Abstract
Harvesting, consumption and trade of forest meat are key causes of biodiversity loss. Successful mitigation programs are proving difficult to design, in part because anthropogenic pressures are treated as internationally uniform. Despite illegal hunting being a key conservation issue in the Pacific Islands, there is a paucity of research. Here, we examine the dynamics of hunting of birds and determine how these contribute to biodiversity loss on the islands of Samoa. We focus on the interactive effects of hunting on two key seed dispersing bird species: the Pacific pigeon (Ducula pacifica) and the critically endangered Manumea or tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigiristris). We interviewed hunters, vendors and consumers and analyzed household consumption. Results suggest that over 22,000 pigeons were consumed per year and this is by primarily the richest people across the country. Indeed, the wealthiest 10% of households consumed 43% of all wild pigeon meat, and the wealthiest 40% of households consumed 80% of all pigeons. The Manumea was shot by 33% (n = 30) of the surveyed hunters while pursuing the Pacific pigeon. Results raise serious conservation concerns, as pigeon hunting is likely to be a key factor contributing to the decline of the Manumea and critical forest seed dispersers in general. Our results show that wild meat consumption can lead to non-targeted pressure on bycatch species. Wild meat harvesting and consumption is a key issue leading to species declines and extinctions in the tropics. It is critical that this issue receives the appropriate attention and is addressed in the Pacific if species and forests are to be maintained.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bassett TJ (2005) Card-carrying hunters, rural poverty, and wildlife decline in northern Côte d’Ivoire. Geogr J 171:24–35
Beichle U, Maelzer M (1985) A conservation programme for Western Samoa. Conservation of tropical forest birds. Technical Publication 4. International Council for Bird Preservation, Cambridge, p 297–299
Bennett EL, Milner-Gulland EJ, Bakarr M, Eves HE, Robinson JG, Wilkie DS (2002) Hunting the world’s wildlife to extinction. Oryx 36:328–329
Biggs D, Cooney R, Roe D, Dublin HT, Allan JR, Challender DWS, Skinner D (2016) Developing a theory of change for a community-based response to illegal wildlife trade. Conserv Biol. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12796
Bodmer RE, Eisenberg JF, Redford KH (1997) Hunting and the likelihood of extinction of Amazonian mammals. Conserv Biol 11:460–466
Brodie JF, Helmy OE, Brockelman WY, Maron JL (2009) Bushmeat poaching reduces the seed dispersal and population growth rate of a mammal-dispersed tree. Ecol Appl 19:854–863
Buden D (2008) The birds of Nauru. Notornis 55:8–19
Burley DV (1996) Sport, status, and field monuments in the Polynesian Chiefdom of Tonga: the pigeon snaring mounds of northern Ha’apai. J Field Archaeol 23:421–435
Challender DWS, MacMillan DC (2014) Poaching is more than an enforcement problem. Cons Lett 7:484–494
Collar NJ (2015) Natural history and conservation biology of the tooth-billed pigeon (Didunculus strigirostris): a review. Pac Conserv Biol 21:186
Cooney R et al (2016) From poachers to protectors: engaging local communities in solutions to illegal wildlife trade. Conserv Lett. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12294
Corlett RT (2007) The impact of hunting on the mammalian fauna of tropical Asian forests. Biotropica 39:292–303
Craig P, Morrell TE, So’oto K (1994) Subsistence harvest of birds, fruit bats, and other game in American Samoa, 1990–1991. Pac Sci 48:344–352
De Merode E, Homewood K, Cowlishaw G (2004) The value of bushmeat and other wild foods to rural households living in extreme poverty in Democratic Republic of Congo. Biol Conserv 118:573–581
