Since its establishment, the Provincial Swiftlet Protection Board has detected and promptly prevented nearly 100 cases of trapping, contributing to protecting the swiftlet flock and promoting the development of the province's swiftlet farming industry.
In the journey to prevent bird trapping, members of the Swiftlet Protection Board face many dangers, potentially endangering the safety of themselves and their families, and are in dire need of support from authorities.
Swiftlet population decline
Faced with the situation of wild birds, including swiftlets, being trapped and captured in many localities, causing the swiftlet population to decline, in 2019, the Provincial Bird Nest Association established the Swiftlet Protection Board. Initially, the board had 5 members, then gradually increased and now has 10 members.
The members of the committee work on a voluntary basis, without salary, without allowances... and especially without working hours, because at any time, as soon as they receive reports from the people about areas and locations where bird traps are located, they immediately set off.
Nguyen Duc Hien, Head of the Provincial Bird Protection Board, said: Along with proactively checking open fields and regularly setting up invisible nets to trap birds, we also publicize phone numbers in localities so that when people discover bird traps, they can report them to the board. Thanks to the support and cooperation of the people, many bird trapping cases have been promptly prevented and handled.
After 7 years of operation, the Swiftlet Protection Board has detected and prevented nearly 100 bird trapping cases. In 2023 alone, the board detected, prevented and promptly handled 20 cases of illegal hunting of wild birds, contributing to the fight against illegal hunting of swiftlets.
Mr. Le Quyet Thang, a member of the Swiftlet Protection Board, said: In the first half of this year, the number of detected swiftlet hunting cases decreased, because the bird trappers colluded to warn each other, making it harder to detect than before. The bird traps are also more sophisticated, the subjects only set up nets for 30-60 minutes and then move the trap location, so when the board receives the report, it is gone. This requires us to closely monitor the area, especially areas where traps are often detected, to quickly prevent them.
The province currently has more than 1,200 bird houses, with a total flock of over 1.2 million birds. The total output of bird nests in 2023 in the province will reach nearly 4 tons; it is expected that in 2024 it will increase by 10-20% compared to the previous year. Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Provincial People's Committee are actively supporting the export of Vietnamese bird nest products, expected to bring large revenues to the country. However, this profession is still facing hunting, which has reduced the bird nest population and directly affected the output of bird nest exploitation in the province.
Need support from all levels
According to the International Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, swiftlets are wild animals that need to be protected. However, the situation of trapping birds in general and swiftlets in particular still occurs, many localities still take lightly the prevention of bird trapping, as well as the protection of swiftlet flocks. In particular, the biggest difficulty currently facing the Swiftlet Protection Board is the thin force, the subjects setting traps are increasingly sophisticated and reckless.
According to Mr. Nguyen Duc Hien, the biggest difficulty currently facing the members of the Swiftlet Protection Board is not only the cost of maintaining operations but also the potential risks posed by swiftlet hunters’ reactions after being discovered. Many times during the process of working to prevent bird trapping, members of the board have been assaulted by bird trapper subjects.
To prevent the trapping of wild birds, the Provincial People's Committee has issued a document regulating the coordination to prevent the problem of trapping swiftlets and wild animals. Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee has assigned specific tasks to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Provincial Police, the Provincial Market Management Department, the People's Committees of districts, towns, and cities, etc.
The Provincial Bird's Nest Association has also actively worked with localities to sign a coordination regulation in preventing and handling cases of bird trapping. The association has signed a coordination agreement with the People's Committee of Dong Hoa Town. This locality has established an interdisciplinary team of the town ready to coordinate with the association when detecting cases of bird trapping in the area.
“The association is continuing to contact and work with the remaining localities to soon complete the signing, and we hope that the localities will actively support, coordinate, and create favorable conditions for the Swiftlet Protection Board to operate. In addition, to support the members of the Swiftlet Protection Board during their work, the association has just equipped a mobile camera that can both film and record and transmit images directly to the association, helping to record evidence in case of assault on members of the board so that the authorities can handle it later,” said Mr. Pham Duy Khiem, Vice President of the Vietnam Swiftlet Nest Association and President of the Phu Yen Swiftlet Nest Association.
| According to the provisions of Article 25 of Decree 13/2020/ND-CP and Article 27 of Decree 14/2021/ND-CP, any act of hunting or luring swiftlets for purposes other than raising swiftlets for nest exploitation or scientific research will be subject to an administrative fine of 10-15 million VND and the exhibits used to commit the violation will be confiscated. |
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Source: https://baophuyen.vn/82/319495/gian-nan-hanh-trinh-ngan-chan-nan-san-bay-chim-yen.html
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