traffic bulletin - volume 19, no.3. october 2003. (pdf, 3 ... · traffic’s new international...

The TRAFFIC Bulletin is a publication ofTRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network,which works to ensure that trade in wild plants andanimals is not a threat to the conservation ofnature. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of

The TRAFFIC Bulletin publishes information andoriginal papers on the subject of trade in wildanimals and plants, and strives to be a source ofaccurate and objective information.

The TRAFFIC Bulletin is available free of charge.Quotation of information appearing in the newssections is welcomed without permission, butcitation must be given. Reproduction of all othermaterial appearing in the TRAFFIC Bulletinrequires written permission from the publisher.

Editor and Compiler Kim LochenSubscriptions Susan Vivian

The designations of geographical entities in thispublication, and the presentation of the material, donot imply the expression of any opinion whatsoev-er on the part of TRAFFIC or its supportingorganizations concerning the legal status of anycountry, territory, or area, or of its authorities, orconcerning the delimitation of its frontiers orboundaries.

Any opinions expressed are those of the writersand do not necessarily reflect those of TRAFFIC,WWF or IUCN-The World Conservation Union.

Published by TRAFFIC International,219a Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, Cambs.CB3 0DL, UK.

© TRAFFIC International 2003ISSN 0267-4297UK Registered Charity No. 1076722

Cover illustration: Thamnocalamus robusta (K. Lochen/TRAFFIC)

This page, from top: Monkey Puzzle Tree Araucaria araucana(K. Lochen/TRAFFIC)Dried pipehorses Solegnathus (S.K. Lee/TRAFFIC)Snowdrop Galanthus leaves (K. Lochen/TRAFFIC)

Funding for the printing and distribution of thisissue of the TRAFFIC Bulletin is generouslyprovided by The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation.

Printed on recycled paper by The Burlington Press (Cambridge) Ltd, Station Road, Foxton, Cambridge,UK.

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VOL. 19 NO. 3

News 109-122

The 12th Meeting of the Conference 123-138of the Parties to CITES

TRAFFIC Network

Trade in Pipehorses Solegnathus spp. for 139-148Traditional Medicine in Hong KongK.M. Martin-Smith, T.F. Lam and S.K. Lee

Seizures and Prosecutions 149-152

Eco-labelling as a Conservation Tool 153-156for American Ginseng

C.S. Robbins

Stemming Russia’s Wild Flower Trade 157-159M. Kreindlin

Publications 160

November 2003

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ber States to allow the representative from the CITESSecretariat to observe a working group discussion on thedraft MoU. Evident in many of the interventions at theFAO Committee on Fisheries meeting and in other fish-eries fora is an inconsistency in approach existing with-in some countries whereby a different policy position isadvocated in different fora. At best this may reflect poorcommunication within governments and at worst delib-erate attempts to obfuscate the process and retardprogress.

Of interest in this debate is that over the past decadethere has been a growing move by Regional FisheriesOrganizations (RFOs) to use trade-related measures as acomplement to those measures designed to controlfishing activities taking place at sea. There has also beena growing body of international policy in support of such

measures, most significantly the FAO’sInternational Plan of Action to Prevent,Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreportedand Unregulated Fishing, which wasadopted by the Committee on Fisheries in

2001. Technical consultations are also well advanced toconsider how to strengthen the role of port and marketStates in conserving and managing fisheries resources(particularly those of the high seas). It would be disap-pointing if the outcomes of these consultations failed tochime with the capacity that already exists within CITESto regulate the trade in wildlife products, where appro-priate, as a complement and support to other fisheriesinstruments.

Regardless of the management regime in place, andany role that CITES may play in that process, where afishery’s products are globally traded there will often bea need for some degree of international co-operation toensure its long-term sustainability. The need for suchco-operation was highlighted by the three-week pursuitin August 2003 by an Australian patrol vessel of afishing vessel suspected of illegally fishing for Patagon-ian Toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides in Australianwaters. Offers of assistance from other countries rangedfrom the deployment of vessels to assist in the appre-hension, to the closure of markets to suspected illegaltoothfish products. In the absence of such effective co-operation, sustainable management of the trade in fish-eries products is unlikely to be successful.

Over the coming months, and with support from TheDavid and Lucile Packard Foundation, TRAFFICintends to publish the results of its analysis of the ratio-nale for the introduction of trade-related measures byRFOs and the effectiveness of these measures in com-bating illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties toCITES in October 2004 will be the next major test of theConvention’s engagement with fisheries issues.

Anna Willock, Senior Fisheries Advisor,TRAFFIC Oceania

After timber, fisheries is the most valuable com-modity sector in wildlife trade, globally worthan estimated USD55.2 billion in 2000 according

to the United Nation’s Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO). Reflecting the importance of fish-eries in global trade and the growing pressure on theseresources, the 12th meeting of the Conference of theParties to CITES, held in Chile in November 2002,considered a range of issues relating to marine fisheries,including five Appendix II listing proposals and anumber of resolutions. The decisions arising from thesedeliberations will require a range of actions to be takenover the next couple of years. These will includeaddressing implementation issues concerning the listingof Whale Shark Rhincodon typus, Basking SharkCetorhinus maximus and seahorses Hippocampus spp.,

finalizing the Memorandum of Understanding betweenCITES and FAO, and moving forward with the consid-eration of marine species in the review of the criteria toamend the CITES Appendices. Importantly, thesespecific actions will also play a part in developing thecomplementary role CITES will play in strengtheningthe application of trade-related measures in fisheriesagreements and in particular those dealing with large-scale commercial marine fisheries.

It was encouraging that during the 12th meeting ofthe Conference of the Parties discussion and debate onthe individual fish listing proposals moved beyond theprinciple routinely advocated by some Parties thatCITES is an inappropriate tool to apply to marine fish-eries. Instead, the majority of the debate centred onwhether a species met the listing criteria and thepotential conservation benefits from a listing. Thenumber of listings, Resolutions and Decisions adoptedby the Parties should signal the beginning of a newphase in the consideration of marine fisheries issuesunder CITES - from questions of whether CITES shouldbe engaged to questions of how it should best engage.

However despite the progress made at this meeting,there has since been a backlash against CITES withinsome fisheries circles, most significantly at the biennialmeeting of the FAO’s Committee on Fisheries inFebruary 2003. In discussion of the content of the pro-posed Memorandum of Understanding between CITESand FAO, tension arose between those members pro-moting wording to limit the scope of any CITESengagement in marine fisheries and those wishing toexplore wording that would promote the development ofa complementary relationship. There was perhaps noclearer demonstration of the bridges that remain to bebuilt between CITES and fisheries managementagencies than the lack of agreement among FAO mem-

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S TA F F a n d O F F I C E S

ROB PARRY-JONES, formerly Senior Programme Officerat the TRAFFIC East Asia Regional Office in Hong Kong,was appointed the Co-ordinator of a TRAFFIC OceaniaCITES Capacity Building project based in Suva, Fiji, inJanuary 2003.

SUON PHALLA, Programme Officer in Cambodia forTRAFFIC Southeast Asia-Indochina returned in October2003 to work full-time as a government officer after aperiod of more than two years with TRAFFIC, on sec-ondment from the Wildlife Protection Office. Throughhis work with TRAFFIC on building a framework forCITES implementation in Cambodia, Phalla’s expertise inthe workings of the Convention has grown, to theextent that he has been appointed as assistant to theChairman of Cambodia’s CITES Management Authority.

Please note a small change to the address of TRAFFICInternational following its move to new premises inJanuary 2003 (see back page).

t r a f f i c w e b s i t e s

http://www.traffic.orghttp://www.trafficj.orghttp://www.deol.ru/nature/protecthttp://www.wow.org.twhttp://www.trafficindo.org

This issue of the TRAFFIC Bulletin is available onhttp://www.traffic.org

bul le t in board

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Libya, Syria, Albania and Lesotho Join CITES

The Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the Syri-an Arab Republic, and Albania have acceded to CITES,effective, respectively, on 28 April, 29 July and 25September 2003. Lesotho, the only remaining State thathad signed the Convention but had not ratified, depositedits instrument of ratification on 1 October. This will enterinto force on 30 December 2003 and brings to 164 thetotal number of Parties to CITES.

CITES Listing for Sea Cucumber

The Government of Ecuador has requested the CITESSecretariat to include in Appendix III Isostichopus fuscus(=Stichopus fuscus) of the family Stichopodidae. Thelisting will take effect on 16 October 2003.

