Its Oceans Stripped By Western Fleets, Ghana Turns To Bushmeat - Science

WASHINGTON − "Overfishing by subsidized European fleets off the coast of West Africa is hurting local fisheries and forcing people to slaughter wildlife to get enough to eat, researchers said Thursday.

They said the so-called bushmeat trade in Ghana is strongly driven by a lack of fish, and added the country risked even worse poverty and social unrest -- as well as the loss of an irreplaceable natural resource -- unless something changes. Bushmeat includes game such as antelope but also species such as monkeys and jackals.

The finding, published in the journal Science, confirms accusations from local conservation groups that international fishing is hurting local people. "This study provides the strongest link yet between a local fish supply with immediate, dramatic effects on bushmeat hunting and terrestrial wildlife," said Justin Brashares, an assistant professor of ecosystem sciences at the University of California Berkeley who led the study.

"If people aren't able to get their protein from fish, they'll turn elsewhere for food and economic survival. Unfortunately, the impacts on wild game resources are not sustainable, and species are literally disappearing from the reserves," Brashares added in a statement. The result can be devastating, socially and economically, the researchers said. "Recent collapses of mammal populations in some areas of West Africa have been linked to geographic patterns of poverty and malnourishment," they wrote."

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