Abstract
We reported on the current status and issues involved in the Specified Wildlife Conservation and Management Plans (SWCMP) for sika deer (Cervus nippon) during 2000-2006 in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. One of the goals of the plan, that of the number of captures per year (10,000-15,000 deer), has been attained, but the other goals, including halving the deer population size (from 31,000 to 15,000) and decreasing crop damage to the expected values, have not been achieved. However, population increases were restrained by the reinforced controlling effort of the prefecture based on monitoring. Substantial monitoring methods, such as density indices, crop damage levels in villages, forest damage levels and dissection analysis, have all been implemented. The next issue to be solved is making a system to form an agreement and to decide on measures based on the data that may be easily explainable to most citizens.
