Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) are an important wildlife food resource for Cree people living in communities along the James Bay coasts. According to Traditional Ecological Knowledge, environmental changes along the coast have affected hunting success. Also, changes in the relative abundance of different goose populations that use James Bay may affect hunting opportunities. The objective of our study was to use band recoveries to identify Canada Goose populations harvested by Eeyou Istchee Cree hunters in their Eastern James Bay territory between 2000 and 2020. A total of 744 band recoveries were reported including 198 from the Atlantic Population (AP), 82 from the Southern Hudson Bay Population (SHBP), 122 from the Atlantic Flyway Resident Population (AFRP), 339 from the Mississippi Flyway Giant Population (MFGP), and three that could not be assigned to a population. The percentage of banded geese that were recovered was three times greater for the AP than for the other three populations. Eighty-seven percent of recoveries were reported in spring and 72% were submitted by hunters from the two northern communities (Chisasibi and Wemindji). Most recoveries were reported from coastal hunting sites, but a greater proportion of banded geese of the AP were recovered inland compared to the other goose populations, an indication of their propensity to migrate inland. The most noticeable change in the goose harvest compared to the 1970s was the rapid increase of molt migrant temperate-breeding geese of the AFRP and MFGP. In addition to environmental changes along the James Bay east coast, changes in the relative abundance of each goose population may affect hunting success because each population is differently susceptible to hunting within the territory due to differences in migratory behavior. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of band recoveries in tracking these changes and we therefore encourage agencies to maintain banding programs and Cree hunters to report their recovered bands.

中文翻译：

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Eeyou Istchee Cree 猎人在东詹姆斯湾收获的加拿大鹅种群

加拿大鹅 (Branta canadensis) 是生活在詹姆斯湾沿岸社区的克里人的重要野生动物食物资源。根据传统生态知识，沿海的环境变化影响了狩猎的成功率。此外，使用詹姆斯湾的不同鹅种群相对丰度的变化可能会影响狩猎机会。我们研究的目的是使用波段恢复来确定 Eeyou Istchee Cree 猎人在 2000 年至 2020 年间在其东詹姆斯湾地区收获的加拿大鹅种群。共报告了 744 条带恢复，其中 198 条来自大西洋人口 (AP)， 82 人来自南哈德逊湾人口 (SHBP)，122 人来自大西洋航路常住人口 (AFRP)，339 人来自密西西比航路巨人人​​口 (MFGP)，和三个不能分配给人口的。AP 中恢复的带状鹅的百分比是其他三个种群的三倍。春季报告了 87% 的恢复，72% 是由来自两个北部社区（Chisasibi 和 Wemindji）的猎人提交的。据报道，大多数恢复是在沿海狩猎地点，但与其他鹅种群相比，AP 的带状鹅在内陆恢复的比例更大，这表明它们倾向于向内陆迁移。与 1970 年代相比，鹅收获最显着的变化是 AFRP 和 MFGP 的蜕皮迁徙温带繁殖鹅的迅速增加。除了詹姆斯湾东海岸的环境变化，每个鹅种群相对丰度的变化可能会影响狩猎成功，因为由于迁徙行为的差异，每个种群在领土内对狩猎的敏感性不同。我们的研究证明了乐队恢复在跟踪这些变化方面的有用性，因此我们鼓励机构维持乐队计划，并鼓励 Cree 猎人报告他们恢复的乐队。