Baqar directs wildlife dept to promote eco-tourism, controlled trophy hunting

Sindh Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar has directed the provincial wildlife department to make conservation arrangements for regions with wildlife with the local communities.

Presiding over a meeting of forest and wildlife officials at the CM House on Friday, he said the conservation arrangement should be aimed at promoting eco-tourism, and scientific and controlled trophy hunting.

The CM was told that every year the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Management Authority, under the ministry of climate change, allocated trophy hunting quotas for the community-based trophy hunting programmes in provinces.

The quota for trophy hunting season 2023-24 had been approved in the meeting of the CITES Management Authority in July 2023, Baqar was told.

It was said that the minimum reserved price had also been rescheduled, according to which exportable urial and Sindh ibex were to be sold to foreigners at $20,000 and $6000 respectively whereas five trophies of ibex for Pakistani hunters were priced at Rs400,000.

The CM was told that the data revealed that there were 66 male ibex out of total 1,838 that had exploitable horn sizes of 35 inches and above and 49 urial out of total 1,104 that had exploitable horn sizes of 22 inches and above for trophy hunting.

To a question, the CM was told that in trophy hunting, animals sought as trophies had large horns, antlers or tusks. Consequently, trophies so counted were invariably old-age males, and the animals most frequently considered as trophy species belonged to the category of ungulates.

Trophy hunting is recognised as a management tool wherein an annual survey of target species is carried out and only a few are offered for trophy hunting as per the CITES quota regulated by the CITES Management Authority.

To a question, the CM was told that trophy hunting was not carried out in protected areas such as national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, but only at game reserves, private lands and state lands.

Forest & Wildlife Secretary Najam Shah told the CM that trophy hunting was not an attempt to generate revenue but to manage, conserve and protect wildlife and their habitats by involving communities.

He said that according to this concept, the local community living in the region of any target species was taken on board to prevent illegal hunting.

The CM was told that October to March represented non-breeding season for game birds, making it a technically suitable time for the legal, ethical responsible and sustainable harvest of game birds.

Baqar directed the wildlife department to ensure that Tharparkar district and Shaheed Benazirabad division, where the hunting season was observed last year, should remain closed for the hunting season 2023-24.

To a question, the CM was informed that in 2019, the population of Indus dolphin was recorded at 1,419 and from 1995 to 2020, a total of 200 dolphins were rescued. Baqar directed the wildlife department to adopt more measures to protect the Indus dolphin.

The CM also directed the department to take appropriate measures for the protection of migratory birds. “These birds are considered our guests, and we must protect them,” he concluded.