Bushmeat Hunting, Wildlife Declines, and Fish Supply in West Africa
Abstract
The multibillion-dollar trade in bushmeat is among the most immediate threats to the persistence of tropical vertebrates, but our understanding of its underlying drivers and effects on human welfare is limited by a lack of empirical data. We used 30 years of data from Ghana to link mammal declines to the bushmeat trade and to spatial and temporal changes in the availability of fish. We show that years of poor fish supply coincided with increased hunting in nature reserves and sharp declines in biomass of 41 wildlife species. Local market data provide evidence of a direct link between fish supply and subsequent bushmeat demand in villages and show bushmeat's role as a dietary staple in the region. Our results emphasize the urgent need to develop cheap protein alternatives to bushmeat and to improve fisheries management by foreign and domestic fleets to avert extinctions of tropical wildlife.
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References and Notes
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Statistics are based on a linear regression of annual change in mammal biomass [calculated as (kgt + 1)/kgt] against per capita fish harvest. Regressing per capita change in mammal biomass [i.e., (kgt + 1 – kgt)/human populationt + 1] against per capita fish catch gave a similar result (adjusted R2 = 0.52, P < 0.001).
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Materials and methods are available as supporting material on Science Online.
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We thank the Ghana Wildlife Division for permission to work in reserves and access to data, and we thank J. Atta-Mills for discussion. C. Kresge, P. Kresge, J. Mason, B. Volta, N. Ankudey, D. Boateng, L. Lanto, and G. Agbango provided assistance in Ghana, and C. Barrett, J. Hellmann, D. Pauly, I. Watson, J. Smith, V. Christensen, E. J. Milner-Gulland and four anonymous reviewers gave many helpful suggestions. Supported by NSF INT-0301935 (J.S.B.).
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Published In
Science
Volume 306 | Issue 5699
12 November 2004
12 November 2004
Copyright
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 7 July 2004
Accepted: 7 October 2004
Published in print: 12 November 2004
Notes
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www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5699/1180/DC1
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Figs. S1 to S5
Tables S1 and S2
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