**2. Barnacle Goose—a bird or a fish**

A very old myth from 12th century in the western British Isles and Ireland said that this 'bird' is spawned from the goose barnacle ('Shellfish' genus *Lepas*) living on seawater [3]. According to the myth, the barnacles, which seemed to grow out of driftwood steeped in sea, were developing geese. And, indeed, people saw goose feathers in the barnacles' cirri which are feather-like feeding appendages the barnacle opens up in water into a fan-shape to catch food particles [4]. So the goose barnacle was giving the Barnacle Goose its English name and the scientific name, *Branta bernicla,* for the Brant or Brent Goose [5]. This myth persisted until the end of the 18th century. Somehow it is easy to see the logic of this myth as in those days these geese or their goslings were never seen in the UK or Irish summer, and so they were assumed to develop underwater in the form of barnacles. And fall gales often blew ashore driftwood full of barnacles just when the annual appearance of geese started through migration from their remote summer breeding grounds north of the Arctic Circle [4].

It seems clear that the well known Swedish taxonomist, Carl von Linné, also knew this old Middle Age myth, for he named the genus *Lepas* and two local species *L. anatifera* Linnaeus 1758 and *L.anserifera* Linnaeus 1767 ('duck-bearing' and'goose-bearing' correspondingly), and these pedunculate barnacles continue to be called goose barnacles [4].

Until relatively recently, Catholics in Contai Chiarrae (=County Kerry) in Ireland, who abstained from meat on the fasting days of the Church could still eat the Barnacle Goose because it was considered as fish [6]. These people did not know or care that Pope Innocent III (in 1215) had explicitly prohibited eating of these geese during Lent, arguing that despite their unusual reproduction, they lived and fed like ducks and so were of the same nature as other birds [7].

## **3. Distribution and population**

Barnacle Geese breed mainly on the Arctic islands, Greenland, Svalbard, and Novaya Zemlya. Small numbers of feral birds, also breed in the Northern European countries and since 1971 a new population originally from the Novaya Zemlya has started to breed on the islands and coasts of the Baltic Sea [8]. Principal

**129**

**5.2** *Anser albifrons*

*Management of the Barnacle Goose (*Branta leucopsis*) in Finland: Conservation versus Hunting*

range states have been listed as: Belgium, Denmark (Including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Estonia, Finland, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia,

The Arctic Russia breeding population is migratory, the temperate Baltic breeding population, including the Norwegian Oslo Fjord breeding population, is also migratory but another temperate North Sea population, breeding in the Belgium, Holland, Germany and south-west Denmark is considered to be sedentary [9].

Estimated population was 1960 ca. 30,000 individuals [10] but a worry was expressed that what happens to those birds after the nuclear tests of the Soviet Union started in Novaja Zemlja in autumn 1961. However, the size of the Barnacle Goose population has increased from 112,000 in the 1980s to well over 1.4 million in the 2010s [9]. Of all three populations listed above, the Russia, Germany and Holland population is currently the largest and it is expected to grow from 1.2 million in 2014 to 8.7 million birds by the next few years. Such an increase in population size is set to

The oldest observations known are 18 July 1840 from Sipoo and an adult male shot on July 1841 in Åland. After that more birds were seen in different parts of the country but one-third of these observations were made in the autumn [11]. Slowly the numbers started to increase and about 150 birds of this species were seen

During the spring migration 2,000 birds were seen in two days of May 1961, in Loviisa and 3,300 unidentified geese but some likely Barnacle Geese. The largest flocks were about 250 birds when other years before the flocks were much smaller [10].

In Finland, the Barnacle Goose has been breeding since the early 1980s [13]. The population size is now more than 14,000 individuals. Birds breeding in Finland head south later in the autumn than arctic breeders, and return north sooner in the spring [13]. A total of 3,421 have been ringed 1913–2019 (**Table 1**) and about half of those were goslings. There are 2,458 recoveries and 96% of those come from Finland. Some 80 per cent have been recovered alive, mainly by reading the ring number with binoculars or telescope. Before 2011 there were 11 recoveries from Holland, five from Germany, two from Russia, and one from Sweden [15]. Both of the geese shot in Russia were ringed as goslings in Helsinki and Kotka. The natal site fidelity is high as 13 goslings were recovered in subsequent summers on average 3 km distance (range 0–152 km). The longevity record for Finnish Barnacle Geese is

Before the conservation and the management options concerning the Barnacle Geese it is important to see the situation of the other goose species in the country.

White-fronted Goose or Greater White-fronted Goose has holarctic distribution, predominantly in the tundra but to some extent also in the boreal climatic

place further pressure on ecosystems, human health and air safety [9].

between Oulunsalo and Hailuoto between 24.-30.May 1954 [12].

Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the UK (Scotland) [9].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96863*

**4. Global population estimates**

**5. Barnacle Goose in Finland**

22 years 4 months and 17 days [15].

**5.1 Remarks on other goose in Finland**

*Management of the Barnacle Goose (*Branta leucopsis*) in Finland: Conservation versus Hunting DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96863*

range states have been listed as: Belgium, Denmark (Including the Faroe Islands and Greenland), Estonia, Finland, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the UK (Scotland) [9].

The Arctic Russia breeding population is migratory, the temperate Baltic breeding population, including the Norwegian Oslo Fjord breeding population, is also migratory but another temperate North Sea population, breeding in the Belgium, Holland, Germany and south-west Denmark is considered to be sedentary [9].
