Y-K Delta hunters face lower white-fronted goose limits as the Pacific population declines

Hunters in Game Management Unit 18, the Bering Sea coast of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, can now take six greater white-fronted geese a day, down from 10, and hold no more than 18, down from 30. A state regulation making the change took effect Saturday, Oct. 10, matching federal limits that took effect Sept. 1.

The cut is part of a four-state effort. Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California all lowered their limits this year to reduce harvest of the Pacific population of greater white-fronted geese and "help reverse a current negative population trend," the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said in a March notice.

The Y-K Delta matters most to these birds. Fish and Game identifies it as the main nesting area for the Pacific population, according to its Wildlife Notebook. It's also a predominantly Yup'ik region where geese have long been a staple food, as Alaska News reported when the change was proposed in July. As recently as 2014, the state was raising goose limits there.

The population has fallen before. The Wildlife Notebook records it dropping from 400,000 to 100,000 birds during the 1970s, then growing to more than 295,000 by 1993 under restrictive hunting rules.

The new limits apply only in Unit 18, and falconry is excluded.