Living Planet: Connected Planet

Opportunities for ecological networks

Protecting key refueling sites and their associated food

resources along the migration routes of the red knot is vital to

its survival. Major progress has been made in this regard along

the East Atlantic flyway as part of the African-Eurasian Waterbird

Agreement (AEWA).

C. c. canutus

C. c. islandica

, and several

other shorebird species benefit from the protection of key

areas along this flyway. The present partnership development

between countries along the East Asia-Australasian flyway

system could potentially lead to similar levels of protection.

Efforts are also needed to protect the food resources associated

with these stopover sites. Mechanical shellfish harvesting was

terminated in the Wadden Sea in 2006, but smaller-scale manual

harvesting practices always run the risk of increasing again for

economic reasons. Discontinuation of the harvesting practices

of horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay are imperative to help the

recovery of

C. c. rufa

red knots and other shorebirds along the

West Atlantic flyway.

C. c. rufa

C. c. canutus

C. c. rogersi

C. c. piersmai

C. c. islandica

Sources: personal communication with Dr. Peter Prokosch,

GRID-Arendal; Piersma, T., Davidson, N.,

The Migration of

Knots,

WSG Bulletin 64, 1992.

Langebaan Lagoon

Breeding area for different subspecies

Knot staging and non-breeding area

Note: circles are intended to indicate qualitative

proportion of red knot popuation using the area.

Yellow Sea

Wadden Sea

Roebuck

Bay

Iceland

Porsanger

Fjord

Delaware Bay

Gulf of

California

Guinea-Bissau

Banc d’Arguin (Mauritania)

North

Pole

Global flyways of the six subspecies of red knot

Figure 22:

Red knot flyways.