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Falco Cherrug ) for Falconry in Mongolia DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE HARVEST OF SAKER FALCONS ( FALCO CHERRUG ) FOR FALCONRY IN MONGOLIA ANDREW DIXON 1, N YAMBAYAR BATBAYAR 2, G ANKHUYAG PUREV -O CHIR 2, AND NICK FOX 1 1International Wildlife Consultants (UK) Ltd, P.O. Box 19, Carmarthen, SA33 5YL, UK. E-mail: [email protected] 2Wildlife Science and Conservation Center, Office 404 Undram Plaza, Bayanzurkh District, Ulaanbaatar 51, Mongolia AbstrAct .—Arabian falconry creates a significant demand for falcons that is met through cap - tive-breeding and wild-take. In relation to wild-take, the convention on International trade in Endangered species (cItEs) currently only allows the international trade of one important fal - conry species, the saker Falcon ( Falco cherrug ), and this trade is effectively limited to one source country, Mongolia. Market demand for wild-sourced saker Falcons is greater than can be supplied by Mongolia alone; consequently there is also an illegal, unregulated trade in this species along with the Gyrfalcon ( Falcon rusticolus ) and Peregrine Falcon ( F. peregrinus ). the vast majority of these falcons are sourced from Asian countries. We describe recent advances in the develop - ment of a program in Mongolia that uses artificial nests to create a demonstrably sustainable har - vest of saker Falcons for the Arabian falcon trade. the development of a credible sustainable harvest requires a sound biological basis, a transparent system of monitoring, recording and report - ing together with a strong regulatory framework. the potential conservation benefits of such a system, together with the potential for developing legal, sustainable harvests in other countries for different falcon species, are discussed. Received 9 March 2011, accepted 7 June 2011. DIxon , A., n. b AtbAyAr , G. P urEv -o chIr , AnD n. F ox . 2011. Developing a sustainable harvest of saker Falcons ( Falco cherrug ) for falconry in Mongolia. In r. t. Watson, t. J. cade, M. Fuller, G. hunt, and E. Potapov (Eds.). Gyrfalcons and Ptarmigan in a changing World. the Peregrine Fund, boise, Idaho, usA. http://dx.doi.org/10.4080/gpcw.2011.0315 Key words: cItEs, falconry, harvest, international trade, Mongolia, saker Falcon, Falco cherrug . FAlconry Is PArt of the traditional cultural nomic factors in the Middle East, central Asia heritage of the Arabic people and is widely and beyond. trade in falcons to the Arabian practiced in the united Arab Emirates, saudi Peninsula initially came from countries of the Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and bahrain (Al-tim - Middle East, the Maghreb, and Pakistan, imi 2007). there has always been a small fal - mainly involving passage birds (Platt 1983, con trade associated with Arabic falconry (bär riddle and remple 1994), but since the break- 2006), but this has developed markedly in up of the soviet union, the falcon trade has recent decades, driven by changing socio-eco - moved into the breeding distribution range of 1 –DIXON ET AL .– the saker Falcon ( Falco cherrug ) in central niqué 2. by February 2009, this ‘non-compli - Asia, including Mongolia and china (Flint ance’ led to a cItEs recommendation that 1995, Zahler et al. 2004, yi-Ming et al. 2000). countries should suspend trade in saker Fal - uncontrolled and unregulated trapping of cons with Mongolia 3. saker Falcons is thought to be the main cause of rapid and extensive population declines in At this point, there was a risk that the saker parts of central Asia, particularly in the coun - trade in Mongolia might follow the same path tries of the former soviet union (birdlife as that of Kazakhstan and other former soviet International 2011). states to become illicit and unregulated. con - sequently, in 2009, we proposed a potential In russia and the former soviet states of cen - solution to the problem of demonstrating a tral Asia, trade in wild saker Falcons is illegal, ‘sustainable harvest’, which was based on our but enforcement is limited and the illicit trade experimental work with artificial nests for can be associated with corruption at various saker Falcons. this ‘conservation through levels of administration (Wyatt 2009). In con - sustainable use’ initiative was supported by trast, the Mongolian government oversees a the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) harvest and trade of saker Falcons within the and was adopted by the Mongolian Ministry framework of the convention on International of nature, Environment and tourism (MnEt) trade in Endangered species (cItEs), though and cItEs as a potential means of resolving an additional illicit trade also occurs in the the problem. subsequently, for 2009 and country (Wingard and Zahler 2006). the saker 2010, cItEs imposed a maximum annual Falcon is listed