Queen Conch Import Ban Urged

On 29 September 2003, the Dominican Republic andHonduras, range States of the marine gastropod QueenConch Strombus gigas (CITES Appendix II), agreed tosuspend the issuance of export permits for all specimensof this species. This decision is in response to recom-mendations by the CITES Animals Committee at its 19thmeeting in August 2003, which urged restrictions oninternational trade in populations of this species that havebeen identified in the recent Review of Significant Tradeas being of “urgent concern”. The two countries havecommitted to implement specific short-term actionsrecommended by the Animals Committee. In support ofthese efforts by the Dominican Republic and Honduras,the Secretariat has urged all Parties not to authorize anyimports of specimens of Queen Conch from thesecountries until further notice. Further, the CITES Stand-ing Committee recommends that all Parties suspendQueen Conch imports from Haiti, also a range State ofQueen Conch whose populations are of “urgent concern”.Haiti has not yet shown the same commitment to imple-menting the same recommended short-term actions with-in the agreed time-frame.

In light of these recommendations, the USA, theworld’s biggest market for Queen Conch, has announcedthat it will prohibit the importation of Queen Conchmeat, shell and products from the Dominican Republic,Honduras and Haiti. It will continue to import specimensfrom other countries where legal trade is allowed.

CITES Secretariat: http://www.cites.org;CITES Notifications to the Parties No. 2003/053, 15 August 2003, No. 057, 29 September 2003; http://news.fws.gov.newsreleases; www.traffic.org/news/dom_honduras

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wildlife enforcementNEW INTELLIGENCE UNIT IN THE USA

The US Fish and Wildlife ServiceOffice of Law Enforcement, whichis responsible for enforcing CITESand national laws that protectwildlife in the USA, is improving itsintelligence gathering and analysiscapabilities. Service Law Enforce-ment has created and staffed anIntelligence Unit within its Branch ofSpecial Operations - a group that

previously focused primarily on conducting long-term covert investi-gations of wildlife trafficking.

“Our experience in trying to penetrate wildlife crime networksspotlighted the need for better intelligence” said Special Agent inCharge Sal Amato, who oversees the Branch’s investigative activitiesas well as its new intelligence unit. “Timely, relevant information canmake a difference in how well we respond to the increasing sophisti-cation and organization of wildlife crime.”

The Intelligence Unit, which was originally staffed by a singleanalyst, now consists of four full-time specialists dedicated exclu-sively to intelligence work. “We’ve put together a team that offers in-depth understanding of wildlife trade enforcement and US CITESimplementation as well as knowledge of wildlife markets, global traderoutes, and international smuggling and money laundering tech-niques”, Amato said.

The unit will focus on collecting and analysing intelligence on allaspects of wildlife trafficking to support Service investigations,import/export inspection operations, and smuggling interdictionefforts. The group will also co-ordinate intelligence-sharing with otherlaw enforcement agencies and maintain liaison with US andinternational conservation groups, including the TRAFFIC network.

“Communication and co-operation across borders will beessential to our ability to obtain intelligence and use that informationeffectively to combat wildlife crime”, Amato said. Service analystshave already established contacts with wildlife enforcement or intelli-gence units in the UK, Canada, India, Australia, and New Zealand,and hope to expand and work closely with this network.

Sal Amato can be contacted at the US Fish and Wildlife Service,Office of Law Enforcement, Branch of Special Operations,4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS-LE-3000, Arlington, Virginia 22203, USA.Tel: 1 703 358 2191; Fax: 1 703 358 2268; E-mail: [email protected].

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement

The Site for Responsible EU Wildlife Traders

With a population of over 350 million people and a greatvariety of cultures, the European Union is one of thelargest and most diverse wildlife markets in the world. Inaddition to the hundreds of thousands of plants and liveanimals that are imported by EU Member States each year(a total of approximately 225 000 live reptiles and 280 000live parrots in 1999 alone), large trade volumes occur eachyear between countries within the Union.

Such trade is subject to an increasing number of regu-lations - from those applying to animal health and welfare,to the conservation of species in the wild. In this contextthe European Commission contracted TRAFFIC Europe toprepare and administer a website that will improve traders’awareness and understanding of their legal obligations andprovide assistance in finding materials that outline provi-sions concerning wildlife trade controls in a user-friendlyway. The website www.eu-wildlifetrade.org was launchedin June 2003.

All EU Member States are party to CITES which,since 1984, is implemented in the EU through CouncilRegulation (EEC) 3626/82. Regulation (EC) 338/97 onthe Protection of Species of Wild Fauna and Flora by Reg-ulating Trade Therein was adopted by the Council on 9December 1996 and applicable as of 1 June 1997, togetherwith Commission Regulation (EC) No 939/97 which wasamended by Commission Regulation (EC) 1808/2001,adopted in September 2001. The latter contains detailedimplementation provisions, particularly on the use ofpermits and certificates, and the labelling of specimens.The text of the Convention, together with all currentlyapplicable Resolutions and Decisions of the Conference ofthe Parties on the interpretation and implementation of itsprovisions, is fully implemented through these two Regu-lations.

To achieve effective implementation of the EUwildlife trade regulations, it is important that consumers -and in particular those in the commercial sector - are awareof existing legal provisions set out in Annexes A, B, C andD of Regulation (EC) 338/97 and that they understand therequirements to comply with these provisions. Access toinformation is vital in order to ensure that the target audi-ence effectively applies the provisions of wildlife traderegulations and, ultimately, engages in reaching their legaland conservation objectives. The latter can be achievedmainly by increasing stakeholders’ understanding of theregulatory measures related to their commercial activity,as well as awareness of the role they play in the wildlifetrade forum and of the possible long-term benefits to beobtained in improving monitoring and control of thesemarkets.

According to a recent TRAFFIC Europe survey,traders in several EU Member States experience problemsin obtaining clear and updated information. This leads, forexample, to scenarios where shipments are seized becausetraders had not been aware that importation of the speciesinvolved was temporarily suspended under EU law. Inaddition, traders and travellers often have difficulties inunderstanding the various EU, national and CITES legalrequirements.

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Harvesting caviar from live sturgeon

A NEW INITIATIVE TO PROMOTE the harvest of caviarwithout killing sturgeons could bring some hope of alleviat-ing pressure on sturgeon populations in the Caspian Sea.

A leading importer in the caviar industry, Marky’s Caviar,International Food Emporium (Optimus, Inc.), reports that ithas reached agreement with Raskat, a Russian caviarproducer, to purchase beluga, osietra and sevruga caviar pro-duced without killing adult female sturgeons.

The agreement of 4 March 2003 aims to ensure that 100%of caviar from Beluga Huso huso purchased by Marky’s willbe produced this year without killing the fish; 90% of osietracaviar (from Russian Sturgeon Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) andsevruga caviar (from Stellate Sturgeon Acipenser stellatus) isplanned to be harvested in this manner in 2004 and 2005,respectively. After surgical removal of the fish roe from thefemale sturgeon, the fish will be stitched up, tagged, andreturned to the sea; post-surgical adaptation and migrationpatterns will then be studied. The agreement also aims toensure that there is a compensatory release of sturgeon fryinto the Caspian Sea in order to replenish sturgeon stocks.

Previous research known to TRAFFIC into the recoveryof sturgeon fertility after caviar extraction proved unsuccess-ful because of the apparent slow regrowth of the femaleovary. Nevertheless, initiatives of this kind between com-mercial partners provide a good opportunity for furtherscientific research to be conducted into sturgeon biology.

In addition Marky’s Caviar states that it will require DNAbatch tests for each species of sturgeon from which caviar isderived, which will be verified by the CITES ScientificAuthority of the Russian Federation. This DNA analysis ofthe roe of beluga, osietra and sevruga caviar enables thecompany to ensure the origin and quality of its product to cus-tomers. The agreement also obliges Raskat to providespecific documentation tracing the entire caviar productionprocess.

Marky’s Caviar has stated that it will insist on all futureagreements with caviar and live fish suppliers on compliancewith these requirements. Together with partner companySturgeon AquaFarms, LLC, it is also starting an aquacultureoperation in Florida, USA, that will farm various sturgeonspecies for commercial production of sturgeon meat andcaviar for domestic consumption.

Marky’s Caviar will also need to adhere to the CITES uni-versal labelling system for the trade in and identification ofcaviar that will enter into effect in January 2004 (see page127). It is hoped that the company will assist its caviar trad-ing partners to implement such a system.

Press release, Optimus Inc., 4 March 2003; www.markys.com;www.gourmetnews.com; WWF-US; The Miami Herald (USA), 12 March 2003; TRAFFIC Europe

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Catch and export quotas for 2003 forspecimens of Acipenseriformes speciesfrom the Caspian Sea have been approved

by the CITES Secretariat. The export quotas forcaviar total 146 210 kg, compared with 140 237 kgin 2002 and 153 620 kg in 2001. The approvedquotas for sturgeon catch and caviar exports arebased on information submitted by governments ofthe Caspian littoral States and on the Secretariat’smissions to the region to verify survey results.

The majority of the world’s caviar comes fromfour species of sturgeon: the Beluga Huso huso,Russian Sturgeon Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, Stel-late Sturgeon Acipenser stellatus and PersianSturgeon Acipenser persicus, all of which inhabitthe Caspian Sea Basin.

