Does traditional shellfishing affect foraging by waders? The case of the Tagus estuary (Portugal)

Estuarine intertidal flats are often exploited by humans and waders since they provide food, particularly shellfish. This raises important conservation issues. Waders can be affected by shellfishing activities in multiple ways, such as a reduction of the available shellfish, disturbance by the presence of shellfishers on their feeding areas, and changes in micro-habitat, due to sediment reworking. In this study we quantified the impact of traditional shellfishing on waders in the Tagus estuary. Particular attention was given to hand-raking of clams Scrobicularia plana, which constitutes most of the consumed food by waders. Shellfishers did not cause a relevant depletion of clams for waders; they removed less than 0.3% of its total production and focused on size classes that were usually not taken by birds. Hand-raking caused temporary changes in the vertical distribution and availability of invertebrate prey in the sediment. However, this did not affect the bird's feeding rates, presumably because prey availability remained above the threshold at which intake rates are expected to decline. The presence of shellfishers in the birds foraging areas potentially affects waders by keeping them away from foraging areas, but even the most affected species lost less than 10% of their foraging grounds due to this factor. Overall, we conclude that the current low harvesting levels of shellfishing are compatible with the preservation of the estuary as a key site for waders. Nevertheless, simulations showed that traditional shellfishing could have much greater potential to affect waders through disturbance than through prey removal. The results for the Tagus show that even small harvest rates, representing a negligible loss of food for waders and potentially considered sustainable by shellfish managers, could have a great impact on waders due to increased disturbance. This effect of disturbance likely occurs in most estuaries and should be taken into consideration when planning shellfish harvesting in important wader feeding areas.