Large numbers of Red-necked Phalaropes have been observed at some migratory stopover sites, including more than 45,000 individuals at locations in the Prairies such as Chaplin and Reed Lakes in Saskatchewan (COSEWIC, 2014), and even larger numbers in the Bay of Fundy / Gulf of Maine area, as high as 3 million at Pasamaquoddy Bay in the 1970s (Finch et al., 1978) and 1 million at Quoddy Bay in the early 1980s (Mercier and Gaskin, 1985). However, by 1990, migrant Red-necked Phalaropes had largely disappeared from that region (Finch et al., 1978), and only small numbers have been observed since. At breeding grounds near La Perouse Bay, Nunavut, the species decreased in abundance by at least 94% between 1980 and 1993 (Gratto-Trevor, 1994, Rubega et al., 2000). However, these observations represent a limited portion of the population, and it is unclear to what extent changes represent shifts in distribution rather than abundance. Future assessments of status may be improved when more results from the Arctic Program for Regional and International Shorebird Monitoring (Arctic PRISM) become available, though about half of the Red-necked Phalarope's Canadian breeding range is south of the Arctic. For now though, the long-term trend remains uncertain, although a decline of some magnitude seems likely.

No population goal is set for Red-necked Phalarope because there are not enough data to estimate population trends. More monitoring is needed to enable development of a population goal for this species. The management objective under the Species at Risk Act aims to achieve stable or increasing trends for Red-necked Phalarope by 2040, but at present there is no basis for evaluating this goal.