Caviar is the unfertilized eggs, or roe, of thefemale sturgeon, which can produce up to 15% ofits body weight in eggs. The fish is killed and theovaries removed; the roe is mixed with salt andcanned for export, or sold locally.

The key caviar-producing countries are Rus-sia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Iran. Once care-fully regulated, the industry suffered from overfish-

ing following the collapse of the Soviet Union.Sturgeon stocks were reduced - in the case of theBeluga Huso huso by as much as 90% - andinternational trade restrictions were imposed. Thesupervision by CITES of Caspian sturgeon trade iscarried out under the mandate of the Review ofSignificant Trade (see TRAFFIC Bulletin 19(2):66).

North American sturgeons and paddlefish con-stitute the largest alternative fisheries to the Caspi-an Sea for caviar production. However the harvestof sturgeon and paddlefish eggs for caviar couldhave a significant impact on several NorthAmerican species including those alreadyconsidered endangered or threatened (see over-leaf).

CITES Secretariat press release, 5 September 2003; TRAFFIC Bulletin 19(1):35.TRAFFIC press release, 22 May 2003

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North American caviar-bearing fish at risk

Populations of paddlefish and sturgeon (Acipenseriformes)make up the largest alternative fishery to the Caspian Sea forcaviar production.

Nine sturgeon species (including one subspecies) and oneof the world’s two species of paddlefish are distributed in NorthAmerica, primarily the USA. Unsustainable fishing in the past

has contributed significantly to the decline and in some casesnear-extinction of some species and several have not recoveredto a point where they can withstand commercial, or even recre-ational fishing pressure. However, an increase in the legal andillegal exploitation of several acipenseriform species coincidedwith a dramatic decline of sturgeons in the Caspian Sea, andcould have a significant impact on several North Americanspecies. As of 1998, trade in all of the world’s paddlefish andsturgeon species was regulated by CITES.

A report recently published by TRAFFIC North AmericaCaviar and Conservation: Status, Management and Trade ofNorth American Sturgeon and Paddlefish examines thecurrent status of North American paddlefish and sturgeonspecies, the historic, current (and illegal) catch levels and tradeand the challenges and/or threats to their conservation. Itinvestigates the developments in private commercial aquacul-ture and other captive propagation programmes and how suchventures might provide a conservation benefit to wildpopulations or, conversely, present new problems or challengesto fisheries and trade management authorities.

Copies of the report, by Douglas F. Williamson, can be obtained from TRAFFICNorth America (address back page) or accessed online at www.traffic.org.

Wildlife agents in the USA have penetratedsturgeon poaching operations nationwide andmade the following seizures and prosecutions:

• On 22 May 2003, 12 people were arrested fortheir alleged involvement in a West Coast poach-ing ring. All were accused of catching, selling orpossessing White Sturgeon Acipenser transmon-tanus - the largest freshwater fish in NorthAmerica, which is protected. The fish had beentaken from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Riverand the roe sold as caviar.

• On 9 May 2003, eight people were arrested aspart of a crackdown in California, Oregon andWashington on the illegal fishing of sturgeonfrom the Sacramento River. The ringleaders arealleged to have recruited as many as 20 fisher-men to catch White Sturgeon A. transmontanus,the caviar of which was marketed primarily tomembers of the Russian-American community inthese States.

• On 2 May 2003, Arkady Panchernikov, aRussian immigrant described as the biggestcaviar dealer in the USA, received a federal gaolsentence in New York of 21 months and wasfined USD400 000. He pleaded guilty to illegal-ly trafficking in American and Russian caviar,mislabelling American caviar as the more expen-sive Russian roe, and other violations.

• In April 2003, five Eastern Europeans werearrested in New York and Los Angeles on chargesof illegally trading in caviar allegedly derivedfrom North American paddlefish and sturgeonunlawfully taken from lakes and rivers in Ten-nessee and Kentucky. Much of the caviar wasfraudulently sold as Russian product.

• In 2002, the operators of Royaloff Caviar inTennessee were convicted of illegally catchingand selling some 4000 kg of paddlefish caviar.There were similar convictions in New York,Oklahoma and Maryland in 2001 and 2000,including one that incurred a record USD10.4million fine for Maryland-based US Caviar &Caviar Ltd for misdemeanours which includedthe mislabelling of North American roe asRussian caviar.

Source: TRAFFIC


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The information available on the website is divided intosections, amongst which are:

• a guide to international legislation relating to wildlife tradeand the keeping of live specimens, as well as to national lawsadopted by the 15 EU Member States to implement andenforce CITES and other wildlife trade regulations. It alsocovers legislation governing related issues such as speciesconservation, the protection and welfare of animals and plants,the hunting of birds, controls for zoos and botanical gardens,and Customs rules.

• an overview of the documents or permits required to tradelegally in specimens of species that are listed in the fourannexes of the Regulations; an explanation is given of the pro-cedures that must be followed and conditions to be met beforethe relevant documents will be issued. External and internalEU trade as well as specific provisions for trade in captiveborn and bred animals and artificially propagated plants arecovered.

• a section devoted to addressing traders’ obligations withregard to animal and plant welfare and their responsibility ineducating buyers of exotic species. Also highlighted are therisks involved in trading in wildlife, from the escape of exoticspecies, possible invasion of natural habitats and competitionwith native species in importing countries, to the threats posedto human health and safety caused by transmissible diseases.

• an explanation of the marking requirements for certain liveanimals and parts/products of wildlife covering commonlyused techniques, such as the tagging of crocodile skins,labelling and container requirements for caviar, and markingsfor tortoises.

• additional documents which explain legal obligations thatapply to personal and non-commercial use of wildlife whentravelling, e.g. hunting trophies. The website also contains aguide that provides information on the type of souvenir thatrequires a permit and the items that are banned from trade.

Links are given to over 600 addresses offering informationon, for example, international agreements, CITES checklists,identification guides, conservation organizations, hobbyistassociations and commercial federations involved in the exoticpet trade, as well as zoological and botanical gardens, andthose relating to ornamental and medicinal plants. Advice onthe keeping of commonly kept species and the requirementsapplying to the transport and exhibition of live animals andplants can also be sought and visitors given the opportunity tointeract with website administrators by making suggestions orspecific queries.

The site will undoubtedly improve understanding of regu-lations and help to ensure that wildlife trade involving the EUis in accordance with international law and not a threat to thelong-term survival of species in the wild.

Laurie Kint, Communication & Administration OfficerTRAFFIC Europe

An initiative led by the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP) has been launched to help tacklethe growth of environmental crime. The project aims toco-ordinate and harmonize collaboration around theworld on training and information exchange relating toillegal trade in toxic chemicals, hazardous waste andthreatened wildlife. The illegal trade in wildlife hasbecome one of the most profitable and fastest growingareas of international crime and a principal focus of theproject will be to train border guards to identify anddetain people illegally trafficking in such commodities.A website (http://www.unepie.org/pzonaction/customs)where interested organizations and Customs officersthemselves can get information, is a key feature of theproject. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of UNEP, said

of the initiative, “The smuggling of ivory, tiger bones andrare orchids is a direct threat to species’ survival. Theillegal traffic of toxic waste negatively impacts on theenvironment and health of thousands in the developingworld. At the same time criminal groups smuggle environmentally harmful products like ozone-depletingchlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) whose legal trade is subjectto stringent international restrictions. Building the capacity of Customs officials, who are on the front line ofevery country’s efforts to combat this illegal trade, isvital”.

UNEP press release, 2 June 2003

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GREEN CUSTOMS INITIATIVE

a co-ordinated international response

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ALERCE ALERT

Aloophole in legislation protecting one of the world’soldest and rarest trees is being exploited, resulting inextensive devastation to the species’ population in

Chile. The felling of Alerce Fitzroya cupressoides, a slow-growing and endangered conifer species, has been prohibitedin Chile since 1976; the ban does not, however, cover the col-lection of and trade in the dead wood. The consequence of thishas been the loss of thousands of hectares of Alerce to firesdeliberately set to give loggers easier access to the trees;another technique used to kill Alerce is the removal of the sap-wood which causes specimens to die within a few years.

Endemic to wet temperate forests of Chile and Argentina,only 263 000 hectares of Alerce remain in Chile. Hundreds ofpeople are alleged to have settled illegally in the Sarao moun-tain range, Los Lagos, over the past 20 years in order to exploitAlerce populations in the area, although many claim that theyacquired their land legally. Large networks of paths, campsand heavy machinery visible from the air show the progressthat has been made over the years in felling the few remainingAlerce trees. Clandestine logging companies operating alongthe coastal range are reported to have cut more than 2500Alerce so far this year (WWF, 2003).

During 1998-2000, 17 infractions of Chile’s legislationwhich related to the illegal cutting and transport of Alercewere recorded by the government agency CONAF (NationalForestry Corporation) (Oldfield, 2003) and 30 complaints ofillegal felling and trade by alleged illegal occupants werebrought to court in 2002 alone.

