I think the success really depends on a longer time scale.

The Eurasian continent has a very different perspective on waterfowl than North America has. We view them more as a utilitarian object to hunt with some intrinsic value, whereas the Europeans believe them to hold a high intrinsic value. If their populations drop below 125,000, hunting is stopped immediately until the population recovers. In Humboldt County, the Aleutian Cackling Goose visits during migration and is hunted. It was once thought to be extinct and now with populations of about 60,000, it is hunted again due to agricultural disturbance. Ethical views are different between these two continents.