Caiman yacare and Caiman latirostris ranching program in Corrientes, Argentina: YACARE PORÁ

ALEJANDRO LARRIERA; PABLO SIROSKI AND MAURO CARDOZO

Montelimar, Francia

Congreso; XVIII Working Meeting of Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG/SSC/UICN); 2006

Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG/SSC/UICN)

The province of Corrientes is undergoing a period of vast agricultural development. This entails an impending destruction of natural ecosystems if their sustainability is not regulated. With the aim to curb this process, a management plan based on the ranching technique was designed. By means of it, the Cayman resource is used in a sustainable way through a conservation strategy. So much so, that the Yacaré Porá ranching program was put into practice in 2004 in this province. The reintroduction of captive-reared animals to the wild appears as a biologically and economically feasible tool to increase the size of populations. The local inhabitants commitment with this project it is proved by the duplication of the eggs harvested in these last two years (7,000 in 2005 and 15,000 in 2006). In turn, the beginning of the marketing stage is foreseen before the end of 2006, planning the use of the meat and the skins from the very beginning.