Evaluation of Macaque Management Policy in Japan
Abstract
As a result of recovery of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in recent years, crop damage by macaques becomes a serious agricultural problem in Japan. As the damage amount reached 1.3 billion yen in 2010, the number of... [ view full abstract ]
As a result of recovery of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) in recent years, crop damage by macaques becomes a serious agricultural problem in Japan. As the damage amount reached 1.3 billion yen in 2010, the number of macaques culled has been increasing, which reaches 25,000 macaques culled in a year. To facilitate individual action and cooperation among landowners and local residents, and public support by local governments in terms of crop damage prevention and wildlife control, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries provides subsidies for municipalities. The subsidies are supposed to be used for setting electric fences, culling macaques with guns and traps, giving a lecture toward landowners and residents, employment wildlife control specialists, and other related purposes. In addition, Ministry of the Environment promote to municipalities to develop a management goal for each macaque troop based on the distribution of macaque troop. However, there is no research proving the validity that those financial support and guidelines by Japanese government are effective in decreasing crop damage by macaques. The purpose of our study is to review the control methods which are valid to decrease crop damages by macaques, while the macaque management policy promoted by Japanese government is in the phase of penetration. We evaluated social factors influencing recent decline of crop damage, using a questionnaire survey for nationwide municipalities conducted by Ministry of the Environment in October 2017. The questionnaire is consisted of categorical variables as to whether each damage prevention methods had implemented or not at each municipalities. We had 762 respondents out of 867 municipalities with macaque troops inhabited, according to the survey 2 years ago. Among the responses, we analyzed 460 municipalities where macaque troops inhabited, using a J48 decision tree. The major findings of this study are as follows: (1) the crop damage has not decreased at the municipality where electric fences are not effectively used; (2) the crop damage has not decreased at the municipality where promote shooting as the method of culling; (3) the tree model indicated that the classification accuracy was high at 93.9% when crop damage has not decreased, while the other was low because classification rules were not insufficient. Our study suggests that priority to use each control methods should be considered in each municipalities as there are many methods for crop damage prevention and macaque control.
Authors
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Daisuke Nakamura
(National agriculture and food research organization, Central Region Agricultural Research Center)
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Masaaki Takiguchi
(Japan Wildlife Research Center)
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Kanako Mitsuoka
(Japan Wildlife Research Center)
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Tomonori Kawamoto
(Japan Wildlife Research Center)
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et al.
(Collaboration)
Topic Areas
Topics: Social-ecological systems as a framework for conservation management , Topics: Natural Resource and Conservation Stakeholders: Managing Expectations and Engageme
Session
T-F4 » Livelihoods and HWC 'A' (13:00 - Tuesday, 18th September, Barbarasaal)
Presentation Files
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