Evaluation of pay‐for‐release conservation incentives for unintentionally caught threatened species

• Published in: Conservation biology 2019-08, Vol.33 (4), p.953-961
• Main Authors: Leduc, Antoine O.H.C., Hussey, Nigel E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; bycatch; captura accesoria; Conflicts; Conservation; conservation method; Conservation of Natural Resources; Construction costs; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Endangered & extinct species; Endangered Species; Enforcement; Exploitation; financial rewards; Harvesting; Humans; Incentives; interacciones basadas en la confianza; local livelihoods; Motivation; método de conservación; métodos de captura no selectiva; Nests; peces sierra; Permanence; Protected species; Rare species; recompensa financiera; Reinforcement; Reward; sawfishes; Selectivity; sustentos locales; Threatened species; trust‐based interactions; unselective capture methods; Wildlife conservation; 保护公平性; 保护方法; 副渔获物; 基于信任的交流; 当地居民生计; 金钱奖励; 锯鳐; 非选择性捕获方法
• ISSN: 0888-8892; 1523-1739
• DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13300

In the developing world, the exploitation of threatened species jeopardizes their permanence in the wild. Because not all captures are intentional, for instance when capture methods have low selectivity, pressure on these species may be lessened by releasing living incidentally caught animals. However, it is often unrealistic to expect people to voluntarily do so because it means foregoing the benefits of resource extraction. Financial incentives for such animal release may foster conservation objectives. Reducing human–animal conflicts, protecting natural habitat, and conserving nests of threatened species are examples of conservation benefits that can be built on financial reward systems. However, incentives aiming to protect unintentionally captured threatened species are scarce. We considered pay for release, a type of ecosystem‐service payment designed to foster the release of incidentally captured threatened species. We aimed to determine the best conditions to implement this scheme, its potential benefits (e.g., incentivizing the release of threatened species), and pitfalls and priority research needs (e.g., required conditions for pay for release to work) to show that its global applicability is possible. Given that approaches solely based on education and law enforcement may be ineffective under some circumstances, we argue that pay for release can protect incidentally captured endangered species if used under conditions conducive for its success. When local participants’ intrinsic motivation for conservation is weak, but the release of incidentally live‐caught animals into their habitats is readily achievable, pay‐for‐release schemes could jump start urgently needed conservation efforts against indiscriminate animal harvesting. Article impact statement: Financial incentives offered to promote the release of incidentally captured animals to reduce by‐catch mortality of threatened species. Evaluación de los Incentivos de Pago por Liberación para las Especies Amenazadas Capturadas Involuntariamente Resumen En este mundo en desarrollo, la explotación de las especies amenazadas pone en peligro su permanencia en la naturaleza. Ya que no todas las capturas son voluntarias, por ejemplo cuando los métodos de captura tienen una selectividad baja, la presión que se ejerce sobre estas especies puede aminorarse con la liberación de animales capturados vivos accidentalmente. Sin embargo, a menudo es poco realista esperar que las personas hagan esto voluntariam