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The World Conservation Union

Oceans fourteen: a round-up of marine-related activities at the 14th CITES Conference of Parties

18 June 2007

The porbeagle (Lamna nasus) was one of a number of marine species that failed to be awarded CITES Appendix II listing. Photo courtesy of NOAA  
The porbeagle (Lamna nasus) was one of a number of marine species that failed to be awarded CITES Appendix II listing. Photo courtesy of NOAA  

Despite the thirteenth Conference of Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) strongly reaffirming the contribution of the convention to the sustainable harvest of marine resources, at COP 14, the Parties seemed to back away from this approach to resource management.

Proposals relating to listing of marine species on the CITES Appendices, with the exception of sawfishes, were either withdrawn or voted down during the two week meeting in The Hague. Instead, Parties stressed the importance of management measures by range countries to ensure the survival of species.

The US withdrew its proposal to list the Bangai cardinal fish after Parties agreed to give Indonesia’s new management measures a chance to tackle the recent decline in the population of this fish species, which is mainly harvested for the aquarium trade. The rejection at the Plenary of the US proposal to list Corallium species, after some Mediterranean range countries spoke against the listing, also demonstrates the importance of prior consultation and involvement of range States.

Both EU proposals to list the porbeagle shark and the spiny dogfish on Appendix II were rejected by a vote. Parties who spoke against these proposals stressed the fact that no strong domestic measures to recover the Northern stocks had yet been taken by the EU, and that the internal trade within the EU community would escape CITES provisions anyway.

“The Parties have missed the opportunity to complement traditional fisheries management and ensure that future fisheries delivers steady, reliable and high value harvests, instead of following the historic boom and bust pattern that arises from unregulated fisheries and trade,” said Sarah Fowler, Chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group.

Parties did recognise the complementary role of CITES to other management measures by listing species such the European eel on the Convention’s Appendix II, and all sawfishes on the Appendix I, with the exception  of one species (Pristis microdon) that is listed on Appendix II with only live trade allowed.

Implementation was an important issue at this conference. Issuing Non-Detriment Findings for marine species is a challenging process, particularly when these species have been caught beyond the country’s national jurisdiction. At this COP, Parties tackled once again the issue of “introduction from the sea” and finally agreed on the limits of national jurisdiction that is consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Parties can now focus on the important matter of how CITES can regulate trade to improve the management of ocean fisheries and other high seas natural resources.  Such a role means that, in future, the Convention should work closely with a host of other organisations, in particular the regional fisheries management organisations.

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