Commercial bushmeat hunting in the Monte Mitra forests, Equatorial Guinea: extent and impact

Understanding the exploitation of bushmeat by commercial hunters is fundamental to resolving hunting sustainability issues in African rainforests. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of hunters operating from the village of Sendje in the Monte Mitra region, Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Offtake patterns of 42 hunters were studied over a period of 16 months. A total of 3,053 animals of 58 species were hunted during 1,914 hunting days. This represented around 11,376 kg of bushmeat or 2,219 animals extracted per annum. Most captures were mammals (43 species, 79%), constituting 90% of the biomass hunted, of these 30% were ungulates and 27% were rodents. Hunters used 17 hunt camps within the 1,010 km2 total study area. Hunting activity fell from the start to the end of the study, with fewer hunting days, biomass and captures being recorded per month. Captures fell from 700 animals in the first month to less than 100 during the last month. Per hunter, returns diminished from 21 in the first month to around 13 animals from the third month. Average body mass of prey also declined throughout the study period. The principal hunting method was cable snaring —over 100 million snare nights were estimated. An average hunter extracted around 50 animals or 271 kg of bushmeat per annum. Hunter and camp differences were significant. Most carcasses were sold for the city market or to villagers, and the proportion of carcasses sold to market was positively correlated with the species body mass. Capture rates and vulnerability were dependent on prey size since medium–sized animals were more vulnerable to be caught than small or large–bodied animals. Harvest sustainability was calculated for 14 mammals and it was seen that the situation was unsustainably for 5 species due to the extent and impact of hunting. The bay duiker (Cephalophus dorsalis) was by far the most heavily exploited species. Conservation of the Monte Mitra region is impossible unless the hunting for profit issue is resolved in Sendje and adjoining villages.