A lawsuit has now been filed against the director of CONAFfor failing to comply sufficiently with its regulatory role. Theowner of 49 000 hectares of wild forest in the Sarao mountainrange claims that Alerce is being harvested by well-organizedillegal associations. He accuses CONAF of denying him accessto public information on inspections that CONAF should haveperformed on his property, and suspects irregularities. Mean-while, an investigation by the president of the Chamber ofNatural Resources Commission, congressman Fidel Espinoza,has reportedly confirmed suspicions that extraction permitsissued by CONAF have been used as a front to extract Alercethat is still living. CONAF has responded by saying that theseallegations will need to be technically verified.

According to the findings of the Chilean non-governmen-tal organization Defenders of the Chilean Forest (Defensoresdel Bosque Chileno), indiscriminate logging of Alerce is beingcarried out in eight areas in Los Lagos. In the light of theirobservations, and the fact that Alerce is available to buyersover the internet, the NGO has launched a campaign “SaveAlerce” which calls for a complete ban on all commercialtrade in the species until current legislation is tightened.

www.diario.el Mercurio (Chile), 9/13/18 June 2003; El Lanquihue:www.ellanquihue.cl, 26/29 January 2003; The Trade in Wildlife:Regulation for Conservation. S. Oldfield (ed.) (2003). Fauna & FloraInternational, Resource Africa and TRAFFIC International. WWF(2003). Stop Massive Logging of Old Growth Forest in Chile:http://takeaction.worldwildlife.org. Anon. (1983). Proposal to transferthe Chilean coastal population of Fitzroya cupressoides fromAppendix I to Appendix II submitted by the Government of Chile.

ALERCE was declared a Natural Monument in Chile in 1976 receiving protection under Decree No. 490 that banned the harvesting of living trees; exploitation of wood that had been deadprior to 1976 was subject to a management plan established underCONAF. The species has been included in CITES Appendix Isince the Convention came into force in 1975, thereby placing aban on all commercial international trade. In 1983, the coastalpopulation was transferred to Appendix II to allow for the exporta-tion of wood from trees that had been killed by fire in the coastalzone some 30 years earlier (prior to the date the listing came intoforce) and a national ban on the felling of live specimens wasdecreed (Anon., 1983). The Parties decided to return the popula-tion to Appendix I in 1987 in order to facilitate enforcement of tradecontrols. Chile entered a reservation against this listing, however,and continued to trade internationally in pre-Convention stocks.According to a TRAFFIC analysis of CITES timber trade from 1992to 2001, the USA is one of the main importing countries (TRAFFICEurope in litt. to TRAFFIC South America, 6 August 2003; CentroAustral de Derecho Ambiental (CEADA) in litt. to X. Buitrón, April2003). The main importing countries in 2000 were Taiwan andTahiti which are not party to CITES (Oldfield, 2003).

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Alerce Fitzroya cupressoides, Chile.

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B A M B O O A N D R A T T A N

BAMBOO is a multi-purposeproduct with uses ranging frombuilding materials, pulp, cloth,charcoal, oil and gas to medicine,perfume and beer. The stems of RATTAN are nearly as versatile, andare particularly popular in the manu-facture of high-value furniture. Bothbamboo and rattan are estimated tocontribute between USD5-7 billionto world trade, similar in value tothe banana trade at USD5 billionand cotton at USD6 billion.

There are about 600 rattan speciesgrouped under 13 genera, most ofthem indigenous to South-east Asia.Only about 20 species are used forcommercial purposes, with theremainder used by local people fortheir own use. The status of rattanin most tropical countries is littleknown, although some species areconsidered to be endangered andrare (Sunderland and Dransfield,2002). Many species in India areseverely threatened by habitatdestruction, overexploitation andillegal cutting owing to increaseddemand, and yet rattan is one of theleast protected groups of plants inthat country. In Indonesia, almost90% of the supply comes fromnatural forest and the remainderfrom plantations. Out of a total of20 species in Africa, two are classi-fied as endangered and three arevulnerable, while the remainingspecies are not threatened (Sunder-land, 2002).

Bamboo ranges from temperate tosub-tropical to tropical zonesalthough the majority occurs in thetropics. There are an estimated1250 species in 75 genera; many areused commercially. Some bamboosare becoming threatened owing torapid deforestation (Banik, 1995).

Over 98% of world trade is recorded under an official system of codes known as theHarmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), which forms thebasis for Customs tariffs and trade statistics in 186 countries and economies. This

system is thought to offer the most comprehensive international tool for collecting statis-tics, allowing for the application of, for example, information on the origin of the goods,type of product, Customs and freight tariffs, trade policy regulations and internal taxes. Allthese categories are set out as codes which adhere to well-defined rules of classification thatare universally applied. The system is also used for the monitoring of dangerous goods andapplication of agreements such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), tariff concessions,United Nations Commodity Classification System and trade policy regulations.

A meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) andthe International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), held in Rome in December2002, recognized an urgent need to introduce more codes in the HS for bamboo and rat-tan commodities. The Expert Consultation on Developing an Action Programme TowardsImproving Bamboo and Rattan Trade Statistics, attended by 15 participants representingvarious countries and organizations, including TRAFFIC, was designed to present theintricacies of international trade in bamboo and rattan and the shortcomings of HS records.Improving statistics will help deter illegal logging and deforestation, but also attractinvestments and business, inform forest policies, monitor and manage market prices, taxand Custom duties. Such improvements will also raise awareness amongst the publicabout the need for better management of bamboo and rattan resources and provide moreeffective conservation measures for those species that are threatened.

The meeting addressed some relevant issues for consideration before recommendinga change to the HS code, the most important being the lengthy time frame of between fiveand seven years before such changes can be adopted by countries. Although a country canunilaterally refine their national code, this does not allow for a comparative analysis of sta-tistics between countries. Moreover, the system cannot track the movement of productsbeing re-exported if a re-classification has occurred. The HS code is also generally limit-ed to commodity trade valued above USD50 million per year, except for those species forwhich trade is prohibited or restricted.

To gain a better understanding of this resource base, information provided by surveys,assessment and conservation of the species is essential so that these commodities continueto contribute towards the needs and development of human welfare, livelihoods and theeconomy. The meeting concluded with a set of proposals to the World CustomsOrganization (WCO) - the body responsible for developing the HS codes - to introducemore codes for bamboo and rattan in the HS as well as a plan of action for their imple-mentation. Improved statistics of the international trade will provide useful data that canguide the development and conservation of these resources.

Chen Hin Keong, Senior Forest Trade Advisor, TRAFFIC International

References

Banik, R.L. (1995). Diversities, reproductive biology and strategies for germplasm conservation for bamboos.In: Rao, V.R. and Rao A.N. Bamboo and rattan genetic resources and use. Proceedings of the First INBARBiodiversity, Genetic Resources and Conservation Working Group, 7-9 November 1994, Singapore.

Sunderland, T.C.H. (2002). Status of rattan resources and use in West and Central Africa. In: Dransfield, J., Flo-rentino, O.T. and Manokaran, N. (eds). Rattan: Current research issues and prospects for conservation andsustainable development. Non-wood Forest Products Vol. 14. FAO, Rome.

Sunderland, T.C.H. and Dransfield, J. (2002). Species Profiles Rattans (Palmae: Salamoideae). In: Dransfield,J., Florentino, O.T. and Manokaran, N. (eds). Rattan: Current research issues and prospects forconservation and sustainable development. Non-wood Forest Products. Vol. 14. FAO, Rome.

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Trade in Live Dolphins from theSolomon Islands to Mexico

On 22 July 2003, Mexico received a shipment of 28 livewild Bottlenose Dolphins Tursiops truncatus from theSolomon Islands. The animals were destined for a

recreational aquatic park in Cancun. Events surrounding this transaction highlight some impor-

tant issues regarding CITES control of trade in live cetaceansand the Convention’s application for trade from non-PartyStates. According to a statement by the CITES Secretariat, theCITES Management Authority of Mexico contacted theSecretariat on 15 May requesting their advice in relation to twoexport permits that had been issued by the Ministry of Forests,Environment and Conservation in the Solomon Islands. Theseauthorized the export of 120 Bottlenose Dolphins. The speciesis listed in Appendix II of the Convention, which means that itcan be traded internationally if the provisions of Article IV ofCITES are complied with, notably if the export is found to benon-detrimental to the survival of the species by a designatedscientific authority.

The Solomon Islands is not a Party to the Convention.However, its government has previously advised the CITESSecretariat that its Ministry of Forests, Environment andConservation is competent to issue documents comparable tothose required by CITES. It has also designated a scientificinstitution capable of advising that an export is not detrimentalto the survival of the species.

