A. Species
Scientific name: Pelophylax caralitanus
Common name(s): Anatolian water frog, Beyşehir Frog
Global IUCN Red List Threat Status: Near Threatened
B. Location of use
Geographic location(s):
- Turkey-in-Europe
- Turkey-in-Asia
Country/Region: Turkey / Seyhan and Ceyhan Deltas
C. Scale of assessment
Scale of assessment: Sub-national / Sub-region / Sub-State
Name/Details of location: Seyhan and Ceyhan Deltas
D. Timescale of use
Start Year: 2013
End Year: 2015
E. Information about the use
How is the wild species sourced?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Type of use: Extractive
Practice of use: Hunting and/or Trapping of live terrestrial and aerial animals
Lethal or non-lethal: Lethal
Does this use involve take/extraction of: The whole entire organism
Purpose(s) of end use: Food and feed
Motivation of use: Income generation from trade (individual/household/community)
Is this use legal or illegal?: Unknown/not recorded
F. Information about the Users
Which stakeholder(s) does the record primarily focus on?: Local people, National / local private sector and International private sector
G. Information about the sustainability of use
Is there evidence that the use is having an impact on the target species?: Wild species sourced from its natural habitat
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an ecological perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Study capture estimates indicated a population reduction of c. 20% per year, and our population modelling showed that, if overharvesting continues at current rates, the harvested populations will decline rapidly. Simulations with a model of harvested population dynamics resulted in a risk of extinction of c. 90% within 50 years, with extinction likely in c. 2032. Interviews with harvesters revealed their economic dependence on the frog harvest. However, results also showed that reducing harvest rates would not only ensure the viability of these frog populations but would also provide a source of income that is sustainable in the long term.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an economic perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Turkey exports nearly 700 tonnes of frogs annually, a trade that is worth nearly USD 4 million. During 1999-2009 Turkey was the third leading frog leg supplier to the European Union, with %, after Indonesia (84%) and Viet Nam (8%). Study capture estimates indicated a population reduction of c. 20% per year, and our population modelling showed that, if overharvesting continues at current rates, the harvested populations will decline rapidly. Simulations with a model of harvested population dynamics resulted in a risk of extinction of c. 90% within 50 years, with extinction likely in c. 2032. Interviews with harvesters revealed their economic dependence on the frog harvest. However, results also showed that reducing harvest rates would not only ensure the viability of these frog populations but would also provide a source of income that is sustainable in the long term.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a social perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: Turkey exports nearly 700 tonnes of frogs annually, a trade that is worth nearly USD 4 million. During 1999-2009 Turkey was the third leading frog leg supplier to the European Union, with %, after Indonesia (84%) and Viet Nam (8%). Study capture estimates indicated a population reduction of c. 20% per year, and our population modelling showed that, if overharvesting continues at current rates, the harvested populations will decline rapidly. Simulations with a model of harvested population dynamics resulted in a risk of extinction of c. 90% within 50 years, with extinction likely in c. 2032. Interviews with harvesters revealed their economic dependence on the frog harvest. However, results also showed that reducing harvest rates would not only ensure the viability of these frog populations but would also provide a source of income that is sustainable in the long term.
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from a human health perspective been recorded?: not recorded
Details of assessment carried out: study does not record this
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: study does not record this
Has an assessment (or judgement) of sustainability of the use of the target species from an animal health/welfare perspective been recorded?: Yes, considered unsustainable
Details of assessment carried out: this study
Brief summary on why the use has been assessed/judged to be sustainable or unsustainable: One person holds the light and others collect the frogs by hand or net and place them in cloth bags. As the export companies do not buy dead frogs, harvesters keep bags of 3-4 kg in a cool place until the end of a night’s harvest, and they are then dispatched for processing and packing.
Recommendations provided in the record to maintain or enhance the sustainability of the use of the target species
The study proposes: Ban harvest during the mating season: The current harvest ban is during 1 May–30 June, but mating of water frogs takes place from late winter to early summer in Turkey, depending on the region. Because of its mild Mediterranean climate, mating occurs earlier in this study area, during 15 February–15 April. Therefore the harvest ban needs to be adjusted to regional conditions. Obligatory training for all harvesters: Although rarely conducted in Turkey, training is required to provide harvesters with basic species knowledge and awareness of regulations and to improve the sustainability of harvesting. Quota based systems: Limiting each export firm’s harvest during a given period could be an effective way to limit harvest because each harvest location is controlled by a single exporter firm at any one time. Inspections should be at the processing and export locations as well as in the harvest locations in the field. This would facilitate sustainable harvest by both preventing overharvest in the field and by controlling the total number of frogs processed. Alternatively ,harvest locations could be closed every other year to relieve the pressure on individual populations. Effective enforcement of size limits: If the 30 g minimum size restriction could be applied effectively, the number of frogs collected would decrease markedly. As for a quota system, it would be easier to enforce this limit at the processing and export stages. Frog farming: The number of farmed frogs exported is currently limited but farming could be encouraged by the government as an alternative to collecting wild frogs. Systematical uncertainty, lack of knowledge of the distribution of genetic lineages, and the morphological similarity of Anatolian water frogs hinder species identification through morphology. The frog-exporting companies turn this incognizance into an opportunity, labelling all frogs as Pelophylax esculentus, a hybrid form known as ‘edible frog’, which is native to Europe but absent in Turkey. In addition to the need for clarification of the systematics of Anatolian water frogs using genetic methods, genetic identification is required for certification during export.
Record source
Information about the record source: scientific_pub
Date of publication/issue/production: 2021-01-01T00:00:00+0000
Source Reference(s):
Date of record entry: 2022-12-06