The North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) first signed in 1986 has remained a leading model for other international conservation plans. The Plan Committee formed the NAWMP Revision Steering Committee (RSC) to serve as a focal point for gathering, vetting, and synthesizing ideas from the waterfowl management community and to advise the Plan Committee on the content of the plan. At its August 2009 meeting, the Plan Committee agreed to engage stakeholders in generating initial fundamental goals for the Plan and as such the AVMA is submitted comments on behalf of our membership.
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Veterinarians should be counted among the NAWMP stakeholders. The health of people, animals, and our environment are inextricably interconnected. One Health is the collaborative effort of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally - to attain optimal health for people, animals, and our environment. The veterinary profession has the animal health, population health, and public health expertise, all of which are vital to the Revisions of the pending Action Plan.
The AVMA is both impressed with aspects of the forward thinking demonstrated by the project developers and disappointed with what seems to be the lack of focus on animal health. Specifically, the AVMA highlights the following points:
- While maintaining healthy waterfowl populations was one of the primary goals discussed during the 2010-2011 NAWMP Consultation Process, this fundamental necessity did not carry over as a primary goal in the Revision. Instead the goals were directed to ensure hunting and human enjoyment.
- The AVMA urges the Agency to include among the revision's goals a goal specifically addressing the paramount need for fostering healthy waterfowl populations.
- The AVMA strongly recommends addressing waterfowl population health issues in the Revision's companion Action Plan
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= AVMA/SAVMA Members Only
