JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE RESEARCH Journal homepage: www.jakraya.com/journal/jwr ORIGINAL ARTICLE Current Status of African Manatee ( Trichechus senegalensis Link ) Along River Benue, Nigeria Iwar I.M 1, Egwumah P.O 1 and Olufeagba S.O 2 1Department of Wildlife and Range Management, 2Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Nigeria. Abstract This study was undertaken to determine the current status of African Manatee (Trichechus senegalensis ) along River Benue and to compare this with their status three decades ago. The method of obtaining data was the *Corresponding Author: use of a questionnaire and interview with fishermen in four (4) communities along the River. The result indicated that while Manatees still Iwar I.M. inhabit the River Benue, the frequency of sighting them and the numbers sighted has declined significantly (p>0.05) from that of three decades ago. Email: [email protected] The result indicates that while 55% of the respondents sighted Manatees everyday three decades ago, only 1.4% claims to sight Manatees everyday currently. In the same vein, while 50% of the fishermen reported that 30 Received: 02/02/2019 years ago they could sight between 21-25 Manatees annually, only 7.5% Accepted: 27/02/2019 said they still sight such numbers currently. Forty-four (44) respondents admitted to have killed at least one Manatee in the river which all together amounted to a total of 173 Manatees killed within the last three decade. It is therefore suggested that a section of the River be demarcated as a conservation site for the Manatee along the river and laws banning kills be strictly enforced to protect it from further decimation. Keywords: Manatee, Status, River Benue, Current. 1. Introduction and habitat destruction are poorly documented, but the West African Manatee occurs along the Atlantic trade in Manatee bushmeat is well known throughout Coast of 22 African Countries, reaching from the Africa. The IUCN Red list category and criteria Senegal River to the Cuanza River in Angola (Anne et classified the African Manatee as vulnerable. Criteria al., 2017). They have been recorded as far as 2000 km for placing of the species in their category is based on inland from the Niger River from Koulikoro to Gao, in threats, particularly hunting and incidental capture in lake Debo in Mali and in lakes Lere and Trene in Chad fishing gears, that appear to be continuing to increase (Diagne, 2015). According to UNEP (2008) it has also throughout the range, with locally high rates and near found its way into the mid and upper reaches of several extirpation in some regions (Diagne, 2014). The rivers in this region, notably, the Senegal and Niger Convention of Migratory species (CMS) successfully Rivers. In the Niger, it has reached far inland through created an action plan and memorandum of Niger and Mali into northern Guinea. It has even understanding (MOU) for the species from annex II to crossed over from the Niger Basin into the Chad Basin annex I in 2009, a more endangered status. where it occurs in Wetlands of Northern Cameroon and Furthermore, the convention on International Trade in Chad. Kouadio (2007) reported that the wide endangered species (CITES) voted at their conference distribution of Trichechus senegalensis is in sharp of parties in March, 2013 to raise the species from contrast with the amount of published information Appendix II to Appendix I, which bans all legal about the species biology, dynamics, distribution and international trade, but leave enforcement of illegal status. This could be explained in part by the Manatees trade upto the range countries. Ogogo et al. (2012) elusive nature and their preference for turbid, sediment- reported that the West African manatee is the least rich waters which are an obvious obstacle for direct studied of all Sirenians and its status across much of its observations (Anne et al., 2017). According to Diagne range is only poorly known. The United Nations (2014), there are no estimates of abundance for the Environmental Programme (UNEP) reports that despite species anywhere in its range and the impact of hunting a general lack of information, there is a growing body Journal of Wildlife Research | January-March, 2019 | Volume 07 | Issue 01 | Pages 07-10 © 2019 Jakraya Iwar et al…Current Status of African Manatee (Trichechus senegalensis Link) Along River Benue, Nigeria of evidence documenting the decline of the species due inhabit the Benue River. It was found that manatees are mainly to habitat loss, accidental captures in fish nets more frequently sighted during the evenings (4-7 pm and deliberate hunting. Fig 4). This result agrees with those of Happold (1987); Rathbun (1995) who reported that manatees feed 2. Methodology mostly at night. Invariably, the time during which they are more frequently