Duffy R, St John FAV, Büscher B, Brockington D (2016) Toward a new understanding of the links between poverty and illegal wildlife hunting. Conserv Biol 30:14–22
Effiom EO, Nuñez-Iturri G, Smith HG, Ottosson U, Olsson O (2013) Bushmeat hunting changes regeneration of African rainforests. Proc R Soc Lond B 280:20130246
Elmqvist T, Rainey WE, Pierson ED, Cox PA (1994) Effects of tropical cyclones Ofa and Val on the structure of a Samoan lowland rain forest. Biotropica 26:384–391
Fa JE, Currie D, Meeuwig J (2003) Bushmeat and food security in the Congo Basin: linkages between wildlife and people’s future. Environ Conserv 30:71–78
Fa JE, Albrechtsen L, Johnson PJ, Macdonald DW (2009) Linkages between household wealth, bushmeat and other animal protein consumption are not invariant: evidence from Rio Muni, Equatorial Guinea. Anim Conserv 12:599–610
Harrison RD, Sreekar R, Brodie JF, Brook S, Luskin M, O’Kelly H, Rao M, Scheffers B, Velho N (2016) Impacts of hunting on tropical forests in Southeast Asia. Conserv Biol 30:972–981
Herdrich DJ (1991) Towards an understanding of Samoan star mounds. J Polyn Soc 100:381–435
Hutchings JA, Reynolds JD (2004) Marine fish population collapses: consequences for recovery and extinction risk. Bioscience 54:297–309
IUCN (2012) Ducula pacifica: BirdLife International: the IUCN red list of threatened species. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22691658/0. Accessed 17 Oct 2016
IUCN (2015) Didunculus strigirostris: BirdLife International: the IUCN red list of threatened species. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22691890/0. Accessed 17 Oct 2016
Kümpel NF, Milner-Gulland EJ, Cowlishaw G, Rowcliffe JM (2010) Incentives for hunting: the role of bushmeat in the household economy in rural Equatorial Guinea. Hum Ecol 38:251–264
Lyver PO, Jones CJ, Belshaw N, Anderson A, Thompson R, Davis J (2015) Insights to the functional relationships of Māori harvest practices: customary use of a burrowing seabird. J Wildl Manag 79:969–977
Mace GM, Collar NJ, Gaston KJ, Hilton-Taylor C, Akçakaya HR, Leader-Williams N, Milner-Gulland EJ, Stuart SN (2008) Quantification of extinction risk: IUCN’s system for classifying threatened species. Conserv Biol 22:1424–1442
McCauley DJ, Pinsky ML, Palumbi SR, Estes JA, Joyce FH, Warner RR (2015) Marine defaunation: animal loss in the global ocean. Science 347:1255641
McConkey KR, Drake DR (2006) Flying foxes cease to function as seed dispersers long before they become rare. Ecology 87:271–276
Merlin MD, Juvik JO (1985) Bird protection in Western Samoa. Oryx 19:97–103
Mills JA (1994) The Asian trade in bears and bear parts: impacts and conservation recommendations. Int Conf Bear Res Manag 9:161–167
Milner-Gulland EJ, Bennett EL (2003) Wild meat: the bigger picture. Trends Ecol Evol 18:351–357
MNRE (1998) Government of Samoa national report to the convention on biological diversity. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Apia
MNRE (2006) Recovery plan for the Manumea or toothbilled pigeon: 2006–2016. Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Apia
Ostrom E (2008) The challenge of common-pool resources. Environ Sci Policy Sustain Dev 50:8–21
Park G, Hay R, Whistler A, Lovegrove T (1992) The national ecological survey of Western Samoa. In: The conservation of biological diversity in the coastal lowlands of Western Samoa. New Zealand Department of Conservation, Wellington, p 196
Peres CA, Emilio T, Schietti J, Desmoulière SJ, Levi T (2016) Dispersal limitation induces long-term biomass collapse in overhunted Amazonian forests. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 113:892–897
Phelps J, Biggs D, Webb EL (2016) Tools and terms for understanding illegal wildlife trade. Front Ecol Environ 14:479–489
Ponzi D, McCauley DS, Calanog LA (eds) (2004) Volume II: Case studies. Mainstreaming the environment in development planning and management. Pacific region environmental strategy 2005–2009. Asian Development Bank
