New 2014 Furcifer pardalis Quotas?

Motherlode Chameleon

Chameleon Enthusiast
This thread is a bit late. However what is everyone's opinion about the new quota of 3000 Wild Caught specimens for Furcifer pardalis? Until this year and the start of the quota system 1995 the quota for Furcifer pardalis has always been 2000 (to the best of my knowledge) Wild Caught Furcifer pardalis.

I think the fecundity of this species can handle the collecting pressures of collectors. However the main concern with a jump of an 1000 extra specimens would be to populations that exist in areas that are already in small collecting areas and have populations that are in high demand already, such as populations such as Nosy Faly and Nosy Mitsio!! These populations may be in a situation of concern. I was surprised to see the increase of the quota of this species.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
 
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You are correct, this is a quota increase from previous years. This species is widespread and, in many areas, quite common. It has been accessed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List with a stable population trend, and they are fairly adaptable being common in degraded and otherwise disturbed habitats. In general, I doubt this increase will negatively effect the status of the species as a whole. However, as you suggested, if any significant portion of the collection were to be focused in areas comprised of smaller populations, it could have a significant effect at the local population level. Fortunately most of these localities have only experienced sporadic and relatively light collection pressure, but that of course could always change. An ideal situation would be if collection to fill the quota was spread across the range of the species, as this would minimize the effect on any one locality and provide a range of localities to the market (provided they were well marked and tracked). I suspect we will continue to see large numbers of Sambava, Ambilobe, Nosy Be and Ambanja imports, with the occasional import of other localities, and hopefully none of the smaller locales suddenly experience disproportionately high collection pressure.

Chris
 
You are correct, this is a quota increase from previous years. This species is widespread and, in many areas, quite common. It has been accessed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List with a stable population trend, and they are fairly adaptable being common in degraded and otherwise disturbed habitats. In general, I doubt this increase will negatively effect the status of the species as a whole. However, as you suggested, if any significant portion of the collection were to be focused in areas comprised of smaller populations, it could have a significant effect at the local population level. Fortunately most of these localities have only experienced sporadic and relatively light collection pressure, but that of course could always change. An ideal situation would be if collection to fill the quota was spread across the range of the species, as this would minimize the effect on any one locality and provide a range of localities to the market (provided they were well marked and tracked). I suspect we will continue to see large numbers of Sambava, Ambilobe, Nosy Be and Ambanja imports, with the occasional import of other localities, and hopefully none of the smaller locales suddenly experience disproportionately high collection pressure.

Chris

What surprises me is that the quotas at 2000 were at the high end (my opinion) of being conservative and sustainable quotas, especially considering Nosy Faly and Mitsio collection area. The experienced captive breeders in the hobby were doing their job of captive breeding enough extra Panthers to supply the rest of the market demand for this species in the hobby. Then to have a 50% increase after 17 years after no change of a quota that was proving to be one of the most sustainable and prosperous quotas done by Madagascar was somewhat surprising to me. This new quota seemed more like a political move to be a positive herald to a new presidency and new 2014 chameleon quotas rather than a quota system that was made as a quota system that was being adjusted to perform in the most optimum way. Although surprising this new quota of Furcifer pardalis most likely is going to work out great especially with Panther Chameleons life history including degraded habitats.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich
 
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