Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 8.3
Approximate Allocation of Foreign Hunter Fees/Blue Sheep Trophy to Each
Administrative Level, for a Single Hunter Taking a Blue Sheep in Dulan (Qinghai) 2004,
According to Local Officials*
Funds
allocated
Funds remaining
for next lower level
Percentage
Use
Paid by foreign hunter
7,900
15% of 7,900
1,185
Foreign booking (commission)
6,715
24%
}
1,612
National level
40% of 6,715
2,686
Provincial level
7%
470
Prefecture level
1,947
22% of 1,947
428
Central government tax
1,519
~1,500-2,500 Dulan hunt expenses ( )
( ) Conservation in Dulan none
*Hunters participating in pairs were charged $6,900 each, and those in larger groups charged $5,900
(rather than $7,900 illustrated here). All figures are U.S. dollars.
hunters in Dulan had been an order of magnitude higher than in either of the Gansu areas.
In the year 2000, for example, ninety-seven blue sheep were hunted in China, of which the
majority originated in Dulan. This larger scale necessitated a larger staff, but not quite as
large as the hunting area managers at the time projected they would need. Due in part to
their own overstaffing, and in part to the financing difficulties described above, the Dulan
hunting area—by far China's largest and most famous—had also gone into debt, and by
2004 was struggling to balance its topics by shedding staff. Further stressing budgets at
the local level was the fact that during the decade or so in which fees paid by international
hunters remained unchanged, the price of vehicle fuel, one of the major components
of locally borne costs, had roughly quadrupled in China. This ever-tightening margin
for hunting areas had caused Dulan managers to look for increasingly creative ways to
produce income, including renting out their vehicles during the nonhunting season, and
obtaining hunters' permission to retrieve otherwise unused meat, pack it up, and sell it
to restaurants in distant cities.
In neither the Aksai nor Dulan hunting areas did any formal provision exist for funds
to be channeled to government levels below the county (e.g., township). In Aksai, mon-
etary benefits to pastoralists living where hunts occurred were limited to horse rental.
Four pastoral families with seasonal pastures nearest preferred hunting areas did all the
necessary horse renting. Thus, there were no direct financial benefits to the majority of
people potentially affected by the presence of wildlife. In Dulan, in addition to renting
horses, the hunting area attempted to provide funds to the village leader ( cunzhang ) of
each group of pastoral families for each animal killed in their grazing area, as well as
to provide some funds to a local monastery. The usual amount was ¥300 per blue sheep
(i.e., about 37 U.S. dollars at prevailing exchange rates), and ¥1,000-2,000 per argali
 
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