A new understanding of the Yellow-billed Duck in South Africa (17 Oct 2007)

The pivotal importance of maize in the ecology of the Yellow-billed Duck in South Africa has not been fully recognised.

The development of AGRED’s Vrede gamebird conservancy has provided a new understanding on the ecology of the Yellow-billed Duck. More...

The AGRED viewpoint on Gamebird species, bags and seasons (30 May 2007)

Several AGRED and CHASA members have contacted AGRED for an opinion on a recently-published proposal for a standardised list of gamebird species, bags and limits for all South African provinces. The same proposal was tabled at a March meeting of the Wildlife Forum (a meeting of national, provincial and government agencies and the hunting industry). In short, AGRED has substantive differences with the proposal. More...

Project Germination - AGRED Gamebird Conservancies (04 Dec 2006)

In this article, the commencement of AGRED's Germination Project is announced and described.

Project Germination, with its farmer-orientated name recalling new growth and development, has begun. The aim is to germinate the hidden potential of natural resources unused by landowners with gamebirds as a starting point. The project encompasses the golden thread of AGRED, which is “to perpetuate the natural African heritage through sustainable utilisation in a manner that benefits all communities economically and socially, promotes the sport of shooting and meets the highest standards of conservation management”.

AGRED hopes to develop this first conservancy as a model process, and then to roll out this model across South Africa. Whilst initially aimed at commercial farms, we hope to develop models which can be used on communal lands as well. Ideally, we hope for the conservancy to be operational by the end of 2006 with first organised shoot to take place in 2007. More...

Positive developments on the new hunting legislation - Dr Aldo Berruti (04 Dec 2006)

This article reports back on a meeting of the Wildlife Forum which took place on 8 November 2006 to discuss the revised draft legislation on hunting legislation. DEAT presented the revised draft legislation for comment. One dramatic change was that the two draft acts(the Threatened and Protected Species Regulations and the National Norms and Standards for the Regulation of the Hunting Industry in South Africa)were merged into a single Act “Regulations for Threatened and Protected Species and Hunting Norms and Standards”.

Aldo Berruti discusses and reviews the revised draft Act, which in AGRED's view, now enjoys a very large measure of agreement between the central government, provincial government and the hunting industry.
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