Development of the Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus farming industry in Shaanxi Province, China: conservation threats and opportunities

The Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus is endemic to China and is Critically Endangered, largely because of overexploitation for food. This species is an expensive delicacy in China, and a rapidly growing industry to farm the species has developed throughout much of the country, centred on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oryx 2016-04, Vol.50 (2), p.265-273
Main Authors: Cunningham, Andrew A., Turvey, Samuel T., Zhou, Feng, Meredith, Helen M. R., Guan, Wei, Liu, Xinglian, Sun, Changming, Wang, Zhongqian, Wu, Minyao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Andrias
Andrias davidianus
Caudata
Chinese giant salamander
Consent
Critically Endangered
disease
Epidemics
Farmers
farming
farming systems
Farms
Fisheries
Focus groups
genetic disorders
industry
infectious diseases
Local government
markets
overexploitation
pollution
Questionnaires
ranavirus
Reptiles & amphibians
salamanders and newts
Shaanxi Province
stakeholders
wastewater
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Summary:The Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus is endemic to China and is Critically Endangered, largely because of overexploitation for food. This species is an expensive delicacy in China, and a rapidly growing industry to farm the species has developed throughout much of the country, centred on the Qinling Mountain region of Shaanxi Province. During a 2010 workshop on Chinese giant salamander conservation, which involved a range of stakeholders from across China, it became clear that the conservation community knew little about the salamander farming industry and whether it posed actual or potential threats or opportunities for conservation of the Chinese giant salamander. We therefore conducted a series of investigations to understand the industry better. Our results indicate that although farming of Chinese giant salamanders has the potential to be a positive development for conservation by supplying market demand with farmed animals, it is currently more likely to threaten than support conservation of the species, with continued overexploitation and the potential added impacts of infectious disease and genetic pollution arising from farming practices such as movement of animals across the country and the release of untreated farm wastewater and farmed salamanders to the wild.
ISSN:0030-6053
1365-3008
1365-3008
DOI:10.1017/S0030605314000842