Hunting Steering Committee, Public Consultation of 16/7/16 Report

     The recommendations for proposed changes to the Conservation of Wildlife Act of Trinidad and Tobago, by the Hunting Steering Committee as presented to the public on 16/7/16 for the second public consultation held at the Tableland High School were as follows.

Cage Birds:

• Recommendation: Prevent the sale of cage birds during the closed season.                                   Action: Add regulation to prevent the sale of birds listed under Part III of the Second Schedule of the CoWA during the close season.
• Recommendation: A permit shall be required for the keeping in captivity of all local seed eaters of the genera Sporophila and Oryzoborus as listed in the second schedule part III of the Conservation of Wildlife Act of Trinidad and Tobago and said permit shall be subject to a framework of regulations, inclusive of breeding of seed eaters (native species ) in captivity.    Action: New regulations to keep and/or breed certain cage birds.
• Recommendation: Change size/volume requirement for cages per individual bird.             Action: No person shall keep captive any birds specified in Part III of the Second Schedule to the Act except in a cage floor space the minimum size of which shall be not less than one square foot, the height not less than one foot, the total volume excluding the trap section not less than one cubic foot for each such captive bird. For each additional bird an additional 25% floor space and 25% in height are required.
• Recommendation: No seed-eaters to be kept in trap cage.                                                     Action: New regulation needed.
• Recommendation: Stop trapping of birds from Part III with the exception of:                               Cravat ( Euphonia trinitatis)                                                                                                             Semp (Euphonia violacea)                                                                                                               Parakeet (Forpus passerinus)                                                                                                     these birds can be trapped and kept in trap cages.                                                             Action: Regulation will allow the following to be kept for breeding and fancy but not to be harvested in the wild by trapping:                                                                                         Chicki-Chong or Bullfinch (Oryzoborus angolensis)                                                                   Picoplat (Sporophila intermedia)                                                                                             Yellow-bellied seedeater (Sporophila nigricollis)                                                                           Chats: Nun Chat (Sporophila lineola) and King Chat (Sporophila bouvronides)

Game Birds:

• Leave the following on the Second Schedule Part II:                                                                   Wild Ducks: Black-bellied whistling duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis),                                          Fulvous whistling duck (Dendrocygna bicolor),                                                                        Muscovy (Cairina moschata) all other ducks to be removed.                                                        
• Pigeons (Family Columbidae): Omit all excepting Scaled Pigeon (Columba speciosa), Pale-vented Pigeon (Columba cayennensis), Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata), Ruddy Ground-Dove (Columbina talpacoti), White-tipped Dove (Leptotila verreauxi), Gray-fronted Dove (Leptotila rufaxilla).
• Orange-winged amazon parrot – Amazona amazonica in Trinidad only.
• Black Vulture or Corbeau – (Coragyps atratus)
• Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax brasilianus)
• Rallidae —All birds belonging to the Family Rallidae (Coots, Rails, Gallinules and their allies)
• Herons: Great blue heron (Ardea herodias), Cocoi heron (Ardea cocoi), Black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax), Yellow-crowned night heron (Nyctanassa violacea), Boat-billed heron (Cochlearius cochlearius)
• Recommendation: Prescribe Bag Limits per day.                                                                      Action: Already existing, but need revisions - 8. (1) Except in pursuance of an authority specially granted by the Chief Game Warden under this regulation, no person shall harvest by hunting more than five Wild Ducks and five Herons in any one day.

