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Backqround
l,lelano5uchus nioer occurs througholrt the Amazon region from thE'
Ama:on river mouth in the past to Ecuador in the west (Groornbridge t9A7).
It has apparently bppn Eeriously reduced in rnuch ot its range by ovpr
hunting (Broornbridqe 1987, Kinq 19S9). Small populations of HelanoEuch|-rE
OfgE! uJere known to exiBt i'l the Amazon region of Ecuador in the L9€O's
(Plotkin et,al. 1983). They },ere reportecl to be conmon in the lower Rio
Aguarico, Rio YaEuni and Rio Lagartococha near th€' Peruvian border
(6roornbridge 19El2). AEenza, in (ThorbjarnaEen 1992) rpports that
populations occur in the Cuyabeno region, Limoncocha and Zancudococha.
However, there are wery little published survey data and n(] information on
country wide status, nor is there an infraEtructure in place to .nonitor
oogulat.ion levels.
I'1. nioer is presently on the CITES Appendix I list of pndangered
species, and under thie clas6rtrcation commerical trade is prohibited.
Before the qpecies can be tradecl internationally a reguest tclr a change in
the listing to Appendix II {to pernrt trade) mlrst b€| presented to the
Conference ot thp Parties ot CITES by the Ecuedor }4anRgement Authorrty,
The request mlrst contain statLrs data as well aE orooog'ed Banaoeoent
An initial st-rrvey to evaluate the status oJ the blact: caiman
llelanosuch|"rs nioer in the Arna2on region ctf Ectlador t.las cond(cted in wlarch.
1992. This survey was tunded by l1r PatJlo Evans! a busineserndn rnterested
in ranchinq black caiD€n in Ecuador- A proposal sLrbrnitted to t r Evaus and
the government ot Ecuador to evaluetE' the teaqiirllrty of ranEhrng btack
caiman provided the tnpetus for these sLrrveys, The c,riqrnat p.aposal
contained the following three objectiwes. 1l To determine thp FRpLrtation
status and distribution oJ lvlelanoslrchus n_ioer !!ithin the Amazon regrirn o{
Ecuador, 2) To generate inforoation and recommendations concernmg the
manaqement of tl. n&er in the erild, inctudinq a lonq term monrtorrng svEtem,
3) To provide f4r Pablo Evans htith recommendations regardInq the fedsib.ititv
of ranching and/or farming M. niqer in E€uadoFt the survey we are rep.rrtrng
on is the first step to!.Jard achiewir|g objectiwe S L.
Study areas for the initral s'urvey consisted of laqoons, bdctt 6aters
and disjunct oxbows ass.ociated with the Rio Napo (from Col:o to Rocafuertel.
and the Rio Lagarto Cocha.
l'lethods
The objective of these sLrrveys 'jas to locate areas of potential
caiman habitat, conduct ir-ritial populatron inventories and estabtish
permanent surwey routes, Routes were established drrring da/tight hoi-rrE;
and general habitat teaturps (eq, sLrrrounding vegptatronl were recorded.
SampleB oi signiticant emprgent veqe'tation ,{ere collectect for sLrospquenr
identification. Beginning and ending pointE ot routes were docLrBentpcj blith
a Global Position.ing SyEtem (GPS) and 6PS point€; were recorded arouno lne
perimeter ot lagoons to Jnap these arees. Erratic ete!.1t io. readings t,iLh
the GPS did not allolr tor dependable Hater le!,et elevatron reac' ings.
Ho'.ever, in sone cases,ulater depths |.,ere measurecl at tnown pointg, and in
all cases observations by loc.l residents concernrnlt wite. IevelEr Nere
recorded.