Harvesting Wildlife

1. Harvesting Wildlife Greg Baxter School of Natural and Rural Systems Management The University of Queensland, Gatton Campus Presentation to North Carolina State University University June 22, 2007

2. Wildlife includes living, wild harvested resources • Includes; • animals and their products (e.g. skins, ivory) • plants and their products (e.g. seeds, wax, natural pigments)

3. Types of harvesting • Commercial • e.g. whales or kangaroos • profit driven • large numbers (roos >2,000,000 p.a.) • harvest not always benefit to locals

4. Types of harvesting • Commercial • e.g. whales or kangaroos • profit driven • large numbers • Subsistence • to satisfy personal needs • can be large numbers, but local extent • now confined to Africa, S. America, parts of S.E. Asia

5. Types of harvesting • Commercial • e.g. whales or kangaroos • profit driven • large numbers • no benefit to locals • Subsistence • to satisfy personal needs • can be large numbers, but local extent • now confined to Africa, S. America, parts of S.E. Asia • ‘Bush meat’ • to meet demands of poor urban immigrants • driven by taste and cost • huge, growing demand • transport of products

6. Types of harvesting • Commercial • Subsistence • ‘Bush meat’ • to meet demands of poor urban immigrants • driven by taste and cost • huge, growing demand • transport of products • Cultural (including medicines) • e.g. dugongs by Aust. Aborigines, beluga whales by Inuit • small scale • local • can affect endangered/vulnerable species

7. Types of harvesting • Commercial • Subsistence • ‘Bush meat’ • Cultural • Collector (including trophy hunting) • people want to own exotic animals/products • want hunting experience • national and international • huge volumes • consumer divorced from consequences of collecting

8. Each type of harvesting • has different driver • different aerial extent • different mode of operation Therefore different modes of control/enforcement are applicable

9. Different harvests require different controls

10. Different harvests require different controls

11. Different harvests require different controls

12. Different harvests require different controls

13. Different harvests require different controls

14. Mode of harvest varies

18. Different harvesting requires different controls • Must be international

19. Different harvesting requires different controls • Must be international • Policing and enforcement insufficient

20. Different harvesting requires different controls • Must be international • Policing and enforcement insufficient • Must address poverty

21. Different harvesting requires different controls • Must be international • Policing and enforcement insufficient • Must address poverty • Must address cultural issues

22. Different harvesting requires different controls • Must be international • Policing and enforcement insufficient • Must address poverty • Must address cultural issues • Understand there powerful vested interests

23. Different harvesting requires different controls • Must be international • Policing and enforcement insufficient • Must address poverty • Must address cultural issues • Understand there powerful vested interests • Recognise economic and conservation outcomes can be achieved

24. Controlling Harvest • Quotas • Regulating effort • Spatial control

25. Quotas Preselected proportion of population(s) taken Requires; • Accurate & precise population estimate EACH harvest • Regular population monitoring (absolute abundance) • Good control over non-quota (illegal) take

26. Obtaining an estimate of absolute abundance • Time consuming • Costly • Complex An example from the kangaroo industry (Acknowledgement to Gordon Grigg)

27. Regulating Effort Limit how and/or when harvest can occur e.g. nest mesh size, rifle calibre, closed season(s) Requires; Does Not Require; • Compliance with regulations • Appropriate effort is specified • Monitoring of population trend • Estimate of absolute abundance Control is self-tracking with changes in population size

28. Spatial Control Limit WHERE animals can be taken, not how many, or how = places where animals can be harvested

29. Spatial Control Harvest between 0 – 100% in black squares Animals disperse into hunting areas Then, monitor trend in non-hunted areas

30. Monitoring in Spatial Control If population in non-hunted areas is about constant, maintain situation

31. Monitoring in Spatial Control If population in non-hunted areas is decreasing, restrict hunting areas

32. Monitoring in Spatial Control If population in non-hunted areas is increasing, increase hunting areas

33. Spatial Control Requires; Estimate of relative abundance – easy, cheap, repeatable Used; Fisheries, marine parks e.g. GBRMPA

34. Harvest Population Size How is harvest set for quotas? Assumes sustainable harvest Must understand the link between harvest size and population size and know what population size is

35. There are two population sizes (A & B) that will deliver any given SY Harvest at the higher one A B How is harvest set Sustained Yield (SY) Population Size

36. There is only one populations size (A) that will produce the maximum sustained yield (MSY). MSY A How is harvest set Sustained Yield (SY) Population Size

37. MSY Harvesting at MSY is dangerous Even a small error in population size estimate will lead to over-harvest Population usually discounted by 15% and population harvested there Sustained Yield (SY) A – 15% A Population Size

38. Can harvest have a conservation benefit? If the following conditions are met: • Benefit accrues to the land owner/occupier • Exploitation does not endanger the species (or look alikes) • Populations are monitored and managed • Exploitation enhances habitat

39. Questions ?