Uso de la fauna silvestre y acuática por comunidades del bajo río Caura (Guayana venezolana)

The use of wildlife by residents of Maripa, Aripao, Puerto Cabello of Caura, Trinchera and Jabillal, located in the lower Caura River drainage, Orinoco River basin (Venezuela) was evaluated to help shape the basic guidelines applicable to regional management plans for these natural resources. 72 unstructured interviews and 668 surveys (June 2000 to May 2001) were made and helped to establish that these communities are mainly agricultural, with fishing occupying fourth place and hunting eighth in the economic activities of the sector. Hunting and fishing are two very important activities in the area, but they can´t be separated and hunting can be recognized as a sideline activity. The annual total biomass of bushmeat consumption was estimated at 76 tons and over 126 tons for fish. Weekly consumption of bushmeat per person was estimated at 468 g representing a protein intake of 93.6 g/week/person. When we consider all the protein sources evaluated, the average consumption estimated was 1.49 Kg/week/person, net intake of animal protein is 298 g/week/person. Of these 31,4% was contributed by the bushmeat, 51,1% from fish and 16,3% from farm animals. This suggests that pressure on wildlife fauna can increase, and that it is necessary to initiate management measures, such as environmental education, monitoring and control, and sustainable use plans for the most affected or critical species.