A newspaper article recently caught my eye in which scientists reported finding conclusive evidence that over-fishing and climate change have contributed to an “alarming” decline in the diversity of fish species in the world’s oceans. One of the authors stated his belief that the marine ecosystem may be “falling apart before our eyes and we don’t realize it.” Are these strong words possibly over-stated?

In normal times, an abundance of springtime potholes on the northern prairies and an increase in numbers of breeding ducks would be cause for jubilation. The combination would produce a bountiful hatch of young, resulting in impressive numbers of ducks winging southward.

(Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of our four-part series examining the broad scope of problems facing ducks, duck hunters and waterfowl managers. The author, Mickey Heitmeyer, one of the world’s leading authorities on mallards, offers his conclusions and recommendations. Because of its semi-technical nature, it is recommended that you first print the article, then read from the printed page.)

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“Survival, particularly in the first year of life, is the major source of

Editor’s Note: This is the third of our four-part series examining in detail the problems facing ducks, duck hunters and waterfowl managers. The author, Mickey Heitmeyer, one of the world’s leading authorities on mallards, provides unique and extraordinarily perceptive insights and solutions. We highly commend it to your attention. Because of its semi-technical nature, it is recommended that you first print the article, then read from the printed page.

Editor’s Note: This is the second of our four-part series examining in detail the broad scope of problems facing ducks, duck hunters and waterfowl managers. The author, Mickey Heitmeyer, one of the world’s leading authorities on mallards, provides unique and extraordinarily perceptive insights and solutions. We highly commend it to your attention. Because of its semi-technical nature, it is recommended that you first print the article, then read from the printed page. The remaining parts of this series will follow in weekly installments.

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a critically important and alarming four-part series examining in detail the broad scope of problems facing ducks, duck hunters and waterfowl managers. The author, Mickey Heitmeyer, one of the world’s leading authorities on mallards, provides unique and extraordinarily perceptive insights and solutions. We highly commend it to your attention. Because of its semi-technical nature, it is recommended that you first print the article, then read from the printed page. The remaining parts of this series will follow in weekly installments.

Since its inception 20 years ago, key partners in the North American Waterfowl Management Plan consistently have claimed the giant public/private effort to secure the future of ducks and duck hunting by protecting habitat was racking up stunning numbers. This year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the partners had helped "protect, restore and/or enhance" more than 15.77 million acres.

Would you risk death to shoot a duck?

This is the question hunters will ask themselves this autumn if, as predicted, the new, deadly strain of bird flu is detected in North American waterfowl.

The most inane statement I ever heard a biologist utter came from a former chief of the Office of Migratory Bird Management during the mid-1980s when duck populations fell to their historic nadir. In the course of our conversation I admonished him for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to publicly speak out on behalf of our beleaguered flocks and inform waterfowlers a crisis was at hand that demanded a tightening of the gunning regulations.

He briefly pondered my remarks, then imperially declared:

Recently, a hunter, who knew that I had studied black duck-mallard interactions for the past 35 years, asked what we are “going to do about those goddamn mallards. If they keep it up, there’ll soon be no black ducks left.”

He referred to the widely held belief that mallards are the cause of the black duck’s population decline, a concern that dates back to the 1960s when some biologists warned that the eastward expansion of mallards into traditional black duck range could eventually lead to the black duck’s demise.