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Florida Science Centers Highlighted Science - 2009

A typical market for songbirds in Mexico. Photograph used with permission.

Abstract

The capture of wild birds for the pet trade is an important cultural and economic activity in Mexico. Although the trade in parrots (Psittacidae) has received the most attention from conservationists, the trade in North American passerines (Passeridae) has recently come to the attention of the international conservation community. In 2005, the Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management called for "a more rigorous approach to assessing populations and impacts" of harvesting migratory passerines in Mexico. The Trilateral Committee was established under the auspices of the North American Free Trade Agreement to facilitate and enhance coordination among Canada, the United States, and Mexico regarding conservation issues of mutual interest. In May 2008, the Trilateral Committee met in Veracruz, Mexico and emphasized the need for continued international cooperation to determine species-specific harvest quotas, and to help the Mexican government ensure the sustainability of the songbird trade.

Background

The capture of wild birds is regulated by the Mexican government, which issues permits to individuals for subsistence uses, and to landowners who have registered wildlife conservation units (known by their Spanish acronym "UMA") (Valdez and others, 2006). Only birds trapped on UMAs can be legally exploited for commercial purposes. Although reliable information is lacking, the domestic bird trade is likely larger than the international trade, especially now that the European Union has permanently banned the importation of wild-caught birds. According to La Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Resursos Naturales in Mexico, there are about 1,000 licensed trappers (or pajareros), each receiving an average annual quota of about 250 birds. Unfortunately, the illegal bird trade is believed to be rampant despite efforts by the Mexican government to prevent it (Hoomberger and Beissinger, 2006, Valdez and others, 2006). There is acknowledged abuse of quotas, and illegal pajareros may outnumber registered trappers by an order of magnitude. Moreover, the number of birds actually captured in the wild may be 2-3 times greater than the number reaching the consumer because of mortality during trapping and handling (Iñigo-Elias and Ramos, 1991).

Establishing Harvest Quotas

In 2006, the Trilateral Committee asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to help develop better methods for determining species-specific quotas for the trapping of songbirds in Mexico. For most of the songbirds involved in the Mexican trade, however, only minimal demographic data exist, usually in terms of easily measured quantities (such as clutch size) from small, isolated studies. North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS; http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/) data are available to provide trends in population size for most species, but these data are insufficient to determine sustainable levels of take. Nonetheless, managers must still attempt to make informed decisions about what levels of trapping are sustainable.

Working with U.S. and Mexican scientists and managers from both the public and private sectors, Fred Johnson (U.S. Geological Survey, Florida Integrated Science Center) and Scott Boomer (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Migratory Bird Management) recently developed a method for determining sustainable levels of take based on limited demographic information. The method is inherently conservative under all but the most extreme conditions, and has the advantage of explicitly accounting for uncertainty regarding songbird demography and associated trapping quotas. The quantification of uncertainty is especially important, as it will permit managers to better assess acceptable levels of risk when establishing trapping quotas for various species.

A Bird Without Equal

The male painted bunting (Passerina cirus) is North America's most colorful songbird, and historically was often referred to as the "nonpareil," a French word meaning peerless or without equal. The painted bunting has become somewhat of a "poster child" for the Mexican trade in passerines (Iñigo-Elias and others, 2002). Prior to recent restrictions on the take of painted buntings in Mexico, roughly 6,000 birds were legally trapped per year for the domestic market and a similar number were exported to markets in Japan and the European Union (Iñigo-Elias and others, 2002). If we assume a realistic amount of additional mortality (250%) due to capture and handling, the total legal take may have been roughly 42,000 buntings per year. If we assume the number of painted buntings caught and traded illegally was 2-5 times that taken legally (a realistic range according to knowledgeable scientists and managers), the total take in Mexico could have been 126,000-252,000 birds. The number of painted buntings taken for the pet trade in other Latin American countries and Cuba is unknown, but is believed to be substantial.

A male painted bunting (Passerina ciris)

The population of painted buntings has declined by 30% since 1966 according to BBS data (Sauer and others, 2008). Loss of breeding and migration habitat is believed to have contributed substantially to the decline, but over-harvest cannot be ruled out as a contributing factor (Lowther and others, 1999). Out of concern for the status of this species, Mexico eliminated painted buntings from subsistence permits in 2005, and the species can no longer be legally exported. Some conservationists warn that such regulatory restrictions are ineffective and may provide stronger incentives for illegal trade (Cooney and Jepson, 2006; Homberger and Beissinger, 2006). Accordingly, the greatest challenge in regulating the take of passerines for the pet trade may not be in determining trapping quotas, but in providing community-based incentives for trapping legally and sustainably, and in developing protocols to monitor the size of the harvest.

What's Next?

At their 2008 meeting, the Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management recommended:

• Holding a capacity-building workshop in Mexico within the next year to address monitoring, assessment, and decision-making for land management and other issues affecting passerines involved in the pet trade;
• Supporting the opinion of Mexico's scientific authorities that inclusion of the painted bunting in Appendix 3 of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is not useful or supported due to a lack of significant trade of the species or evidence that trade is the primary factor contributing to the species' decline; and
• Organizing an international technical working group to identify and help mitigate factors that are contributing to the decline of painted buntings, including, but not limited to, the pet trade.

The leadership of the Trilateral Committee, represented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Canadian Wildlife Service, and La Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Resursos Naturales, will discuss progress on these recommendations at their May 2009 meeting in Miami, Florida.

References

Cooney, R., and Jepson, P., 2006, The international wild bird trade: What's wrong with blanket bans?: Oryx v. 40, p. 18-23.

Homberger, D.G., and Beissinger, S.R., 2006, Bird trade: Conservation strategy or extinction catalyst?: Acta Zoologica Sinica, v. 52 (supplement), p. 46-47.

Iñigo-Elias, E.E., and Ramos, M.A., 1991, The psittacine trade in Mexico: p. 380-392 in Robinson, J.G., and Redford, K.H., eds., Neotropical wildlife use and conservation: Ilinois, University of Chicago Press.

Iñigo-Elias, E.E., Rosenburg, K.V., and Wells, J.V., 2002, The danger of beauty: Birdscope, available from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/publications/birdscope/Summer2002/Danger_beauty.html (accessed May 2008).

Lowther, P.E., Lanyon, S.M., and Thompson, C.W., 1999, Painted bunting (Passerina ciris), in Poole, A., and Gill, F., eds., The birds of North America: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The Birds of North America, Inc.

Sauer, J.R., Hines, J.E., and Fallon, J., 2008, The North American Breeding Bird Survey, results and analyses 1966-2007: Laurel, Maryland, Version 5.15.2008, U.S. Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, available at http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/atlasa99.pl?06010&1&07 (accessed January 2009).

Valdez, R., Guzman-Aranda, J.C., Abarca, F.J., Tarango-Arambula, L.A., and Sanchez, F.C., 2006, Wildlife conservation and management in Mexico: Wildlife Society Bulletin v. 34, p. 270-282.

For More Information Contact:

Fred Johnson, USGS Florida Integrated Science Center, P.O. Box 110485, Gainesville, FL 32606 USA. Phone (352) 392-5075, e-mail fjohnson@usgs.gov.