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Science 12 November 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5699, pp. 1180 - 1183
DOI: 10.1126/science.1102425
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Reports

Bushmeat Hunting, Wildlife Declines, and Fish Supply in West Africa

Justin S. Brashares,1,2* Peter Arcese,3 Moses K. Sam,4 Peter B. Coppolillo,5 A. R. E. Sinclair,6 Andrew Balmford1,7

The multibillion-dollar trade in bushmeat is among the most immediate threats to the persistence of tropical vertebrates, but our understanding of its underlying drivers and effects on human welfare is limited by a lack of empirical data. We used 30 years of data from Ghana to link mammal declines to the bushmeat trade and to spatial and temporal changes in the availability of fish. We show that years of poor fish supply coincided with increased hunting in nature reserves and sharp declines in biomass of 41 wildlife species. Local market data provide evidence of a direct link between fish supply and subsequent bushmeat demand in villages and show bushmeat's role as a dietary staple in the region. Our results emphasize the urgent need to develop cheap protein alternatives to bushmeat and to improve fisheries management by foreign and domestic fleets to avert extinctions of tropical wildlife.

1 Conservation Biology Group, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.
2 Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
3 Centre for Applied Conservation Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
4 Ghana Wildlife Division, Accra, Ghana.
5 Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY 10460, USA.
6 Centre for Biodiversity Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
7 Percy Fitz Patrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: brashares{at}nature.berkeley.edu

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