DOI: 10.5061/dryad.17fk2
title: Data from: Effective implementation of age restrictions increases selectivity of sport hunting of the African lion

description: 1. Sport hunting of wildlife can play a role in conservation but can also
 drive population declines if not managed sustainably. Previous simulation
 modelling found that large felid species could theoretically be hunted
 sustainably by restricting harvests to older individuals that have likely
 reproduced. Several African countries currently use age-based hunting for
 lions although the outcomes have yet to be evaluated in a wild population.
 2. Here we provide the first empirical evidence that a system of
 incentives sufficiently encouraged age-based hunting and reduced offtake
 of a wild felid, thereby reducing the potential risk of unsustainable
 hunting on a threatened species. We examined long-term hunting data and
 the lion population trend in Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique. 3. To
 incentivise hunter compliance, a ‘points’ system was developed which
 rewards operators that harvest lions older than the 6-year minimum trophy
 age recommended for sustainable hunting and penalises operators that hunt
 ‘underage’ lions (&lt;4 years). A key component of this system is the
 ecological application of key physical traits that predictably change with
 age in order to estimate (by hunters) and validate (by authorities) trophy
 individuals’ ages pre- and post-mortem, respectively. Analysis of 138 lion
 hunts and 87 lion trophies from 2003-2015 revealed that after enforcement
 of age restrictions in 2006, hunters shifted harvests to suitably aged
 lions (&gt;6 years), from 25% of offtakes in 2004 to 100% by 2014. 4.
 Simultaneously, the number of lions and percentage of quota harvested
 decreased, resulting in lower lion offtakes. Following an initial decrease
 after enforcement of the aging system, the percentage of hunts harvesting
 lions stabilised, demonstrating that hunters successfully located and aged
 older lions. 5. Synthesis and applications. Evidence suggests that age
 restrictions combined with an incentive-based points system regulated
 sport hunting and reduced pressure on the lion population. We attribute
 the successful implementation of this management system to: 1) committed,
 consistent enforcement by management authorities, 2) genuine involvement
 of all stakeholders from the start, 3) annual auditing by an independent
 third party, 4) the reliable, transparent, straight-forward aging process,
 and 5) the simple, pragmatic points system for incentivising hunter
 compliance. Our study demonstrates that the use of age restrictions can
 increase the selectivity of sport hunting and lower trophy offtakes to
 reduce the possibility of unsustainable sport hunting negatively impacting
 species populations in the absence of reliable estimates of population
 size. It must be noted, however, that there was no measurable change in
 the lion numbers over the past decade that could be attributed to the
 implementation of this policy alone.
description: Hunting
 recordsDetails on lion hunts in
 Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique from 2003-2015. See README file for
 details on methods.Begg et al. 2017 - J App Ecol -
 Hunting records.xlsx