Unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species: the case of European Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur)

Managing migratory game species is challenging and often leads to conflicts across areas or stakeholders. The European Turtle-dove Streptopelia turtur (TD), a declining migratory game bird, is currently subject to an adaptive harvest management plan in the European Union (EU), which has led to a tem...

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Main Authors: Lara Moreno-Zarate, Beatriz Arroyo, Zebensui Morales-Reyes, Miguel Delibes-Mateos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2024-12-01
Series:Ecosystems and People
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26395916.2024.2391461
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author Lara Moreno-Zarate
Beatriz Arroyo
Zebensui Morales-Reyes
Miguel Delibes-Mateos
author_facet Lara Moreno-Zarate
Beatriz Arroyo
Zebensui Morales-Reyes
Miguel Delibes-Mateos
author_sort Lara Moreno-Zarate
collection DOAJ
description Managing migratory game species is challenging and often leads to conflicts across areas or stakeholders. The European Turtle-dove Streptopelia turtur (TD), a declining migratory game bird, is currently subject to an adaptive harvest management plan in the European Union (EU), which has led to a temporary hunting moratorium in western Europe. We used Q-methodology to identify the discourses of hunters, hunting lobbyists and members of governmental agencies in Spain, the country with the largest TD hunting bags within EU, regarding the role of hunting and its regulation, including the moratorium, on species recovery prospects. Three discourses were identified: one that denies any involvement of hunting in the species population decline and thus considers the moratorium unnecessary; one that advocates for a moratorium but highlights the need for global strategies for it to be effective; and one that disputes the population decline, attributing the moratorium purely to environmentalists’ pressures and false data. Larger differences were observed among hunters from areas with varying levels of TD hunting than among hunters that hunt or not TD, suggesting that discourses may be socially constructed and maintained. Hunting lobbyists’ discourse was more uniformly against the moratorium than that of hunters as a whole, while governmental agencies had more nuanced perspectives. A point of consensus among discourses was the agreement on the need for transboundary coordination and a global conservation strategy incorporating habitat and hunting management approaches. These results emphasize the importance of increased transborder collaboration and effective communication strategies to mitigate conflicts about migratory game management.
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spelling doaj-art-f7a352a37bcc4ad388b6df2de707ffbb2025-08-20T02:00:58ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEcosystems and People2639-59082639-59162024-12-0120110.1080/26395916.2024.2391461Unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species: the case of European Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur)Lara Moreno-Zarate0Beatriz Arroyo1Zebensui Morales-Reyes2Miguel Delibes-Mateos3Biodiversity and Animal Conservation Lab, Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), Solsona, SpainInstituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC, CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ciudad Real, SpainInstituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (IESA), CSIC, Córdoba, SpainInstituto de Estudios Sociales Avanzados (IESA), CSIC, Córdoba, SpainManaging migratory game species is challenging and often leads to conflicts across areas or stakeholders. The European Turtle-dove Streptopelia turtur (TD), a declining migratory game bird, is currently subject to an adaptive harvest management plan in the European Union (EU), which has led to a temporary hunting moratorium in western Europe. We used Q-methodology to identify the discourses of hunters, hunting lobbyists and members of governmental agencies in Spain, the country with the largest TD hunting bags within EU, regarding the role of hunting and its regulation, including the moratorium, on species recovery prospects. Three discourses were identified: one that denies any involvement of hunting in the species population decline and thus considers the moratorium unnecessary; one that advocates for a moratorium but highlights the need for global strategies for it to be effective; and one that disputes the population decline, attributing the moratorium purely to environmentalists’ pressures and false data. Larger differences were observed among hunters from areas with varying levels of TD hunting than among hunters that hunt or not TD, suggesting that discourses may be socially constructed and maintained. Hunting lobbyists’ discourse was more uniformly against the moratorium than that of hunters as a whole, while governmental agencies had more nuanced perspectives. A point of consensus among discourses was the agreement on the need for transboundary coordination and a global conservation strategy incorporating habitat and hunting management approaches. These results emphasize the importance of increased transborder collaboration and effective communication strategies to mitigate conflicts about migratory game management.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26395916.2024.2391461Lelani MannettiQ-methodologygovernanceadaptive harvest managementEuropean Turtle-dovehunting
spellingShingle Lara Moreno-Zarate
Beatriz Arroyo
Zebensui Morales-Reyes
Miguel Delibes-Mateos
Unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species: the case of European Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur)
Ecosystems and People
Lelani Mannetti
Q-methodology
governance
adaptive harvest management
European Turtle-dove
hunting
title Unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species: the case of European Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur)
title_full Unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species: the case of European Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur)
title_fullStr Unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species: the case of European Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur)
title_full_unstemmed Unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species: the case of European Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur)
title_short Unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species: the case of European Turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur)
title_sort unravelling discourses about the management of a migratory declining game species the case of european turtle dove streptopelia turtur
topic Lelani Mannetti
Q-methodology
governance
adaptive harvest management
European Turtle-dove
hunting
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26395916.2024.2391461
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