Historic Update V

By the late 1960s, the Guatemalan government had taken three steps to protect the grebe:

• a part-time game warden was hired to enforce laws against killing animals in the national park;
• new laws were passed that prohibited cutting of reeds at the shore between May and August; and
• a wildlife refuge (the first in the nation) was established in a secluded five-acre bay.

With the black bass excluded by a stone barricade, the scientist and the game warden released two pairs of giant grebes, 6,000 young native fish, and non-native bluegills in this refuge.

The population of the grebe recovered from its all-time low and increased over the years:

1965:  80
1968:  116
1969:  122
1971:  157
1973:  210
1975:  232

The population of the giant grebe seemed assured.

Questions

1. Why was the reed harvest restricted by law?
2. Why were bluegills introduced into the refuge?

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