With hundreds of miles of ocean and bayshore coastline, coastal and inland wetlands, small ponds and large lakes, New Jersey hosts an enormous variety of waterfowl species. Waterfowl can be found in abundance in the varied wetland habitats throughout the state including wood ducks in the beaver swamps of northern New Jersey to snow geese in the vast salt marshes along Delaware Bay. In fact, New Jersey’s salt marshes and coastal back bay habitats are of global significance given that over one-third of the black ducks in the eastern United States and over two-thirds of North America’s Atlantic brant spend winter in these marshes.

Due to the migratory nature of waterfowl, the research and management activities of the Division’s Waterfowl Ecology and Management Program are generally conducted on a flyway or continental scale requiring the participation of numerous state, provincial, federal (US and Canadian) and non-government partners. New Jersey is a member of the Atlantic Flyway Council which provides the means to participate in promulgating annual hunting regulations and long-term management plans in cooperation with partner states and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The primary objective of Fish and Wildlife’s Waterfowl Program is to work in a cooperative manner with the numerous government and non-government agencies responsible for the populations and habitats of migratory game birds.