Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference

Bird control in agriculture is an age-old problem. Techniques range from various types of lethal control to hazing and exclusion. Netting is used effectively in several forms of agricultural bird control. In grapes and blueberries, netting is applied by the row or in an overhead canopy fashion. Netting is also used in aquaculture to eliminate damage from wading birds. No one debates the effectiveness of net, however, the application and retrieval has been so problematic as to make the process not worth pursuing. In recent years, significant advances have been made in the field of mechanized net application and retrieval. These advances combined with innovative applications in aquaculture and other industries bring the use of netting for agricultural bird control to a new level of effectiveness.