The Kachemak Bay Conservation Society and Kachemak Bay Birders will host their annual K-Bay Sea Duck Survey on March 15.
The count — which is held over one day, generally in mid-March — aims to ensure a proper and consistent population estimate before the ducks begin their April migration.
The day of the count itself largely depends on the tides. Low tides are preferred for monitoring “because it draws the near shore ducks out into more open water,” organizer George Matz said.
Multiple boats are used to traverse the same areas, helping provide accurate count reports and reduce observer bias. The survey generally takes two to three hours, plus a half hour to get across the bay and back.
The duck survey results are tracked in eBird, an online community and collection of around 100 million annual bird sightings from around the world. The application helps streamline the process, Matz said, reducing count errors.
Matz has been conducting bird monitoring in Kachemak Bay since 2009, when he took on the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Monitoring Project. In 2021 — after community members across the bay raised concerns about what they saw as excessive duck hunting near their homes over the 2020 duck hunting season — a collective of Kachemak Bay residents decided to create a citizen science monitoring program exclusively for sea ducks.
The group in Kachemak Bay first began monitoring populations to create a “population index.” By focusing on a few areas with dense sea duck populations, the survey hopes to track population trends.
Now in its fifth consecutive year, the event is finally beginning to have enough data to detect trends, Matz said. Surveys indicate a flat population trend, suggesting that populations have not bounced back from the 2020 hunting season.
“What we found after our surveys in March 2021-2024 is that there may have been a change since the last Waterfowl Program survey,” Matz said in a Friday, March 7, email. “Although our four years of data is preliminary, based on current data, it doesn’t appear that the increase in the overall abundance of sea ducks, as previously reported by ADF&G, has continued. This is a case where having harvest tickets would now be extremely valuable.”
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game had previously completed duck surveys in the area but stopped in 2019, before the community began noticing an uptick in hunting.
There are bag and possession limits for individual duck hunters, but no overall harvest limits based on population and harvest trends. Matz also noted the high level of “site fidelity” these birds have, which means that if an area’s population is depressed, birds from other areas will not help boost their recovery.
Additionally, sea ducks do not breed until they are 2 or 3 years old and only lay one clutch of eggs per year. They also have significantly lower chick survival rates than other ducks.
Proposal 86, drafted by Penelope Haas, and supported by the Homer Fish and Game Advisory Committee, is set to go before the Board of Game during their Statewide Regulations Meeting, March 21-28, in Anchorage. If passed, it would require mandatory harvest reporting of sea ducks. The proposal notes that new management language could include “required possession of a paper or electronic harvest record card for sea ducks”, “required recording of all information on the harvest record card or through a mobile application” and “consequences for not reporting.”
The annual K-Bay Sea Duck Survey will take place on Saturday, March 15, weather depending. Serious, experienced volunteers may reach out to organizer George Matz at geomatz41@gmail.com.
After the survey, there will be a celebration and sharing of information at Grace Ridge Brewing at 870 Smoky Bay Way. The event will begin at 4 p.m. and is open to the community to join. There will be speakers on sea duck population trends in Kachemak Bay, music from Jim Maloney and John Cottingham, reports from various boats, and the opportunity to purchase a sea duck T-shirt, designed by local artist Kelsy Hardy-Place.
For those interested in sea duck conservation efforts, there is an online petition through Kachemak Conservation Society that can be found on their website at kbayconservation.org/protect-kbay-sea-ducks-petition.
Reach reporter Chloe Pleznac at chloe.pleznac@homernews.com.
