Subsistence hunting of Cuniculus paca in the middle of the Solimões River, Amazonas, Brazil/Caça de subsistência de Cuniculus paca no Médio Solimões, Amazonas, Brasil

Abstract

In this research, the paca hunting was investigated in relation to water levels and the lunar cycle. In eight years of monitoring in the Amana Sustainable Development Reserve, the killing of 625 pacas was registered in five monitored communities. Paca hunting took place mainly at night and the most commonly used method is "spotlighting". A positive correlation between the number of pacas killed and water level (r^sub s^ = 0.890; p < 0.0001) was found. At least 37% of the pacas were hunted when moon illumination level was less than 10%, before moonrise or after moonset. In the Boa Esperanca community, capture of paca tended to decrease on nights with high moon illumination (r^sub s^ = -0.663; p = 0.067). At the same time, an expressive catch-per-unity-effort decrease was also observed in this community (r^sub 2^ = -0.881; p < 0.001), allowing us to predict unsustainable hunting levels for the next decade.