Powlesland RG, Butler DJ, Westbrooke IM (2008) Was tropical cyclone Heta or hunting by people responsible for decline of the Lupe (Ducula pacifica) (Aves: Columbidae) population on Niue during 1994–2004? Pac Sci 62:461–471
Pritchard W (1866) Polynesian reminiscences on life in the South Pacific Islands. Chapman and Hall, London
Robinson JG, Bennett EL (2002) Will alleviating poverty solve the bushmeat crisis? Oryx 36:332
SBS (2016) Samoa household and income and expenditure survey 2013/2014. Economics and Statistics Division, Samoa Bureau of Statistics (SBS), Samoa
Schaller GB, Rabinowitz A (2009) The saola or spindlehorn bovid Pseudoryx nghetinhensis in Laos. Oryx 29:107–114
Steinmetz R, Srirattanaporn S, Mor-Tip J, Seuaturien N (2014) Can community outreach alleviate poaching pressure and recover wildlife in South-East Asian protected areas? J Appl Ecol 51:1469–1478
Stirnemann RL, Potter MA, Butler D, Minot EO (2016) Slow life history traits in an endangered tropical island bird, the Ma’oma’o. http://www.core/journals/bird-conservation-international/article/slow-life-history-traits-in-an-endangered-tropical-island-bird-the-maomao/DBC437B8AF4C3E6799C8573B93937F70. Accessed 17 Nov 2016
Szabo JK, Khwaja N, Garnett ST, Butchart SHM (2012) Global patterns and drivers of avian extinctions at the species and subspecies level. PLoS ONE 7:e47080
Tuck GN, Polacheck T, Croxall JP, Weimerskirch H (2001) Modelling the impact of fishery by-catches on albatross populations. J Appl Ecol 38:1182–1196
van Vliet N, Mbazza P (2011) Recognizing the multiple reasons for bushmeat consumption in urban areas: a necessary step toward the sustainable use of wildlife for food in Central Africa. Hum Dimens Wildl 16:45–54
Vasco C, Sirén A (2016) Correlates of wildlife hunting in indigenous communities in the Pastaza Province, Ecuadorian Amazonia. Anim Conserv 19:422–429
Walker JS (2007) Geographical patterns of threat among pigeons and doves (Columbidae). Oryx 41:289–299
Ward RG, Ashcroft P (1998) Samoa: mapping the diversity. Institute of Pacific Studies
Watling D (2004) A guide to the birds of Fiji and Western Polynesia: including American Samoa, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Wallis and Futuna. Environmental Consultants, Suva
Whistler AW (1980) The vegetation of eastern Samoa. Allertonia 2:45–158
Zhang L, Hua N, Sun S (2008) Wildlife trade, consumption and conservation awareness in southwest China. Biodivers Conserv 17:1493–1516
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the Grants from the Darwin DEFRA Project 21-001, Auckland Zoo and the Rufford Conservation Grant which have supported this Project. We also thank the Samoan government and Ministry of Natural Resources, Australian National University and the Samoa Conservation Society for their support in implementing this Project. In additional we thank the Samoa Statistics Bureau for allowing us to use the HIES data for this study. We are grateful for all participants in the field and the support for all the villages and local people who took part in the surveys and without whom this Project would not be possible. Further, thanks to Tiffany Straza, Greg Shirley, Mark O’Brien and Tommy Moore for all their input into the manuscript in its development and to Ryan Wright for his graphing of the HIES sites.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Karen E. Hodges.
This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Biodiversity exploitation and use.
Appendix: English version of hunting survey
Appendix: English version of hunting survey
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stirnemann, R.L., Stirnemann, I.A., Abbot, D. et al. Interactive impacts of by-catch take and elite consumption of illegal wildlife. Biodivers Conserv 27, 931–946 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-017-1473-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-017-1473-y