The origins and functioning of the private wildfowling lease system in a major Mediterranean wetland: the Camargue (Rhone river delta, southern France)

All over the world, the demand for high-quality hunting areas has been growing in recent decades and this trend is expected to continue in the future. In the Camargue (southern France), where there are large wintering populations of ducks, the leasing of privately owned estates for wildfowling is becoming an alternative economic activity that can supplement and even exceed the income from other uses of farmland. In this region, several habitats of conservation concern, including Mediterranean seasonally flooded marshes, are managed for this purpose. However, data on wetland management for shooting and on the status of private shooting clubs in relation to local farming, are scarce. We investigated the characteristics of 42 private wildfowling clubs in the Rhone river delta. Aerial surveys were used to collect the data on land use on these sites. In addition, interviews and questionnaires allowed us to identify habitat management practices undertaken by landowners and hunting managers. We describe the origins and functioning of the private wildfowling club system. A multifactorial analysis and an ascending hierarchical classification distinguished three types of club. We evaluated leasing costs and incomes in the Camargue, their determinants, and some consequences of the leasing system on rural development and the conservation of wetlands.