Vermin:

• Recommendation: Remove all bats from this list except the vampire bats: the Common Vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) and the White-winged vampire bat (Diaemus youngi) and update list.                                                                                                                                  Action: Revise list in Third Schedule and to the remaining animals assign correct scientific names:1. Common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) 2.White-winged vampire bats (Diaemus youngi) 3. Fer de lance, Mapepire Balsain (Bothrops asper) 4. Bushmaster, Mapepire Zanana (Lachesis muta muta) 5. House mice (Mus musculus) 6. Small Asian Mongooses (Herpestes javanicus) 7. Black rats (Rattus rattus) 8. Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) 9. Large coral snakes (Micrurus lemniscatus diutius) 10. Small or common coral snakes (Micrurus circinalis) 11. Red-tailed squirrels (Sciurus granatensis) 12. Yellowtail or cornbird (Psarocolius decumanus) 13. Manicou or Black-eared opossum (Didelphis marsupialis)
• Recommendation: Remove the green parrot on list.                                                               Action: Orange-winged Amazon Parrot: Amazona amazonica from Tobago only.

Other: 

• Recommendation: The use of air guns and live traps need to be reviewed with special emphasis given to proper definitions and descriptions of the varying types of traps, e.g. 1.baited cage trap, 2.squad or unbaited cagetrap placed in mouth of animals’ den, 3.jaw trap, 4. noose snare. Squads, jaw traps and noose or snares should be outlawed.                                             Action: New regulation may be needed.
• Recommendation: State Game Liscense – increase price to $100.00 per category.  Action: Revise regulations.
• Recommendation: Include state lands in the prohibition of night hunting (7:30pm – 5:00am) in Forest Reserves.                                                                                                                   Action: Revise regulation.
• Recommendation: Qualify further artificial lights mentioned in Reg. 5 (1).           Action: Revision of existing regulation.

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Below is an article appearing on http://newsday.co.tt/ concerning the HSC public consultation of 16/7/16. Caiere Chase does not claim or own any rights to this news article,all rights belong to the author and original publisher, it is only reproduced here in full for critique, news and archival purposes.

‘I eat wild meat’

By Richardson Dhalai Sunday, July 17 2016

Having objected to the ban on hunting when it had been announced during the People’s Partnership’s term in office, Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries Minister, Clarence Rambharat has announced that the hunting season would open on its traditional October 1 date.

In 2013, then Environment Minister, Ganga Singh, had announced a two-year ban on hunting and cited data which h seemed to suggest that more than 140,000 wild animals had been hunted and killed in Trinidad and Tobago over a three-year period.

Addressing a public consultation on wildlife hunting at the Tableland Secondary School, Naparima Mayaro Road, Tableland yesterday, Rambharat said he had not supported the hunting ban due to economic reasons and had ‘no intention of advocating a moratorium on hunting.” “I am not against hunting, but as I have said today, we have to strike the right balance between hunting and conservation,” Rambharat said.

And asked whether he was a hunter, Rambharat said: “No, no, no, never hunted.” However speaking to reporters after the consultation he admitted to eating wild meat as it was part of the culture of Rio Claro and pointed out hunting was of significant economic value to rural communities.

“Yes, I eat wild meat, it is part of the culture in Rio Claro,” he said, adding, “I am not opposed to hunters or hunting but I don’t personally hunt but the economic value in the rural communities is too significant for us to interfere with it.” And regarding the National Wildlife Survey results, he said the most striking thing on the survey was the absence of the indigenous red brocket deer in Tobago and its diminishing numbers in Trinidad.

“The survey showed that the red brocket deer, there is no sign of it in Tobago, and it’s very scarce in Trinidad and that raises to me a significant concern, I don’t think it is well known that the red brocket deer is unique to Trinidad, that is why I have asked the committee to pay particular attention to it, how we could reintroduce to Tobago and how we could focus on it in terms of co-conservation and increasing the numbers in Trinidad,” Rambharat said.

He said the deer had once been abundant in Tobago, but had “been gone for a while.” Rambharat also addressed a concern from hunters about the absence of game wardens in the forests saying his Ministry was faced with an absence of other officers such as agriculture officers and joked that he had to make an appointment to speak to them.

He also revealed plans to relocate all senior ministry managers to its Chaguanas building so he would be able to directly interact with them on a daily basis on the operations of the ministry.

Some of the concerns raised by hunters was the need to protect the wildlife as well as its habitat in order to ensure the industry’s survival. The third consultation is planned for Tobago. 

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