Use of Market Data to Assess Bushmeat Hunting Sustainability in Equatorial Guinea |
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Authors: | S.M. ALLEBONE‐WEBB N.F. KÜMPEL J. RIST G. COWLISHAW J.M. ROWCLIFFE E.J. MILNER‐GULLAND |
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Affiliation: | 1. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London, NW1 4RY, United Kingdom;2. Centre for Environmental Policy and Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Division of Biology, Silwood Park Campus, Manor House, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, Berks, SL5 7PY, United Kingdom;3. Current address: Wildlife Conservation Society, Cambodia Program, P.O. Box 1620, Phnom Penh, Cambodia;4. Current address: Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY, United Kingdom;5. Current address: Project Seahorse, Fisheries Centre, University of British Columba, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada |
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Abstract: | Abstract: Finding an adequate measure of hunting sustainability for tropical forests has proved difficult. Many researchers have used urban bushmeat market surveys as indicators of hunting volumes and composition, but no analysis has been done of the reliability of market data in reflecting village offtake. We used data from urban markets and the villages that supply these markets to examine changes in the volume and composition of traded bushmeat between the village and the market (trade filters) in Equatorial Guinea. We collected data with market surveys and hunter offtake diaries. The trade filters varied depending on village remoteness and the monopoly power of traders. In a village with limited market access, species that maximized trader profits were most likely to be traded. In a village with greater market access, species for which hunters gained the greatest income per carcass were more likely to be traded. The probability of particular species being sold to market also depended on the capture method and season. Larger, more vulnerable species were more likely to be supplied from less‐accessible catchments, whereas there was no effect of forest cover or human population density on probability of being sold. This suggests that the composition of bushmeat offtake in an area may be driven more by urban demand than the geographic characteristics of that area. In one market, traders may have reached the limit of their geographical exploitation range, and hunting pressure within that range may be increasing. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to model the trade filters that bias market data, which opens the way to developing more robust market‐based sustainability indices for the bushmeat trade. |
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Keywords: | Africa Bata commodity chain hunter Rio Muni snaring trader wild meat Á frica Bata cadena de comodidades carne de vida silvestre cacerí a con trampas comerciante Rí o Muni |
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