Sawfish are among the world's most threatened and understudied marine fishes. There are few studies on sawfish from outside Australian and USA waters ‐ a significant knowledge gap considering their circumtropical distribution and migratory nature. This paper presents the first assessment of sawfish exploitation and status in Bangladesh: a country that is subject to extensive fishing efforts, and home to the largest mangrove forest on Earth – an ecosystem that provides critical nursery habitat for juvenile sawfish. A countrywide rapid assessment was undertaken between December 2011 and November 2012, using an interdisciplinary methodology. Fish landing stations, dry fish markets, and fishing villages were visited and a sawfish medicine maker was found and interviewed. In addition, interviews with national specialists at academic and fisheries institutions were undertaken. In total, 203 questionnaire surveys were conducted with fishers and traders in order to understand the extent of decline, potential drivers of declines, and local perceptions and uses of sawfish. Eighteen rostra were documented from museum archives and private collections, and unpublished data were sourced. Two sawfish species, Pristis pristis and Anoxypristis cuspidata were confirmed to be present in Bangladesh. General population declines were revealed. The average annual sawfish encounter rate (observations and catches) declined from 3.7 individuals using lifetime recall data (~22‐year), to 1.5 using 5‐year recall data, and further to 0.7 using 1‐year recall data. The consensus from social research methods was that sawfish were caught as bycatch, with drift gill nets being cited as the most damaging gear type. Every respondent perceived sawfish as a useful animal – typically for medicinal or cultural values. Conservation measures are proposed, including a local education and outreach programme to seek behavioural changes – primarily to release live sawfish. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Satellite-based tracking of migratory waterfowl is an important tool for understanding the potential role of wild birds in the long-distance transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza. However, employing this technique on a continental scale is prohibitively expensive. This study explores the utility of stable isotope ratios in feathers in examining both the distances traveled by migratory birds and variation in migration behavior. We compared the satellite-derived movement data of 22 ducks from 8 species captured at wintering areas in Bangladesh, Turkey, and Hong Kong with deuterium ratios (δD) of these and other individuals captured at the same locations. We derived likely molting locations from the satellite tracking data and generated expected isotope ratios based on an interpolated map of δD in rainwater. Although δD was correlated with the distance between wintering and molting locations, surprisingly, measured δD values were not correlated with either expected values or latitudes of molting sites. However, population-level parameters derived from the satellite-tracking data, such as mean distance between wintering and molting locations and variation in migration distance, were reflected by means and variation of the stable isotope values. Our findings call into question the relevance of the rainfall isotope map for Asia for linking feather isotopes to molting locations, and underscore the need for extensive ground truthing in the form of feather-based isoscapes. Nevertheless, stable isotopes from feathers could inform disease models by characterizing the degree to which regional breeding populations interact at common wintering locations. Feather isotopes also could aid in surveying wintering locations to determine where high-resolution tracking techniques (e.g. satellite tracking) could most effectively be employed. Moreover, intrinsic markers such as stable isotopes offer the only means of inferring movement information from birds that have died as a result of infection. In the absence of feather based-isoscapes, we recommend a combination of isotope analysis and satellite-tracking as the best means of generating aggregate movement data for informing disease models.

No abstract

One of the main threats to wild tigers Panthera tigris is poaching of natural prey, yet information is lacking about this threat for most of the tiger's range. For tiger conservation in the Sundarbans Reserved Forest of Bangladesh, information is needed to assess the impact of prey poaching and the effectiveness of conservation actions to reduce this threat. This study used an interview survey of people living close to the Sundarbans to estimate the scale of prey poaching, investigate factors driving prey poaching and capture information on the nature of prey consumption. Half of the households reported consuming deer meat, with mean consumption of 1.13 kg per household per year; equivalent to 11 195 deer killed. Deer meat was generally consumed for its good taste, with households closer to the forest boundary and with higher-income levels with relatively higher levels of consumption. Although cost of deer meat was higher than other available meat, 29% of households obtained deer meat for free. Deer meat tended to be obtained from personal contacts, and consumed in private. Most respondents (91.5%) knew deer consumption was illegal, but 69.4% viewed the law as ineffective. The study findings will be used to design focused regulation and awareness activities to reduce prey consumption in the area. The approach used to evaluate prey poaching through investigation of prey consumption follows studies of wild meat consumption in Africa, and can potentially be applied to all tiger landscapes. Figure 2 Source of prey meat supply and location of prey meat consumption for local households near the Sundarbans Reserved Forest of Bangladesh. Human consumption of tiger prey S. Mohsanin et al.