A necessary clarification
Given the numerous questions and observations in the various posts published on social media by the ACMA (Aquatic Migratory Hunters Association) regarding research with the satellite telemetry, the association itself deemed it useful to clarify some points.
Goals and hopes
Here's what the ACMA had to say about it:
-the research is carried out and conducted by the University of Pisa, we only collaborate in identifying the areas useful for capture and collect the necessary funding;
-the main aim of the research concerns a project conducted with a multidisciplinary method involving analysis in the field of biology and law. For the biological profile it aims to provide a picture of the winter movements, phenology and pre-nuptial migratory routes of various species of aquatic birds;
-the hope for us hunters is that the KCs that establish the hunting period are based on scientific data and not on ideologies, all this at our risk, because we finance the research, but it could also demonstrate that the migration has begun sooner than we thought.
Other clarifications
The association then clarified two other points:
- the birds are captured during the hunting season since they migrate in that period and for this reason it is necessary to start observing their movements well before when is established by the current start of the pre-nuptial migration. So for example certainly before January 10th to be safe;
-the risk of culling is there (low), but it is calculated. Until now, the transmitters have always been returned to us and sometimes even reused because they were intact (source: ACMA).