ATLANTIC FLYWAY 
During the ten year period 1949 through 1958 the wintering 
population of ducks in the Atlantic Flyway gradually increased during the 
first four years and reached a peak in 1953. The population decreased in 
1954, improved somewhat in 1955, and has been decreasing steadily each 
year since 1955. The 1958 population level is the lowest recorded in the 
ten year period. 
The decrease has occurred in all of the important species. For 
example, the 1958 black duck index is 41 percent below 1957 and 55 percent 
below the peak reached in 1953; mallard decreased 54 percent from last 
year and is 56 percent below the peak; canvasback decreased 57 percent 
from last year and is 83 percent below the peak; ringneck decreased 28 
percent from last year and is 76 percent below the peak; and scaup decreas- 
ed 17 percent from 1957 and the index is 62 percent below the peak. It is 
of significance to note that this decrease has occurred at a time when the 
fall flights in other flyways have either been maintaining their status or 
increasing. 
Unfortunately, the reasons for the population decreases in the Atlantic 
Flyway are obscure. Breeding population and production surveys have not 
reached the point where they were judged to be operationally feasible in the 
important Quebec-Labrador breeding area, and production survey techniques 
have not been developed for use in the northern portions of the Prairie 
Provinces or in the Northwest Territories, all of which are important con- 
tributors to the Atlantic Flyway population. It is not possible, therefore, 
to determine whether the decrease has been due to below average reproduction 
or to overharvest. Regardless, it is necessary to rely heavily on the 
results of the annual winter survey as a measure of population trend in the 
Flyway. 
In the breeding areas supplying the Flyway where surveys were 
conducted there were increases in breeding population in Alaska, Northwest 
Territories, southern Manitoba, and Ontario. Decreases were recorded in 
Saskatchewan, northern Manitoba, and North Dakota. 
Water conditions throughout the western portion of the breeding 
range supplying the Atlantic Flyway were characterized by drought. Although 
the drought was of sufficient intensity to decrease expected production from 
the important southern Saskatchewan area, increases are expected from south- 
ern Alberta, southern Manitoba, northern Alberta, and Northwest Territories, 
and from Alaska. Unfortunately, the bulk of these increases involve species 
which are not expected to migrate through the Atlantic Flyway. 
It is expected, therefore, that there will be a further decrease 
in the 1958 flight of ducks in the Atlantic Flyway. 
On the basis of a 14 percent decrease in the breeding population 
of Canada geese, as measured by the annual winter survey, it is expected 
that there will be a small decrease in the fall flight of this species. 
On the basis of a decrease in the number of coot recorded during 
the January 1958 survey and the indications of below average coot produc- 
tion in the southern portions of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, it is estimated 
that there will be a considerable reduction in the fall flight of this 
species. . 
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