sighted corresponds to their 2.1 Study Area foraging movement. The study area is a section of the River Benue which lies between latitudes 07 049'N and 07 052'N and longitudes 08 036' and 08 040'E. The major tributaries that flow into the River Benue along this area are Rivers Guma from the North, Mu from the South, Katsina-Ala from the North, Gwer and Rukuba from the North. The River Benue takes its origin from the Adamawa highlands in the western Cameroun and it is the largest tributary to the River Niger with which it confluences at Lokoja, in Kogi State. The Benue River enters Nigeria a few Kilometers East of Yola in Adamawa State, flowing westwards for a distance of 780 km before joining River Niger in Lokoja. It flows Fig 2: The Ethnic groups of respondents along River through Adamawa, Taraba, Benue and Kogi States. Benue on Manatee status. Unlike other African Rivers the River Benue flows free of rapids and waterfalls. The study area has distinct dry and wet seasons of Tropical Climate. The rainy season last from April to October and is between 1,240 mm - 1440 mm. The monthly Temperature is between 28.5 0C - 36 0C and may rise to 38 0C in March to April. 2.2 Data Collection The study area was divided into four fishing communities along the river Benue, namely; Gbajimba, Abinsi, Makurdi and Gbaji. One hundred and fifty copies of a questionnaire appropriately coded and Fig 3: The number of years respondents have being containing relevant conservation status of Manatee in fishing along River Benue. the area, their habitat presence and migration patterns was administered to fishermen as well as focused group Members belonging to the Kabawa ethnic group discussions. The questionnaire method was adopted (Fig 2) constitute the highest number of fishermen because of the dearth of previous studies on Manatee in interviewed and engaged in Manatee hunting (55:1%) the area. with the Tiv being the least (0.7%) engaged in fishing activities along the river. The respondents on Manatee 3. Results and Discussion status along River Benue were aged from 26 to 65 years of age and the age bracket 56-65 had the highest Comparism of the current frequency with which with 33.80%. These are fishermen who have spent Manatee are sighted with those of three decades ago between 25-35 years along the river. This means we indicate a significant (P>0:05) declined using the chi- can be confident that they would give us a reliable square test. Similarly, the numbers of Manatees comparative analysis on manatee presence 20-30 years presently sighted as compared to the numbers were ago as compared to the present time. The result also sighted 20-30 years ago indicated a significant indicates that Manatees were more frequently sighted (P>0:05) decline. The result also indicates that 73:1% during the rainy season than during the dry (Table 2). of the respondents said the population in the river had This sighting frequency is probably due to the declined while only 6.9% disagreed. abundance and variety of edible forages that stimulate The fact that all the respondents said they still more movement of the animal at this time. sight Manatee presently means that manatees still Journal of Wildlife Research | January-March, 2019 | Volume 07 | Issue 01 | Pages 07-10 © 2019 Jakraya 8 Iwar et al…Current Status of African Manatee (Trichechus senegalensis Link) Along River Benue, Nigeria Table 1: Age group of respondents interviewed on The result indicates that while 55% of the Manatees along River Benue respondents sighted Manatees everyday three decades ago, only 1.4% claims to sight Manatees everyday Age Group (years) Frequency Percent currently (Table 4, 5). In the same vein, while 50% of 26-35 18 12.40 the fishermen reported that 30 years ago they could 36-45 35 24.10 sight between 21-25 Manatees annually, (Table 6), 46-55 43 29.70 only 7.5% said they still sight such numbers currently 56-65 49 33.80 (Table 7). Total 145 100 Source: Field survey, (2016) Table 2: Seasonal frequency of sighting Manatees along River Benue as reported by respondents Season Frequency Percent Rainy (April-October) 111 76.60 Dry (November-March) 34 23.40 Total 145 100 Source: Field survey, (2016) Fig 5: The mean no. of Manatees killed by respondents Table 3: The causes of Manatee population depletion along River Benue. Age Group (years) Frequency Percent Table 4: Frequency of sighting manatees 20-30 years Habitat Destruction 78 57.80 ago Over-hunting/poaching 49 36.30 Lower birthrate of Manatees 08 5.90 Frequency % Total 145 100 Everyday 80 55 Source: Field survey, (2016) Twice a week 37 25 Once a week 18 12 The result in (Fig 5) indicate that one person Once a month 10 6 (0.7%) alone had killed up to twenty-one (21) Total 145 100 Manatees while and 44 others (30.3%) have killed at Source: Field survey, (2016) least one Manatee in their life time.