WCC 2016 Res 019 - Activity Report

1. Net Benefits Initiative - August 2017. Stage 1 of the joint initiative “The people, bats and fruit industry of Mauritius: a process towards a common solution”
A two-day stakeholder workshop on netting and management of fruit bat damage to orchards was held in August 2017. The meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security via its Food and Agricultural Research Extension Institute (FAREI) and participants were drawn from small orchard owners, commercial orchard managers, netting importers and distributors extension officers and research staff from Food and Agricultural Research Extension Institute (FAREI), researchers and staff of National Park and Conservation Service (NPCS) and Mauritius Wildlife Foundation (MWF), fruit exporters, and fruit traders. In addition to the Mauritian participants, five specialists from overseas participated: lychee farmers with successful experience in netting against bats in Australia, an expert in fruit bat ecology and bat damage prevention from Thailand, and human-wildlife conflict experts from the IUCN SSC Task Force on Human Wildlife Conflict, and Chester Zoo. The workshop comprised presentations, site visits and breakout sessions wherein working groups discussed key issues and strategies for reducing damage by bats and improving lychee productivity more generally.

Publication of a Science Perspective "Can we protect flying foxes" by Christian Vincenot, Vincent Florens, Tigga Kingston. Science 355(6332): 1368-1370. The paper highlighted the intensity of threats to flying foxes, with introductory emphasis on the consequences of the cull of Pteropus niger on Mauritius. The importance of flying foxes for island ecosystems was detailed and the need for integrative solutions emphasized.

The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation is collaborating with Chester Zoo (UK) and National Park and Conservation Service (Mauritius) to try to understand the human-fruit bat conflict and take measures to address this conflict. These measures may range from education to practical mitigation measures. The education programme is also funded by Rufford Grant. The Ecosystem Restoration Alliance (ERA), Indian Ocean (Mauritiu) is conducting a 3-year educational program by which all the schools and community centers will be reached. Along with NPCS, ERA is testing organic repellents as well as sound systems to deter bats in orchards- non-lethal net free solution.

In June 2017, a joint initiative “The people, bats and fruit industry of Mauritius: a process towards a common solution” was launched by the IUCN SSC Task Force on Human-Wildlife Conflict, with the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security, (Government of Mauritius), and the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation (MWF), in consultation with representatives of the fruit-growing industry, the IUCN SSC Bat Specialist Group, and members of the scientific community in Mauritius and overseas. The parties proposed an Action Plan that focused on a netting to manage fruit bat damage to orchards, development of a national research strategy, and mediated dialogues.

The National Parks and Conservation Service of Mauritius have implemented two recent surveys of the Pteropus niger population of Mauritius (October 2016, 2017). The surveys followed a workshop and training event in April 2016 led by Dr Tammy Mildenstein of the Bat Specialist Group. The workshop equipped the NPCS to avoid use of disturbance counts and have greater confidence in counts derived from exit counts and roost urveys.

The governement culls (late 2015, late 2016) of P. niger on Mauritius triggered a reassessment of the Red List Status of the species. This was completed in 2017 and is in final review by the Red List Unit.