Birds usually took flight if a raft was on a collision course with a bird, was within 1-15 m of a 

 bird, or if the raft crew was acting "boisterously" as they passed the duck (Clarkson 1992). Hunt 

 (1993) recommended closure of the river to rafting to attempt to restore historic population levels 

 of Harlequins. He listed other less commercially disruptive actions which could possibly help 

 stem the decline in Harlequins including: 1) reducing the amount of time each day rafting was 

 permitted; 2) reducing the times per day launches were allowed, and 3) reducing the length of the 

 season that river use is permitted (Hunt 1993). 



On the Bow River in Banff National Park, reaction to canoes by Harlequins was considerably 

 less (Smith 1996). In 158 encounters, 62.6% of ducks had no reaction, 16.5% swam away, 

 1 1 .4% flew away, and 9.5% hid (Smith 1996). The considerable difference in reactions between 

 ducks on the Bow and Maligne Rivers is probably due to the fact that the Bow is very much wider 

 and splits in channels in numerous locations (Smith 1996). 



Cassirer and Groves (1991) reported that nesting appeared to occur on stream reaches above 

 those used by rafts on the two regularly boated Harlequin Duck streams in Idaho. Heavy white- 

 water rafting is believed to have caused the extirpation of Harlequins on the Methow River m 

 Washington (Brady pers. comm. //; Clarkson 1994). 



Noise. No specific information found. 



Collecting and trapping. Collecting permits have been issued in Montana (1), Washington, 

 and Alaska. In Washington, permit for 1 5 was issued as recently as 1 992, with permits for up to 

 50 issued in previous years (Schirato 1993). There is a market for Harlequins in the avicultural 

 trade, with paris valued at $2,000 or more (C. Pilling, aviculturalist, pers. comm., in Harlequin 

 Duck Working Group 1993). 



In Iceland, egg collecting was extensively carried out in some areas through the mid-1960s, 

 both for consumption and sale for raising, it is now be prohibited (Bengtson 1972). 



Capture of 465 Harlequin Ducks in British Columbia coastal waters resulted in 5 mortalities, 3 

 by drowning and two by heat prostration (Clarkson and Goudie 1994). In Montana, mist netting 

 over 250 Harlequins on breeding streams has resuhed in 1 death by drowning of a duckling and 1 

 leg injury of an aduh. 



Shooting Hunting was the likely cause of the decline of the eastern North American 

 Harlequin Duck population (Philips 1925, Palmer 1949). This was probably because they are less 

 wary than other sea ducks while on the coast (Philips 1925, Palmer 1976) and they forage in 

 shallow water close to shore. 



In Alaska, Harlequins are harvested by both recreational and subsistence hunters (Rothe 

 1994). The extent of hunting in the Pacific North American population appears low, with the 

 exception of a few local areas in Alaska. No band returns from hunting have been reported in 

 over 249 birds banded on breeding areas of Montana, however, a banded bird was found to have 

 holes in the webbing of the foot caused by pellets from a shotgun (Reichel and Center 1994). 



Fishing. Harlequins have been found entangled in fishing line in Glacier National Park on 

 McDonald Creek (Ashley 1994), and in Jasper National Park on Maligne Lake (Clarkson 1992). 

 A Harlequin has also been found with a fish hook lodged in its throat (Cassirer, pers. comm., /// 

 Clarkson 1992) 



Pesticides and other contaminants/toxics. Thousands of Harlequins were killed or injured as 

 a result of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 24 March 1989 (Patten 1993 /// Clarkson 1994). Later, 



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