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October 23, 2016

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Farms seek net gains in protecting grapes

PLUMP, juicy grapes. Autumn is the harvest season for the fruit of the vine, and farmers aren’t the only ones keen on plucking ripe berries.

Birds, too, love grapes. And as the annual migratory seasons bring more feathered visitors to the Yangtze River Delta, feasting in the farmlands around Shanghai creates an annual confrontation between man and nature.

Shanghai is home to about 450 species of birds, 80 percent of them migratory. Some 4.6 million birds can be found in the city every year, according to annual surveys.

Farmers naturally want to protect their grape harvest from these beaky poachers, so they typically erect netting around the vineyards. But animal rights groups say this simple, cheap precaution is killing too many birds.

Nonprofit conservation group Let Birds Fly said it visited 21 fruit farms in suburban Qingpu District this summer and autumn and found 233 dead birds and nine living ones in the 192 nets they looked at. The birds included the light-vented bulbul, the long-tailed shrike, turtledoves and protected species like egrets.

“So-called ‘mist nets’ have very thin, almost invisible mesh,” said Liu Huili, executive officer with the organization. “When the birds fly into the netting, they cannot easily escape. The more they struggle, the more entangled they become. The birds we saved had wounds.”

She said some farmers set up netting simply to capture wild birds to eat or sell. According to the standing committee of the city’s people’s congress, it is illegal to use nets to catch wild animals. However, out in the real world, law enforcement authorities find themselves in a dilemma when faced with farmers who set up netting to save their livelihoods.

“We know that the nets are to protect fruits and that the farmers aren’t interested in capturing birds for eating or selling,” a community police officer who declined to be identified told Shanghai Daily.

“Well, I don’t want to catch those birds,” said Gu Hongfang, 50, a grape grower in the Jiading District. “They are of no use to me. If I don’t set up the nets, the birds will eat all of my grapes. A whole year’s work will be lost. What can I do?”

Gu, who has 10,000 square meters planted in grapes, begrudgingly removed the netting after discussions with community police officers and wildlife volunteers. “In 2014, birds ate through about 1,333 square meters of grapes,” Gu said. “My grapes provide a seventh of our family income.”

She admitted that wild birds improve the local environment by eating insects and other vermin, but that benefit is offset when they turn their attention to ripe grapes.

Mist nets are easily found in local grocery shops, selling for 16 yuan a 10-meter bundle. From the farmers’ standpoint, they are the simplest and cheapest way to deter feathered food poachers.

Local farmers said they have tried other methods of controlling the birds, including repellent chemicals, scarecrows and sound devices that emulate the call of predatory eagles. Gu said the repellent wears off too quickly to be effective, and other methods haven’t worked either.

Another grape farmer, Xu Zhenqiang, said he hung bird repellent devices on the trees for about four years. This year, he said, the birds must have remembered the foul smell emitted by the devices because they gave his fields a miss.

Bird conservancy volunteers told Shanghai Daily that grape farms near waterways or woodlands usually suffer most because those are the habitats that attract birds.

Tang Chendong, an ornithologist at the Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve, said the conflict between farmers and birds has been waging since ancient times.

“Wild birds are an important part of the city’s ecological system, and they also help contain populations of insects and other farm vermin,” Tang said. “The city has put a lot of effort into improving the environment, including planting trees. As a result, the numbers of birds is increasing. We need to find ways to maintain the right balance.”

He suggested that ecological efforts should be more diversified, taking into account the habitation requirements for birds.

“If the birds can find the food they need in woodlands, they would be less likely to poach farmlands,” said Tang.

After media coverage about the effects of the bird nets in the Qingpu District in September, government officials said they would strengthen efforts to stop illegal trapping and sales of wild birds. They also pledged renewed efforts to study ways to keep birds away from crops, according to thepaper.cn.

The city’s greenery authority said it will inform local farmers of the adverse effects of bird nets and encourage them to try other protection methods that don’t endanger the wildlife. People caught hunting birds illegally under the guise of protecting fruit crops will face severe penalties.

The save-the-birds volunteers said they are also studying various methods to help farmers repel wild birds without hurting them and will speak with local grape farmers before next year’s crop to experiment with new approaches.

According to a latest announcement from the city’s greenery authority on Friday, it has launched a citywide campaign to protect migratory birds, which is part of a clearing net campaign initiated by State Forestry Administration. The local authority said it will work with other authorities, including the police, industry and commerce administration, as well as volunteers and NGOs to clamp down illegal hunting or dealings of wild birds and other wild animals.




 

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