This, in addition to education awareness and imposing stricter penalties on violators, could keep the Marianas Fruit Bat or the Fanihi to survive, according to Howard L. Ferguson, supervisor of the wildlife section of the CNMI Division of Fish & Wildlife who was yesterday’s speaker during the Saipan Rotary Club meeting at the Hyatt.
“The less people hunt for fruit bat, the better it will be for the islands to have more fruit bats,” Ferguson said.
He said the estimated population of fruit bats on Saipan is just around 50 or less, and over 2,000 on Rota. He said they are not sure if there are bats on Tinian.
“These numbers are not good because the habitat suggests that there should be more fruit bats here,” Ferguson said.
He said hunting fruit bats in the Northern Islands is not a serious problem because it is much harder to get there.
“When you visit the Northern Islands, you can see the bats flying all over because they are not hunted, and this can be a real eco-attraction for people to see the bats,” Ferguson said.
Addressing the hunting problem requires the cooperation of the community, he added.
“We need to educate people, and work with hunters because they know where the fruit bats are.
“If we know where they are, we can track their numbers and we can come up with measures to protect them,” Ferguson said.
The Marianas Fruit Bat is an endangered species in the Pacific Islands. The consumption of bats has resulted in overhunting, Hunting fruit bats is illegal.
Ferguson, who is currently conducting a survey on the bird, mammal and reptile species in the CNMI, said that they expect to finish the survey on bird species by the end of this month. The survey for mammals and reptiles may be finished by September.
Ferguson said the survey is for the identification and mapping of the species, “so we will know what species are there and we could proceed with the preservation tasks.”