The Secretariat reported that its reply to the CITESManagement Authority of Mexico noted that it had noinformation regarding the harvesting of dolphins in the SolomonIslands or how its government managed trade in the species. Italso pointed out that there have been several cases of mortalityin the shipment of dolphins in recent years and that trade in thespecies has attracted considerable criticism from internationalconservation and animal welfare organizations. The Secretariatnoted that a considerable number of specimens were intended fortrade and wished to be informed about the purpose of the trade.

The Secretariat, in view of the above, had recommendedthat Mexico:

1. seek confirmation from the Solomon Islands that thedocuments were authentic and valid;

2. seek information regarding the non-detriment finding made by the authorities in the SolomonIslands and a finding that the animals would belegally obtained;

3. seek confirmation that the transport would be conducted in a manner that would comply witheither the IATA Regulations or the CITES guidelineson transport of live specimens; and

4. because of the history of high mortality, confirm thatthe intended recipient(s) was (were) suitablyequipped to house and care for such a large numberof specimens (even though this would not normallybe required for an Appendix-II species).

The Secretariat was of the opinion that until Mexicoreceived further information from the Solomon Islandsaddressing the points raised by the Secretariat, the importsshould not be allowed.

On 21 August, at the 19th meeting of the CITES AnimalsCommittee, Mexico confirmed that it had received a shipment

of Bottlenose Dolphins from the Solomon Islands which itstated was accompanied by valid export permits. It requestedgreater clarity on trade with non-Party States and suggestedthat regional co-operation might be an alternative forproviding assistance to non-Party States. The Secretariat stat-ed that sufficient information on the issue of non-Parties andnon-detriment findings is already provided in Resolution 9.5,while the regional representative for Oceania stressed the needto deal with countries that did not have the financial resourcesto undertake non-detriment findings. The Chair suggested thatMexico table the issue at the 20th meeting of the CITESAnimals Committee.

The Secretariat has encouraged the Solomon Islands onseveral occasions to accede to the Convention, which wouldfacilitate more effective regulation of trade in wildlife from thecountry.

Extracts from CITES Secretariat Statement: www.cites.org,30 July 2003; TRAFFIC International

Abalone Fishing Ban in South Africa

The Government of South Africa has developed a draft policywhich would see a moratorium placed on the recreationalfishing of abalone, or perlemoen Haliotis midae, along theWestern Cape coast. The draft policy, published on 18 August2003, is aimed at preventing the collapse of abalone stockswhich have plummeted as a result of overharvesting. It will bemanaged by various groups in seven zones along the coastlineand lays down strict conditions, including a restriction on thenumber of days when abalone can be harvested; applicantswill have to show that they have a history of diving legally forabalone and depend on abalone for at least 75% of their annualincome. Each abalone diver will be allocated 10-year fishingrights. Commercial companies will have to secure their sup-ply from divers.

No date has yet been given regarding commencement ofimplementation of the policy.

Haliotis midae is found in the shallow coastal waters ofSouth Africa. Over 95% of specimens harvested are destinedfor international markets, in particular China, where it isprized by gourmets. In a recent media release, TRAFFIC rec-ognized the importance of this resource to the coastal commu-nities and expressed concerns that even if the legal fisherywere to be closed completely, it would not prevent illegal har-vesting for foreign markets from taking place. WhileTRAFFIC supports all attempts to address illegal abalone har-vesting, it believes that regulation of this mollusc speciesunder CITES Appendix III, which would enlist the assistanceof consumer states in monitoring and regulating the trade,would help both to stem the lucrative illegal trade and ensuresustainability of the resource. A recent statement by the gov-ernment reported in the South African press indicates that thegovernment is taking steps to list Haliotis midae in AppendixIII (Anon., 2003).

Cape Times, 19 August 2003; www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=269&fArticleId=210227; SABC News, August18, 2003; www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/general/0,2172,64170,00.html; www.traffic.org; Anon. (2003). Weekend Argus(South Africa), 19 September 2003


THE TRADE IN EXOTIC PETS continues to grow. TheEuropean Union, after the USA, is one of the largest marketsfor this trade, especially in live reptiles. A study by TRAFFICEurope of the trade in live reptiles into and within the EUbetween 1990 and 1999 has established that many of theseanimals are taken from the wild: for example, about 135 000live CITES-listed reptiles were legally imported into the EUevery year during this period, 40% of which were sourcedfrom the wild. During the last decade, EU imports in livereptiles increased by over 300% - from 60 000 in 1990 to225 000 in 1999. South America and Africa were the mainsuppliers, and Spain and Germany the major EU importingcountries, accounting for a total of about 290 000 and280 000 live specimens, respectively, representing 20% of thesum of imports of live CITES-listed reptiles over 10 years.Netherlands, France, UK and Belgium each accounted forbetween 10% and 12% of imports. However, the EU studysuggests that, taking into account non-CITES reptile species,the total of 1 339 000 live reptiles recorded in CITES tradedata as EU imports from 1990 to 1999 represented only30% of all live reptile trade to the EU. This study, which willbe published later this year, also analyses hobbyists’ growinginterest in captive-breeding and ranching, as well aschallenges faced by trading nations in preventing globaldemand for exotic live reptiles from becoming a threat tothe survival in the wild of lizards, tortoises and otherreptiles.

Two EU countries have been the subject of recent separatestudies into the trade in live reptiles, the results of both ofwhich are outlined below. The first forms part of a widerstudy by TRAFFIC Europe-France of French imports and re-exports of live fauna. The second outlines the results of aninvestigation carried out by the Belgian Federal Police intoBelgium’s market for live reptiles. In common with othercountries in the EU, the importation of live reptiles hasincreased significantly in both countries, with lizards themost frequently imported group.

Photograph: Flat-casqued Chameleon Calumma globifer, Madagascar


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FRANCE CASE STUDY: In recognition of the growing pop-ularity of ‘fashionable’ pets in France, TRAFFIC Europe-France carried out a study of the country’s trade in live faunabetween 1990 and 1999 in order to identify the trade trends,taxa involved, countries of origin and sources (e.g. wild orbred in captivity). To illustrate the findings of the study, anoverview of France’s trade in live lizards is presented below.

Main lizard species imported and their countries of originThe importation of live reptiles into France in the early 1990swas found to be fairly steady but increased by more than 250%from 1994 to 1999. Lizards, mostly iguanas - in particularCommon Iguanas Iguana iguana (CITES Appendix II) -accounted for more than half the imports. These mainly orig-inated from Colombia and El Salvador, although 80% hadbeen re-exported by the USA. Snakes constituted 27% of thetrade, followed by turtles and tortoises (20%) and crocodilians(1%). While the majority of Common Iguanas were declaredas captive-bred, most chameleons Chamaeleo spp. (CITESAppendix II) and geckos (CITES Appendix II) were reportedto be wild-caught. All imports of geckos (mostly MadagascarDay Gecko Phelsuma madagascariensis), came from Mada-gascar, as did 37% of chameleons, with the remainder fromTogo (20%), Burundi (14%) and Tanzania (8%). Other raretaxa were exported by African range States, such as lizards ofthe agamid family (from Mali) that involved two species takenfrom the wild - Bell’s Dabb Lizard Uromastyx acanthinuraand U. maliensis (both CITES Appendix II). Although 14range States supplied France with live varanids over the periodstudied, almost half came from Togo, followed by Ghana andBenin. These three countries exported two species exclusive-ly: African Savanna Monitor Varanus exanthematicus and NileMonitor V. niloticus (both CITES Appendix II).

Captive-bred and ranched animals The study found that, between 1995 and 1999, fewer than halfof French imports of lizards concerned wild-caughtspecimens. The main reason is that most of the Common Igua-nas (which accounted for 47% of lizard imports during theperiod) were captive-bred, but also because French importsfrom ranching operations started to appear in 1995. For exam-ple, almost half of the varanids from Togo and 88% of thosefrom Benin were declared as ranched specimens, wherepreviously they were reported to be taken from the wild.

Wild supplyA large number of lizards, however, continue to be taken fromthe wild to supply the pet trade in France - 91% of all geckos,77% of all chameleons and 64% of all varanids importedbetween 1990 and 1999, for example. With the growingdemand for reptiles as pets, a significant proportion of these ofwild-caught specimens, and with seizures of reptilesfrequently being reported, it is important that these markets areclosely controlled.

TRAFFIC Europe-France’s report, which also looks atFrance’s imports and re-exports of live CITES-listed mam-mals, birds, amphibians, fish and invertebrates (1990-1999),will be published later this year. Copies will be available fromTRAFFIC Europe-France.

Alexandre Affre, Research Officer, TRAFFIC Europe

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BELGIUM CASE STUDY: In Belgium, both the legal andillegal trade in live CITES reptiles have increased in recentyears. To understand the drive behind this rise, the BelgianFederal Police Environment Service has carried out an analysisof the live reptile trade in the country, the first time such astudy has been undertaken.