under Appendix II of cItEs, quota of 300 birds on Mongolia, which is to i.e., a species for which trade must be con - be reviewed in 2011 pending satisfactory trolled in order to avoid utilization incompati - development of the artificial nest program ble with its survival. described here 4. A cItEs review of significant trade in 2005 the artificial nest program is designed to cre - highlighted a number of ‘urgent concerns’ ate a new breeding population of saker Fal - relating to the saker Falcon trade in Mongo - cons in nest site-limited habitats, which will lia 1. one of the problems faced by the Mongo - produce sufficient offspring to compensate an lian government was to demonstrate to cItEs annual harvest of up to 300 birds. the program that their harvest had no detrimental impact on comprises (1) biological field research to the wild saker Falcon population. Accurate measure vital rates to develop a model for an data on the size of the saker Falcon population age and sex specific harvest level of saker Fal - in Mongolia does not exist, nor is there any cons, (2) the development of an administrative information recorded on the age and sex of protocol to control and monitor trapping and sakers caught, making it impossible to assess trade, and (3) the development of a policy the impact of a harvest. nevertheless, Mongo - framework to ensure that the saker Falcon lia continued their harvest through 2008, trade meets international criteria for sustain - despite assuring cItEs that “no further export able use and provides national and regional permits would be issued” in a 2006 commu - benefits for Mongolia. 1 www.cites.org/eng/com/AC/21/E21-10.1.1.pdf 2 www.cites.org/eng/notif/2006/E061.pdf 3 www.cites.org/eng/notif/2009/E003.pdf 4 www.cites.org/eng/com/SC/58/E58-21-1.pdf 2 –ARTIFICIAL NESTS FOR SAKER FALCONS IN MONGOLIA – Table 1. Numbers of Saker Falcons exported annually from Mongolia and the recipient countries. Saudi Year Arabia Kuwait Qatar UAE Syria USA Germany Total 1997 116 29 0500 0150 1998 0 25 0000 025 1999 0 40 0 21 00 061 2000 0 50 0000 050 2001 0 102 0 75 10 00187 2002 87 121 15 0 75 5 15 318 2003 85 171 82 10 54 00402 2004 77 180 49 30 49 00385 2005 151 131 5073 00360 2006 100 41 26 0000167 2007 60 141 40 0000241 2008 30 185 51 0000266 2009 25 151 81 35 00 0292 2010 0 105 88 44 00 0237 731 1472 437 220 261 5 15 Total 3,141 THE MONGOLIAN SAKER FALCON TRADE falcons were illegally trapped in Mongolia each year, but it is thought to number at least the capture and international sale of saker 300 per annum (Zahler et al. 2004). Falcons in Mongolia began after the 1990 Democratic revolution, during a period of Mongolia has exported an average of 286 economic and social upheaval following the saker Falcons per year over the last decade collapse of the soviet union. As far as we can (table 1), with 99% of these birds destined determine, the trade began in 1993 and was directly for the Arabian falconry market. In operated by private individuals who estab - 2010, the price for a single saker Falcon lished commercial companies to export sak - export permit was set at us$11,760, with ers, mainly to Middle Eastern countries us$10,800 going to the state budget and (badam 2001, boldbaatar 2009). control of us$960 going to the regional ‘aimag’ admin - the trade was gradually removed from these istration. At present, no money goes to the private companies and by the time Mongolia local ‘soum’ administrations. thus, the sale of became a party to cItEs in 1996, it was 237 saker Falcons in 2010 (table 1) generated wholly controlled by the government. From an income of us$2.79 million for Mongolia, 1997–2010, Mongolia exported a total of which is relatively insignificant in relation to 3,141 saker Falcons, ranging from 25 to 402 an estimated GDP of at least us$4 billion. the birds per annum (table 1, cItEs trade Data - 5 real benefit of the saker Falcon trade to Mon - base, unEP-WcMc , MnEt Mongolia). golia is the connection it brings to leaders in however, there are discrepancies in the pub - Arabian states and the inward investment that lished figures for the numbers of saker Fal - can be derived from these relationships. cons exported and it is not known how many 5 www.cites.org/eng/resources/trade.shtml 3 –DIXON ET AL .– ARTIFICIAL NESTS FOR SAKER FALCONS over the period 2006–10, we studied occu - pancy levels, nesting success, and post-fledg - the saker Falcon is a widespread breeding ing survival of saker Falcons breeding at species occurring across the whole territory of artificial nests erected in two experimental Mongolia in a variety of landscapes and land areas, 130 km apart, in the steppe zone of cen - cover types, including mountainous areas, for - tral Mongolia. one experimental area (Darhan) est steppe, steppe, desert steppe, and desert.
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