American Oystercatcher Best Management Practices

1. American Oystercatcher Best Management Practices

2. Goals • Document most effective practices for managing American Oystercatcher populations • Present management options to coastal managers interested in maintaining and increasing Oystercatcher populations • Based on work conducted by the American Oystercatcher working group

3. Habitat management • Nesting habitat may be limiting • Habitat can be created via natural sand movement and dredge operations • Recommendations • Stewardship of newly created or restored natural habitat is crucial to the life history strategy of Oystercatchers – disturbance management • Work with Army Corp to place dredge material in a manner and location to optimize nesting potential. Adjacent to foraging sites, larger islands, sloping profile, vegetation management (McGowan et al 2005)

4. Disturbance management • Widespread disturbance from pedestrians, vehicles, dogs, boats, etc • Breeding and non-breeding season • Effects: expose eggs and chicks, direct and indirect mortality, abandonment of nest and roost sites • Recommendations • Symbolic fencing of nesting areas from March to August (Atlantic coast) and Feb to August (Gulf Coast) • Closure size – 200m is commonly used or identified as a minimum size for nests. 300m for pairs with chicks. Beaches with chicks should be closed to vehicle traffic • Closure of small emergent islands/spoil islands to boat traffic during the nesting season (and winter for roosting sites) • Closures should be accompanied by informational signs and programs whenever possible

5. Predator management • Predators account for the majority of nest and chick losses during the breeding season • A consistent policy surrounding predator control must be a key part of long-term management and growth of the American Oystercatcher population • Considerable variation in effectiveness of predator control

6. Predator Management • Recommendations • Understand local suite of predators • Direct control • Complete removal rarely possible or even desirable • Concentrated effort in a short time window (Simons and Waldstein 2010) • Late winter/early spring • Most effective on islands where re-colonization is slower (VA, NC, GA, SC) • Specific techniques (trapping/shooting/egg removal) dependant on local/state/federal regulations • Indirect control • Electric fences/low predator fences – can be useful in specific instances (MA) • Aversion conditioning – little reported success on larger scale • Engage with animal rights group/public directly and honestly • Make every effort to follow humane and ethical practices

7. Education • Public involvement and support are crucial for long-term success • Targeted outreach and education are vital to developing connections between human and natural communities • Recommendations • Identify stakeholders (participatory stakeholder analysis) • Direct engagement – seasonal interpretive staff and interpretive signs at key sites, social media, public outreach • Offer alternatives to local problems/issues – eg dog friendly beaches, education campaign about boat wakes • Engage decisionmakers – GA DNR brought officials to visit bird nesting areas and see problems firsthand

8. Summary • American Oystercatchers and associated beach nesting birds continue to be at risk from threats ranging from habitat loss and degradation to elevated predator populations. • A practical, consistent, and coordinated approach to management of environmental and human impacts on the beach nesting bird community is vital to long-term conservation success. • Disturbance management, predator control, habitat management, education, and even social networking are important components of the successful management of beach nesting birds. • The American Oystercatcher Working Group has identified a set of best management practices • BMPs will be revised as new research and techniques become available