General characteristics of CITES in relation to Belgium A range of areas relating to wildlife trade involving CITESspecimens was investigated, including the production, circula-tion, possession and laundering of wildlife. The trade iscarried out at a number of different levels. It can be organized,with structures in place to ensure maximum profit from mini-mal cost; it can be semi-organized, i.e. sporadic activity for thepurpose of making occasional profits; or, non-organized, i.e.conducted by people or groups who will commit an offencewithout recognizing it or assessing the risks.

Trade routes can also vary. It is often the case thatbusinesses deal in stock that has been both legally and illegal-ly acquired. Individual collectors or enthusiasts who do notconsider themselves traders also sell specimens and often gainsignificant financial reward for doing so.

The legal market in BelgiumBetween 1989 and 2000 there were 168 222 CITES transac-tions involving live reptiles, and imports accounted for over99% of these. In the past five years, there has been a signifi-cant increase in the number of imports recorded. In 1996,Belgium reported 81% more transactions than in 1995.

Over 79% of all import transactions were lizards, whichhave become the most frequently imported live reptile inrecent years. Between 1989 and 2000 over 63 000 importtransactions involving the Common Iguana were recorded,compared to 6361 transactions for all tortoise species, forexample.

The geographical source of these imports is wide-ranging:between 1989 and 2000, reptiles were being supplied by some47 countries. However, 67% came from three countries: ElSalvador (22%), Madagascar (19%), and Togo (16%).

The movement of CITES species between EU MemberStates has not required an intra-Community certificate since1997. Although CITES trade data suggest that internal EUtrade in live reptiles totalled 31 391 specimens from 1989 to2000, this does not necessarily reflect a true picture of the tradebecause for the last four years for which trade data are avail-able (i.e. 1997 to 2000), transactions were only recorded forAnnex A-listed species, and a very limited proportion of thoselisted in Annex B.

In addition, under Belgian legislation, the penaltiesimposed for wildlife offences - currently the least punitive inthe EU - do not reflect the seriousness of the crime that is beingcommitted, even though such an activity meets Interpol’s def-inition of a ‘serious crime against the environment’. The max-imum gaol sentence for wildlife offences in Belgium is justthree months, compared to sentences reaching a number ofyears in the UK, Germany, and Netherlands, for example.Current legislation also limits judicial authority and scope ofaction for the police services.


I N T H E E U : F R A N C E A N D B E L G I U M Illegal tradeBetween 1984 and 2000, 366 CITES legislation violationsinvolving reptiles were recorded, but of these only 97involved live reptiles, and the majority of those occurred in thelast four years. This number is too low to allow for any defin-itive conclusions to be drawn, and is likely to represent anincomplete picture of the illegal reptile trade. Offences fallinto three categories: illegal imports, illegal trade and illegalpossession, and crime is organized at different levels. Illegaltrade seems to target turtles in particular, and represents morethan 60% of the illegally traded species. Some specimens canfetch high prices, e.g. Madagascar Tortoise Geocheloneyniphora (CITES Appendix I), at many thousands of Euroseach, but it is worth noting that significant financial gains canbe made from large volume sales of less valuable tortoisessuch as the Spur-thighed Tortoise Testudo graeca (CITESAppendix II).

RecommendationsThe following recommendations are made in the report:

• the need for a multi-disciplinary approach. Collaboration between all the services involved, both at the national andinternational levels, is essential to combat the illegal tradein wildlife.

• record wildlife trade offences. Offences are currently notrecorded, which makes it very difficult to measure theextent of the illegal wildlife trade in Belgium.

• improve CITES enforcement. CITES is not simple toenforce and training is needed to assist the control servicesin its enforcement; experts to support these servicesneed to be identified. The quality of such control measuresis a crucial element.

• target entry points. There are relatively few entry pointsinto Belgium from outside the EU and limited resourcesshould be targeted at those points of entry in order to havethe maximum impact in detecting illegal imports of livereptiles.

• combat illegal domestic trade. Since 1984, 60% ofwildlife trade offences have been committed within Belgium. The police have a very important role to play inassisting in the control of illegal domestic trade.

Stephanie Pendry, UK Enforcement Support Officer,TRAFFIC International

Strategic Analysis: Status of the Illegal Trade in EndangeredSpecies of Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Belgium. A CaseStudy: the Trade in Live Reptiles by Dominique Henneaux,Strategic Analyst, Belgian Federal Police, General Direc-torate Judicial Police, Environmental Crime Service, 47 rueFritz Toussaint, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.

Tel: 00 32 2 642 63 32; Fax: 00 32 2 642 60 45; E-mail: [email protected]

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SNOW LEOPARD

Traditionally the Snow Leopard

has been used for a variety of

purposes: the skins are made

into clothing items, including

traditional religious dresses, as

well as decorative wall mount-

ings; the skull is used in ritual

ceremonies and certain body

parts such as the sexual organs

and the meat are valued in

shamanism or for medicinal

purposes. Snow Leopard bones

are prized in traditional Asian

medicine for the treatment of a

variety of ailments including

rheumatism, tendonitis and bone

fractures. The scale of the trade

in bones is not well documented

and understood and it is unclear

whether they are a “by-product”

of the skin trade or the primary

motive driving the poacher.

The SNOW LEOPARD Uncia uncia(CITES Appendix I) is one of therarest of the big cat species. It inhab-its the mountains of Central Asia andthe Himalayas, with a distributionranging over 12 countries. The totalpopulation has been estimated to bearound 4000-6500 animals, howeverdramatic declines have been reportedover the past decade in parts of thespecies’ range.

The direct killing of Snow Leop-ards is one of the greatest threats tothe species. According to a recentlypublished report by TRAFFIC, thereasons and motives for the killingsvary from region to region. Theseinclude, among others, killing for thepurposes of selling the animal or itsparts; prevention of livestock lossesowing to depredation by Snow Leop-ards; accidental killing through theuse of poisoned bait or non-selectivehunting methods targeted at otherspecies; and, incidental killings,including opportunistic hunting.

Even though the primary motivefor the killing of the Snow Leopardmay not be trade, the animal or itsbody parts may still end up in trade.While the killing of and trade in SnowLeopards is prohibited by law inalmost all range States, enforcementof these laws is insufficient or evennon-existent in the majority of these

countries and there is clear evidenceof illegal trade in Snow Leopardsfrom all range States, with the excep-tion of Bhutan, for which noinformation is available.

To gain a better understanding ofthe trade in Snow Leopards, the moti-vations driving the trade and the pos-sible trade routes and market destina-tions, TRAFFIC consultants conduct-ed market surveys and research intothe trade. These investigationsprovide new insight into the variousmotives that lead to the direct killingsof and trade in Snow Leopards andshould help efforts to address the rootcauses of these activities. Urgentaction is needed to develop effectiveconservation strategies aimed atsecuring the long-term survival of thespecies as well as the livelihoods ofthe people that share the mountainareas with this magnificent cat.

Fading Footprints: The Killingand Trade of Snow Leopards

Stephanie Theile72 pp. August 2003

Copies of the report are available fromTRAFFIC International or online atwww.traffic.org

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India Bans Ivory Trade andConfiscates Stocks

On 27 August 2003, the Supreme Court of Indiaupheld a 1991 amendment to India’s Wildlife(Protection) Act 1972 (WPA) which banned thetrade in imported ivory (trade in Asian ivory hasbeen prohibited in India since 1986). The judge-ment followed an appeal by ivory traders against aruling on 20 March 1997 by the Delhi High Courtupholding the 1991 amendment to the WPA.Further, the Court has ordered the Indian Govern-ment to repossess ivory held by the traders; it wasruled, however, that traders may pursue their casefor a certificate of ownership to allow them tokeep legally acquired ivory, or parts thereof, fortheir bona fide personal use. Idols and images ofgods made out of ivory were ordered to be kept inmuseums to reflect Indian traditions and culture.

An investigation by TRAFFIC in India showedthat a domestic trade in ivory has been takingplace despite a national ban on the trade in 1991.The study, carried out between July 2000 and April2001, compiled information collected from some70 craftsmen, and 152 traders/retailers, as well astourist guides, elephant keepers and medicinevendors in some 12 locations in the country.

Awareness of the ban was found to be highamong all groups interviewed. Despite this, crafts-men revealed an attachment for ivory. Not onlyhad the profitability of the trade brought themfinancial reward but, in many cases, communitieshad enjoyed a longstanding and particular associ-cation with ivory and skilled ivory craftsmen hadenjoyed high social status. On the basis ofestimates made by craftsmen interviewed, about500 of them still worked with ivory in thelocations visited. Both foreign and Indian nation-als were reported to be purchasing ivory artefactssuch as jewellery and name seals, as well as reli-gious carvings of Hindu gods and miniatureMogul paintings on ivory.

