Data from: Assessing the sustainability of African lion trophy hunting, with recommendations for policy

While trophy hunting provides revenue for conservation, it must be
carefully managed to avoid negative population impacts, particularly for
long-lived species with low natural mortality rates. Trophy hunting has
had negative effects on lion populations throughout Africa, and the
species serves as an important case study to consider the balance of costs
and benefits, and to consider the effectiveness of alternative strategies
to conserve exploited species. Age-restricted harvesting is widely
recommended to mitigate negative effects of lion hunting, but this
recommendation was based on a population model parameterized with data
from a well-protected and growing lion population. Here, we used
demographic data from lions subject to more typical conditions, including
source–sink dynamics between a protected National Park and adjacent
hunting areas in Zambia's Luangwa Valley, to develop a stochastic
population projection model and evaluate alternative harvest scenarios.
Hunting resulted in population declines over a 25-yr period for all
continuous harvest strategies, with large declines for quotas >1
lion/concession (~0.5 lion/1,000 km2) and hunting of males younger than
seven years. A strategy that combined periods of recovery, an age limit of
≥7 yr, and a maximum quota of ~0.5 lions shot/1,000 km2 yielded a risk of
extirpation <10%. Our analysis incorporated the effects of human
encroachment, poaching, and prey depletion on survival, but assumed that
these problems will not increase, which is unlikely. These results suggest
conservative management of lion trophy hunting with a combination of
regulations. To implement sustainable trophy hunting while maintaining
revenue for conservation of hunting areas, our results suggest that
hunting fees must increase as a consequence of diminished supply. These
findings are broadly applicable to hunted lion populations throughout
Africa and to inform global efforts to conserve exploited carnivore
populations.