A preliminary evaluation of the sustainability of cassowary (Aves: Casuariidae) capture and trade in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Wildlife capture and trade for traditional use in Papua New Guinea has led to the extirpation of cassowary in some areas and increasing pressure for trade from areas where they remain. We tested a village-based monitoring programme to evaluate sustainability of wildlife capture and trade by households in the Crater Mountain Wildlife Management Area. We monitored the type and number of wildlife species captured and traded. For the most heavily traded species, dwarf cassowary, we compared estimated annual offtake of live cassowary to maximum sustainable offtake and also compared change in hunter effort over time. We found that live offtake rates of 0.06-0.07/km 2 were unsustainable in one village catchment and on the threshold of unsustainable use in another. Extirpation of cassowary will probably occur in the management area unless the location or quantity of the harvest can be restricted and the husbandry of captive birds improved. Results indicate that village monitoring of cassowary offtake is feasible when done in collaboration with outside, trained observers. Such monitoring should be encouraged as a means for landowners and management agencies to collectively evaluate the sustainability of the cassowary harvest in Papua New Guinea. This study provides an example of how scientists working with local communities in tropical forests can contribute to systematic monitoring and evaluation of wildlife offtake for sustainable use.

Population ecology of the southern cassowary Casuarius casuarius johnsonii, Mission Beach north Queensland

“…This finding has significant implications for cassowary management strategies in Australia, and also in New Guinea, where cassowaries are traditionally harvested for subsistence and trade. In an evaluation of the sustainability of dwarf cassowary Casuarius bennetti capture and trade in Papua New Guinea (Johnson et al 2004), the carrying capacity (K) was calculated from studies of dwarf cassowary abundance (Mack 1995;Mack and Wright 1996), and population densities reported for the southern cassowary (Crome and Bentrupperbäumer 1991). The New Guinea study concluded that live offtake rates of 0.06-0.07/birds km 2 were unsustainable or near unsustainable in the management areas studied.…”

Returns from Indigenous Hunting in The Lowland Coastal Forests of West Papua, Benefits Threatened Wildlife Species

“…et al In Papua New Guinea (PNG) many different species are hunted across a variety of ethnic groups, in local PNG dialect, including the (large mammals), the (small sab honez mammals), the (birds). Other game species also hunted sort include (frogs), (fish) and the occasional large jiya wen reptile, notably (pythons), and they are all (edible burun acha fauna) (Dwyer 1983;Sillitoe 2001;Johnson . 2004;et al Mack & West 2005).…”

Wildmeat or Bushmeat? Subsistence Hunting and Commercial Harvesting in Papua (West New Guinea), Indonesia

“…Recent analyses of hunting and capture rates, combined with estimates of population densities and rates of increase, have shown that offtake rates of cassowaries and several frequently killed medium-sized mammals are unsustainable (Johnson et al 2004;Cuthbert 2010). Not surprisingly, 11 of the 14 species of tree-kangaroos (Dendrolagus spp.…”