Statistical analysis indicates that international,illegal trade in ivory is directly correlated to thepresence of large-scale, unregulated domesticivory markets. The full report An Assessment ofthe Domestic Ivory Carving Industry andTrade Controls in India, published by TRAFFICin February 2003, is available at www.traffic.org.

Supreme Court of India Judgement, New Delhi, 27 August 2003; TRAFFIC International.

• New Zealand’s Ministry of Fisheries has announced that it will banset net fishing from inshore waters in the range of Maui’s DolphinCephalorhynchus hectori maui, the world’s smallest and rarest dolphinspecies, with a population of between 80 and 100. Set nets - a type ofnylon gill net, anchored to the sea floor and in which the dolphinsbecome entangled - have led to a severe depletion of this species overthe past few decades.

The decision, which follows WWF action to reverse a High Courtruling that overturned a previous ban on commercial set net fishing inthe Maui’s Dolphin range, has not yet passed into law and is thereforenot being implemented.

Wildlife News of the Natural World, WWF Australia. Number 100, Summer 2003; www.wwf.org.nz 10 June 2003; www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles82.shtml

• Sainsbury’s, one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains, hasannounced that it will buy all wild fish from sustainable sourcesby 2010. Its own label fresh, frozen and canned wild capturefish will be sourced from well-managed fisheries which meetthe needs of the FAO Code of Conduct for responsible fish-eries. This code is designed to ensure that fish shocks aremaintained and restored, whilst assessing the environmentalimpact that fishing can cause. To realize this commitment,Sainsbury’s will be working closely with its suppliers and theMarine Stewardship Council.

J. Sainsbury plc news release, 21 March 2003

• briefly The European Commission has put forwardproposals for a total ban on the use of drift-nets in the BalticSea by 2007 to moderate the accidental killing of cetaceans byfishing vessels. Until that time, it calls for the reduction in thelength of such nets in the Baltic Sea to 2.5 km, in line withCommunity drift-net fisheries. Drift-nets in the Baltic Sea areprimarily used to catch salmon and are considered to be amajor threat to the conservation of cetacean populations, inparticular the critically endangered Harbour Porpoise Pho-coena phocoena (CITES Appendix II). The proposals shallenter into force on 1 July 2004.

Commission of the European Communities, proposal for a CouncilRegulation laying down measures concerning incidental catches ofcetaceans in fisheries and amending Regulation (EC) No. 88/98. 24 July 2003

• Efforts to manage Peru’s forest resources are being undermined byextensive illegal logging of mahogany, the vast majority of which isreportedly exported to the USA. The Peruvian Government and for-est concessionaires are trying to set up a forest management systemthat is legal and sustainable. Recent reforms have demonstratedsuccess in providing more stable local livelihoods, stronger gover-nance and biodiversity conservation in Peru’s forest sector, but illegallogging continues. WWF-US will be assisting in promoting responsi-ble forest management and reducing illegal logging in Peru by enlist-ing the support of key US end-users of mahogany products.

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The genus Glycyrrhiza(liquorice) is in great

demand for use intraditional medicines.

Many species in thegenus are cultivated

but plants growing in the wild also continue

to be exploited to a large extent. In China,

for example, whereGlycyrrhiza species are harvested and

consumed, cultivation of liquorice is in its infancy and cannot meet the growing domestic demand

which relies for its stocks on wild and/

or imported material.

Europe’s Medicinal andAromatic Plants: their use,

trade and conservation;TRAFFIC East Asia

SARS Spurs China to Action . . .But Concerns Remain

This year’s outbreak of the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome)virus in Asia has brought the issue of wildlife trade in China to worldattention like never before. This was largely due to reports that theMasked Palm Civet Paguma larvata was a potential source of the dis-ease, with similar claims being made with regard to racoon dogs, badgersand other wild animals traded in China.

The concerns about the link between wildlife and the SARS virusprompted the authorities in China to launch a nationwide crackdown inApril 2003 on illegal wildlife trade. Jointly organized by the StateForestry Administration and the Ministry of Public Security, the opera-tion - called ‘Spring Thunder’ - involved more that 170 000 forest policewho inspected some 70 000 restaurants, hotels, markets, wildlife farms,pet markets and wildlife trading companies across the country. Accord-ing to the Chinese Government, more than 930 000 animals or animalparts were seized, many of them of protected species, and a large numberof illegal traders and operators were prosecuted. Subsequently, similarenforcement measures were carried out in various parts of China, inparticular Guangdong Province. In addition, a ban on the consumption ofwildlife was introduced in various cities, which was only lifted at the endof July.

In August, a joint team of specialists from the World HealthOrganization and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organizationvisited China. Together with specialists from the Chinese Government,the team investigated the animal reservoir of the SARS coronavirus andissued a series of recommendations and actions necessary not only toidentify the disease’s animal reservoir, but to contain any future out-breaks. Among the measures recommended by the joint team of special-ists was the need to strengthen regulations in the farming, trading andconsumption of wildlife.

In early September, a separate study by Guan et al. (2003) revealedthat, save for an extra 29-nucleotide sequence, a coronavirus identical tothe one that causes SARS in humans had been found in civet cats, a rac-coon dog and a ferret badger in an animal market in Guangdong, China.

The civet is heavily consumed in the region. A survey by TRAFFICEast Asia in 1996 of the attitudes of Hong Kong Chinese towards wildlifeconservation and the use of wildlife as food and medicine revealed thatcivet is the second-most frequently consumed item of exotic food, con-sumed by 30% of respondents. Snake was the most popular animal, citedby 51% of respondents, and pangolin was third at 17%. Barking Deer,Wild Pig, turtle and deer were other popular wild animals, along with dog.

TRAFFIC hopes that the strict enforcement action initiated by theChinese authorities in April will continue even after the SARS outbreakhas been controlled. Such efforts also need to be complemented by ini-tiatives to enhance awareness of wildlife protection and conservation inChinese society so that the concept of a sustainable and regulated trade inwild plants and animals can be accepted and implemented. The sheerscale of items seized as a result of enforcement actions this year wouldsuggest that much of the trade is currently illegal or unsustainable.Greater steps will need to be taken to ensure that the consumption of wildmeat is effectively managed and regulated, especially for species whereover-harvesting, over-consumption and lack of management may bedetrimental to their survival.

While greater attention to SARS has resulted in some positive actionby the authorities, the outbreak may have had adverse conservationimpacts as well. There was apparently an upsurge in the consumption ofmedicinal plants and herbs in China and Hong Kong during the outbreak,with recipes and formulas for anti-SARS medicines being developed andprepared from various herbal ingredients.

The most commonly used herbs were plants that,according to the China pharmacopoeia, are reputed tostrengthen the lungs and the immune system. Many ofthese species are sourced from the wild and are current-ly not cultivated on a commercial scale. Liquorice Gly-cyrrhiza, which is heavily traded for its antiviral proper-ties, and wild ginseng Panax, also believed to havemedicinal properties that strengthen the immunesystem, are among those medicinal plants that are ofconservation concern.

According to TRAFFIC representatives in EastAsia, the price of some of these ingredients hasincreased five- to ten-fold during the course of the out-break. In light of the SARS scare, there may also be anincrease in the number of consumers of such traditionalmedicines. It is still too early to tell if this would haveany negative impact on medicinal plant conservation inEast Asia or globally, and TRAFFIC will be monitoringthe situation closely.

Sabri Zain, Advocacy and Campaigns Director,TRAFFIC International; TRAFFIC East Asia

References

Guan, Y., Zheng, B.J., He, Y.Q., Liu, X.L., Zhuang, Z.X., Che-ung, C.L., Luo, S.W., Li, P.H., Zhang, L.J., Guan, Y.J.,Butt, K.M., Wong, K.L, Chan, K.W., Lim, W., Shortridge,K.F., Yuen, K.Y, Peiris, J.S.M., Poon, L.L.M. (2003). Iso-lation and characterization of viruses related to the SARScoronavirus from animals in southern China. http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/0data/sars/#animals).

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THE 12TH MEETING OF THE CONFERENCE OFTHE PARTIES TO CITES took place in Santiago,Chile, from 3 to 15 November 2002, and was attended

by 1200 participants from 141 governments, as well as numer-ous observer organizations. The following is a summary ofwhat TRAFFIC considers to be the most salient features of themeeting. Official proceedings will be published by the CITESSecretariat.

Following the opening ceremony, the Secretary-General ofCITES, Mr W. Wijnstekers, observed that the number of Partiesto the Convention would increase from 158 to 160 over thecourse of the meeting, with the ratification and accession,respectively, of Kuwait and Bhutan. He thanked Parties fortheir financial contributions but expressed serious concernsabout the growing gap between the expectations of the Partiesand the resources available to meet those expectations, andurged Parties to ensure that provision be made for adequate

funding for implementation of any decisions they took. Hemaintained that the Convention should be playing an enhancedrole in the management of commercial fisheries and the timbertrade.

