Trade of elephants, whales, tigers and sharks

Trade of elephants, whales, tigers and sharks to be voted on at CITES

(The Hague, Netherlands – 30 May 2007) – More than 2,500 government representatives from 171 countries will converge in The Hague, Netherlands from 3-15 June 2007 for the 14th meeting of parties to the United Nations-backed Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Key issues to be voted on include:

Will we see a return to commercial ivory trade?
Kenya and Mali have submitted a proposal for a 20-year moratorium on all trade in raw or worked ivory, except for non-commercial hunting trophies and (in the case of Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa) ivory exports pursuant to the one-off sale of up to 60 tonnes of ivory. The proposal is supported by 14 countries including Ghana and Togo. IFAW strongly supports this proposal.

Botswana and Namibia have submitted proposals to trade in ivory for commercial purposes, along with South Africa and Zimbabwe. They have also proposed to amend the listing of elephants so that elephants are not considered potentially threatened by trade.

Thousands of elephants are estimated to have been killed in the last few years to fuel a growing illegal ivory trade market, and experts fear this number will grow should any additional legal trade be allowed. Between August 2005 and 2006, more than 26 tonnes of illegal elephant ivory was seized alone, representing at least 2,500 elephants. Further, at least a hundred park rangers are killed in the line of duty each year, frequently at the hands of elephant poachers, the latest being the loss of a total seven rangers in East and Central Africa in one week of May 2007.

Will the whales be ‘downlisted’?
Japan continues to work towards a return to commercial whaling by proposing a review of all cetacean species managed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Japan’s proposal could lead to a down-listing of species protected by the IWC’s moratorium on commercial whaling which is inconsistent with a CITES agreement prohibiting international commercial trade in whale species that are protected by the IWC from commercial whaling.

Will sharks be better protected?
Germany, on behalf of the European Community, has proposed including the Porbeagle Shark and the Spiny Dogfish in Appendix II. Kenya, Nicaragua and the United States of America are proposing that the Sawfish is included in Appendix I.

Spiny dogfish, usually large, pregnant females, are sought primarily for their meat which is exported to satisfy European demand. Porbeagle meat is prized in Europe while fins are exported to Asia for shark fin soup.

Sawfishes are recognised as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). Australia is the only country in the world engaged in the live sawfish trade to supply the public which it claims is important to raise public awareness and their conservation. The Australian Government is seeking an annotation to this proposal to allow it to continue in the live trade of these animals to supply the aquarium industry. New Zealand is one of the major players in global production and trade of sharks along with Indonesia, Spain, the US, Japan, and the UK.

Will China’s appetite for tigers end?
All tigers and other Asian big cat species are included in Appendix I. Domestic trade of tiger parts for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine has also been banned by China, the main consumer, since 1993. However, poaching and illegal trade of Asian big cats have escalated in recent years, threatening the long-term survival of these species in the wild.

China’s few tiger farming owners will lobby to legalize their illicit and brutal commercial farming operations, and wildlife in general, as pro-trade nations reenergize a decades-long push to weaken CITES’ conservation mandate.

ENDS