Traditional capture of Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea in the Lake Chad Basin and its possible role in reducing damage levels in cereals

Three traditional methods of capturing Red-billed Quelea Quelea quelea prac tised by different ethnic groups, were studied in the Lake Chad Basin in Ch ad and Cameroon: capture of birds by triangular hand-held nets by Hadjerai' piegeurs (trappers); with standing fishing nets of the "mist net" type by Gambai; and by cast nets (epervier) by Massa and Mousgoum fishermen. The Hadjerai net was found to be both selective for queleas and highly effi cient. As many as 1.2 million birds were captured from 13 June to 21 August 1994 around N'Djamena, Chad, alone, until activities ceased due to heavy r ains. Birds were trapped in tree roosts during moonless periods of the nigh t. They were plucked and fried the following morning, subsequently dried in the sun, and eventually transported to the market in N'Djamena to be sold. The piegeurs operated in teams of about 6 men and each team could process about 20 000 birds per day. Once this number had been captured, they withdr ew from further trapping. The catches were almost entirely composed of quel eas, with sometimes a small percentage (<1%) of Golden Sparrow Passer luteu s. It was estimated that annually at least 5-10 million queleas were trappe d, with a market value of about 19-38 million FCFA (US$37 500-75 000). The impact of trapping on the population of queleas in the Lake Chad Basin, estimated at about 200 million individuals in 1976/77, was insignificant. Since activities of piegeurs are aimed at maximising revenues, and not at m inimising damage levels, there is no causal relationship between crop damag e and number of birds trapped. However, compared to crop losses in pearl mi llet due to quelea damage, revenues from selling quelea are up to 40% of ca pitalized crop losses due to quelea in the same area.