Spatial and temporal variation in meat and fish consumption among people in the western Serengeti, Tanzania: the importance of migratory herbivores

Abstract Illegal bushmeat hunting has become a serious problem for wildlife managers in many African countries. We investigated the spatial and temporal pattern in meat and fish consumption by people surrounding the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, to understand better the links between hunting and consumption. We studied 150 households in five villages during March–December 2006 along a gradient from the Park boundary to 80 km away. In addition, two parallel 10 km transects were monitored monthly in areas within the National Park immediately adjoining three village areas to investigate the relationship between household meat consumption and the influx of migratory herbivores. We found that the number of meat meals was higher in the villages closest to the Park boundary and the weekly number of meat meals per household in all villages within 30 km of the Park boundary increased with the seasonal influx of migratory herbivores. Meat consumption was unrelated to household income except in the most distant village where there was a positive correlation. The number of fish meals in the villages closest to the Park decreased with the influx of migratory herbivores. We recommend a coordinated management of fish harvesting from Lake Victoria and wildlife conservation around the Serengeti National Park to implement sustainable management of these two ecologically different sources of animal protein.

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