Story Created: Mar 10, 2015 at 8:25 PM ECT
THE country’s wildlife will be back on the menu before Christmas.
In October, the two-year ban on hunting will be lifted, a relief to hunters who were forced to hang up their guns and tie their dogs for that period.
The announcement was made on the political platform on Monday night by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar during a meeting at the Kanhai Presbyterian Primary School, Barrackpore.
In 2013, the hunting moratorium was implemented for a period of two years, as a method of preserving wildlife.
Persad-Bissessar said: “In consultation with Minister Ganga Singh (Minister of the Environment and Water Resources), I am happy to announce that it is our intention that hunting will be reintroduced at the end of the moratorium in accordance with the data and findings. All stakeholders will be advised later this year about the reintroduction.”
She said the survey conducted during the ban was the first of its kind in the country but needed to be done “to collect data that would allow for a better understanding of the state of our wildlife resources.”
Last year September, Singh said Government had no intention to lift the ban “ in the foreseeable future”.
He said a preliminary report of a survey aimed at determining the status of the country’s wildlife population showed an “alarming” lack of wildlife in protected areas and game sanctuaries and it was for that reason the ban was not going to be lifted anytime soon.
Persad-Bissessar said the survey was “designed to ascertain baseline data on game mammals in Trinidad and Tobago and with subsequent surveys, provide the basis for monitoring trends in population levels through trained community persons and retraining local hunters to collect data on species and their habitat.”
The selected areas that were affected were Nariva, Trinity Hills, Southern Watershed, Central Range, Northern Range and Main Ridge Tobago.
Persad-Bissessar said: “The University of the West Indies (UWI) is responsible for the project methodology which was developed to ensure that it is scientifically valid. The survey focused on the five game mammals. However, all wildlife observed were recorded during the surveys.”
She said 27 groups were consulted inclusive of South East Hunters Association, Mayaro Mafeking Hunters Association, South Eastern Hunters Association, Confederation of Hunters of Trinidad and Tobago and St Patrick Hunters Group.
When the ban was first implemented, many hunters protested against the action. Minister in the Ministry of Water and the Environment Ramona Ramdial said the main purpose was preservation of the wild animals and the main challenge would have been illegal hunting. The last time a two year moratorium was implemented was from 1987-1989 .
HUNTERS PLEASED
Hunters throughout the country rejoiced on Monday night when Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced that the two-year ban on hunting will be lifted in October.
However, some questions still needed to be answered, said Buddie Miller, spokesperson for the Confederation of Hunters Association for Conservation of Trinidad and Tobago.
Miller said: “There are still so many gaps that it is difficult to make an informed comment now. There are still so many unanswered questions because what she is saying is in conflict with what the minister (Ganga Singh) has been saying over and over that he is going to extend it for another two years and he is not sure if it will ever be reopened.”
He added: “There is an election that is going to intervene with any plans or programmes or promises that are out there.”
But he said he felt elated because the ban was “ill-conceived”.
There were 14,000 hunters registered in the country, he said.
Tahir Ali, public relations officer of the St Patrick’s Hunting Association said: “There were many letters sent to the Prime Minister concerning that and well I hope she understands because it is an election year. There were a lot of stickers and posters saying ‘No hunting, No vote’. I think that all the hunters are happy now to hear that. I got a lot of calls this morning asking if I heard the news late night.”
And he said the data collected by the Forestry Division may not be correct.
He said: After the hunting season, you have to return your permits and when you go to the registration office, the Forestry Department you are supposed to fill out a form and give a report as to what was your catch during the hunting season. But if four people go to hunt and they catch one agouti in the hunt, four people will put they caught an agouti. So it comes like if four agouti were caught. And that is that data they work with and they say the hunters are destroying the wildlife.”
---Sue-Ann Wayow
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Caiere Chase does not own any rights to the above news article.
All rights to this news article belongs to Trinidad Express Newspapers & Sue-Ann Wayow.
This news article is reproduced here for archival purposes only.
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CAIERE CHASE Editor's note: All TrinBago hunters beware, Kamla and Ganga playing dead to catch corbeaux alive.
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