PARENT SESSION
Contributed Oral Session 2: Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Monday, August 8, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 513 C, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Spatial hunting distribution in the Mayangna Sauni Bu territory in the BOSAWAS Bioreserve, Nicaragua.

Camilo, Gerardo^*,, Henry, Rachel, Caruso, Nick,

ABSTRACT- The BOSAWAS biosphere reserve is the largest (ca. 8,000 km2), contiguous rainforest north of Amazonia. Presently, two indigenous groups live in the reserve, the Mayangna and the Miskito, and depend on its natural resources. A significant portion of the protein in their diet comes from bush meat. A minimum of 26 species of vertebrates were identified as major components of the hunting pool in one of the six territories, Mayangna Sauni Bu. For the purpose of this study we concentrated only on commonly hunted mammals. A minimum of 6,451 individuals were hunted in this territory over a period of 13 months. Individual animals were assigned to specific hunting localities within watersheds. We analyzed the data against two models, one based on the current land use management plan, and another of random generated kill localities based on energy-profit rules. Preliminary results suggest that current hunting practices appear sustainable, but trends observed may reverse that outcome.

Key words: Nicaragua, sustainability, hunting, indigenous