Data-poor management of African lion hunting using a relative index of abundance

Sustainable management of terrestrial hunting requires managers to set quotas restricting offtake. This often takes place in the absence of reliable information on the population size, and as a consequence, quotas are set in an arbitrary fashion, leading to population decline and revenue loss. In th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2014-01, Vol.111 (1), p.539-543
Main Authors: Edwards, Charles T. T., Bunnefeld, Nils, Balme, Guy A., Milner-Gulland, E. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Africa
Age
Algorithms
Animals
Biological Sciences
Conservation
Conservation of Natural Resources - methods
Data Collection
Demography
Environmental conservation
Hunting
income
Lion hunting
Lions
managers
Panthera leo
Population Density
Population Dynamics
Population size
Simulation
simulation models
Sport hunting
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable development
Sustainable management
uncertainty
Wildcats
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Sustainable management of terrestrial hunting requires managers to set quotas restricting offtake. This often takes place in the absence of reliable information on the population size, and as a consequence, quotas are set in an arbitrary fashion, leading to population decline and revenue loss. In this investigation, we show how an indirect measure of abundance can be used to set quotas in a sustainable manner, even in the absence of information on population size. Focusing on lion hunting in Africa, we developed a simple algorithm to convert changes in the number of safari days required to kill a lion into a quota for the following year. This was tested against a simulation model of population dynamics, accounting for uncertainties in demography, observation, and implementation. Results showed it to reliably set sustainable quotas despite these uncertainties, providing a robust foundation for the conservation of hunted species.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1219615110