The Gorongosa scout unwrapped the smoked meat from the bound-up
reeds and the flies came in immediately to the charred pieces of flesh and
exposed bone. It was hard to tell
there were two animals on the ground before me. It was even more challenging to tell what species they
were. The scout in his dark green
fatigues with Parque Nacional de Gorongosa arm patch leaned over and picked up
a larger and flatter piece of meat.
He turned it over and I could recognize that the split-open head was
that of a reedbuck.
Reed buck, bush buck, snares, and machete. |
A major struggle with the effort of restoration in the Park
is the continued poaching or illegal hunting of wildlife. The rangers and scouts here are doing
excellent work but the Park is huge.
There are currently 24 outposts spread across the perimeter. Each post has 2 to 4 scouts, but more patrols
are needed.
Inspecting one of the largest of the gin traps confiscated in the Park with Gorongosa science technician Luis Oliveira. |
One important item about bushmeat that I stress with my
students working on the African Bushmeat Program is that “bushmeat” is a
misnomer. The concept of illegal hunting applies to fish as well. This showed up in Gorongosa last week
with a poacher’s camp along Lake Urema.
It didn’t have dead antelope but dead fish. Lots of fish.
The camp had hundreds of catfish laid out on the grass. Two fisherman were seen on approach but
they deserted the camp as the scouts arrived. I was able to see the fish when they were brought back into
camp to dry. This confiscated meat
was not to be discarded but actually kept to feed the local community.
During our helicopter survey the other day we actually
passed over an illegal fish trap set up along a stream coming in to Lake
Urema. The traps were made of
woven reeds and looked fairly elaborate.
I had a thought that such traps could actually be sold in the Chitengo
gift shop for tourists. I found
out that Greg had tried this but no interest showed up. Sure would be a nice
turn to take these traps off the river and sell them as art for more money than
could be brought in from the fish.
Illegal fish traps leading to Lake Urema. |
An important idea we are working on related to poaching in
the region is to reinforce the value of a live animal over a dead animal. This is something that we hope to build
on with the local Community Education Center (CEC). I am trying to develop some lessons around the concept with
Adrienne McGill of the CEC during this expedition. We hope to have local school children take this important
lesson back into their own communities.
The value of the animal for ecotourism is a hard thing to measure but we
think the idea can be of huge value in helping curb poaching. Post a comment if you have an idea on
reinforcing this idea.
To reinfornce the idea - Could the local government (or whoever benefits financially from eco-tourism) set up a way of passing on a portion of the profits from eco-tourism back to the local villagers? Similar to the system where resident Alaskans are given a portion of profits from North Slope oil revenue from the Alaska Permanent Fund... This way the local villagers would have a stake in protection of wildlife...
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