The trade in fruit bats Pteropus spp. on Guam and other Pacific islands

Residents of Guam, Mariana Islands, have imported large numbers of fruit bats Pteropus spp. from other Pacific islands during the past 10 years as a delicacy. The trade in bats began in the 1960s or early 1970s after overhunting had greatly reduced the populations of Guam's native fruit bats. The quantity of bats shipped to the island peaked in 1979 and 1980, with an estimated total of more than 24 000 animals brought in each year. From 1981 to 1984, imports fell to an estimated mean of 14 475 bats per year. During the 1970s, Guam's importers purchased bats mainly from the Caroline Islands (Palau and Yap) and other islands in the Marianas (Saipan, Rota and Tinian). Changes in availability and laws during the 1980s have caused the fruit bat trade to expand geographically, making islands outside Micronesia (Western Samoa, Tonga, American Samoa and Papua New Guinea) important suppliers of bats. Because large-scale commercial exploitation may severely deplete an island's population of fruit bats, perhaps beyond the point of recovery, we recommend that island governments be conservative in the number of bats allowed for harvest until studies on abundance and life history have been completed.