Game Poaching Report Finalized

The FCD research team centres its efforts in addressing the conservation targets recommended on the Biodiversity Research, Inventory and Monitoring Framework (BRIM). The key targets include, scarlet macaw, xate, timber species and game communities. This year the second study on the impacts of poaching on game species communities was conducted. A total of 384 km (128 km per stratification) of standard line transects were surveyed. A total of 1,022 individuals representing 24 species (14 mammal and 10 bird species) were recorded during the 2013 surveys, while in 2016 a total of 1,184 individuals representing 25 game species (16 mammal and 9 bird species) were recorded. All but five (5) games species (4 mammal and 1 bird species) recorded in 2013 were also registered in 2016.

The 2016 results indicate that overall game species mean abundance was not significantly different from that of 2013, but mean abundance of large bodied game species was significantly greater in 2016 than in 2013, while there was no significant difference between the two periods in mean abundance of medium and small game species. But some species such as the Baird’s Tapir and White-lipped Peccary were recorded more frequently during the 2016 surveys. In fact, the Whitelipped Peccary was not recorded at all in 2013. The first recording of the species since 2006 in the Chiquibul Forest was made until 2014. A more interesting finding was the significant difference on mean abundance of large bodied game species which was greater in 2016 than in 2013.

The full report is now found on FCD’s website. This research was made possible through the Protected Areas Conservation Trust.