The Executive Director of UNEP, Dr K. Töpfer, stated thatthe meeting represented an opportunity to take forward theagenda of the World Summit on Sustainable Development(WSSD). He emphasized the importance of the outcomes ofWSSD to CITES and the role of the Convention in contributingto meeting the targets established at WSSD, particularly thegoal of achieving a significant reduction in the current rate ofloss of biodiversity by 2010.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee, Mr K. Stansell,asserted that the strength of CITES lay in its ability to adapt tonew challenges.

In welcoming participants to the meeting, Mr J. Campos,Minister of Agriculture of Chile, on behalf of the Government ofChile, noted that economic growth for future generations wasessentially bound up with protection of the environment andwise management of natural resources. He warned that despiteeffective action by CITES in the past, the challenge posed byillegal trade remained. Without adequate resources, the ability ofCITES to overcome this would be severely impaired. Conse-quently, he urged the international community, in particular thedeveloped countries, to take on its quota of responsibility. Whileenvironmental conservation was an essential part of sustainabledevelopment, he noted that of equal importance was the elimi-nation of poverty.

The President of Chile, Mr R. Lagos Escobar, was wel-comed to a special session of the meeting, where he commend-ed the work of CITES and noted that the 12th meeting of theConference of the Parties was the biggest environmental eventever to be held in Chile. He highlighted the global nature ofCITES and stressed the need for all countries to work togetherto protect biodiversity as part of the heritage bequeathed to usby our ancestors. He further stressed the importance of sustain-able development to future generations.

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scientific committee to lower costs and improve effi-ciency; or this option, with the addition of establishing aseparate implementation committee.

After extensive discussion, it was agreed thatchanges should not be made to the permanent structureof the Committees because of budgetary implicationsand the need for varying member composition. Instead,two Decisions were adopted. Decision 12.23 tasks theStanding Committee to: identify typical categories oftechnical implementation issues that have proveddifficult to address under existing Committee structures;establish and implement a process for the StandingCommittee to act as a clearing house to direct relevantissues to the appropriate body; and, to report the resultsof their work to the 13th meeting of the Conference ofthe Parties. Decision 12.24 includes directions to theAnimals and Plants Committees to continue working onprimarily science-based technical implementationissues, and to develop recommendations as to how theycan assist the Standing Committee’s advisory role out-lined in Decision 12.23.

The increase in the number of documents and proposalsrelating to marine fisheries prompted two Parties topresent documents seeking to guide the development ofa future relationship between CITES and FAO. Infor-mal discussions between those Parties, the USA andJapan, resulted in the tabling of a joint document on Co-operation with other Organizations: CITES andFAO-FAO Collaboration with CITES through aMemorandum of Understanding (Doc. 12.16.2.1/16.2.2 addendum). The US withdrew its originalproposal while Japan gave its support for the jointproposal and offered to withdraw its document on Co-operation with other Organizations: CITES andFAO Synergy and Co-operation between CITES andFAO (Doc. 12.16.2.1 and Doc. 12.16.2.1 addendum) ifthe joint proposal was adopted. The main element of thejoint proposal was the development of a Memorandumof Understanding (MoU) between CITES and FAO thatwould formalize co-operation between the two organi-zations and thereby facilitate improvements in eachorganization’s ability to contribute to strengthenedconservation of aquatic species within their areas ofexpertise. In discussion of the document, Partiesgenerally recognized that unilateral approaches werelimited in their ability to achieve positive conservationoutcomes for aquatic species, however it would beimportant that the mandate of each organization and, byextension, that of regional fisheries organizations, wasrecognized in an MoU. A more specific issue debatedwas whether the reference should be to all aquaticspecies, with some Parties stating that FAO did not havea mandate to deal with all aquatic species. However, itwas recognized that the draft wording was deliberatelyambiguous in this regard and that it would be extremelydifficult to resolve this lack of clarity in the draftdocument. A number of Parties sought instead to havetheir views on this matter included in the record. The

The Secretariat introduced a proposed Budget for 2003-2005 (Doc. 12.9.1 (Rev. 1)) which was 15% smaller thanthe budget for the previous triennium but would stillrequire a 12% increase in Parties’ contributions. Thisdiscrepancy was due to the planned draw-down of theCITES Trust Fund to minimum levels during the lastbudget cycle which had enabled an increased Secretariatbudget without increased contributions from the Parties.After some initial debate a finance working group,chaired by Canada, was established to seek a compro-mise between those supporting the tabled budget andthose wishing to see a revised version with no, or little,increase in Party contributions.

The working group presented two revised budgets forconsideration - one requiring a 6% increase in Party con-tributions and the other a 0% increase. The group alsoprovided guidelines for future budgets and strategies tocontain future budgets. Ultimately the Parties agreed toa 2003-2005 budget of approximately USD14 millionthat represented a 6% increase in Party contributions.

Chile presented Doc. 12.13.1 Revision of ResolutionConf. 11.1 on Establishment of Committees whichpointed out the inconsistency between the quantity andtype of regional representation on the StandingCommittee versus the Animals and Plants Committees.Chile’s proposal would have increased representationfrom Africa on the Animals and Plants Committees bytwo people, and from both Europe and Central and SouthAmerica and the Caribbean by one person each. Howeverit was decided that representation on the Committeesshould remain unchanged, primarily due to budgetaryimplications.

One particular issue had the potential to result in someof the most fundamental changes to the workings of theConvention. The relevant documents, Doc. 12.13.2Enhancing Implementation of the Convention (pre-pared by the USA) and Doc. 12.13.3 Review of theCommittee Structure (prepared by the Secretariat),regarded the issue of how CITES can effectively resolveimplementation issues. Doc. 12.13.2 outlined variousoptions for dealing with technical and implementationissues, which, it is argued, are not, and cannot be dealtwith adequately by the existing permanent committeestructure (Animals, Plants, Nomenclature and StandingCommittees). Among the options proposed for consider-ation were: the consolidation of the Animals and PlantsCommittees into one Scientific Committee and establish-ment of an implementation committee which wouldaddress enforcement-related and other implementationissues; maintain separate Animals and Plants Committeesand establish a joint implementation subcommittee; main-tain the Animals and Plants Committees, with separateimplementation subcommittees for each; or, the creationof a completely separate implementation committee.

Taking the USA’s document into account, theSecretariat provided in Doc. 12.13.3 two options forrevising Resolution Conf. 11.1: merging the Animals,Plants and Nomenclature Committees into a single



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resource limitations. A revised decision taking intoaccount the comments made was presented in asubsequent session of Committee II and adopted.

Doc. 12.20.2 Results of the Wider Caribbean Hawks-bill Turtle Dialogue Meetings was presented inplenary by the UK that noted the success of thesemeetings. This dialogue process originated when, at the11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, Cuba putforward a proposal to transfer from Appendix I toAppendix II those parts of the Caribbean population ofHawksbill Turtle Eretmochelys imbricata inhabitingCuban waters. This proposal was rejected, but it wassuggested that a regional Caribbean meeting be held tostrengthen regional co-operation for the management ofHawksbill Turtles. After a formal request by CostaRica, several Parties supported the idea, and theSecretariat proposed that two range States dialoguemeetings be held before the 12th meeting of the Con-ference of the Parties, to discuss and, if possible, reachconsensus on the many difficult issues raised.

As a result of these dialogue meetings, a draft reso-lution and two draft decisions in Annexes 2 and 3 ofDoc. 12.20.2 were prepared and submitted for consider-ation by the Conference of the Parties. The Secretariatalso proposed some draft decisions in Annex 4 of Doc.12.20.3 be adopted by the meeting rather than the draftresolution and draft decisions in Annexes 2 and 3. Aftera few changes suggested by range States and theSecretariat, including the inclusion of sustainable use asone of the general objectives, the draft decisions inAnnex 4 were agreed.

The agenda item providing an overview of CITESenforcement-related issues and developments since thelast meeting was presented to Committee II (Doc. 12.27on Enforcement Matters). The Secretariat introducedthe document, the purpose of which was to focus atten-tion on major problems of implementation and to high-light good enforcement work. Emphasis was placed onthe need for better co-ordination and communication atall levels between relevant agencies. The need for moreeffective reporting was shown to be critical, while notinventing new systems or being overly burdensome onenforcers. There had been a poor response by enforce-ment staff to the dissemination of the Secretariat’s intel-ligence information and requests for investigations.The new confidential CITES ‘Alerts’ system had beenuseful but was not getting to the national enforcementagencies staff who required it. Other issues wereexplored such as concerns that confidential informationwas not being treated as such by CITES ManagementAuthorities, and the problem of corruption. Thedocument suggested that Parties employ anti-corruptionpolicies and called for funds for the Secretariat to drawup anti-corruption guidelines. This latter point waswithdrawn as it was too extensive a task and fundingwas not available. The document also highlighted thecosts and benefits of working with NGOs on enforce-

Parties noted that the timeframe to finalize an MoU maybe lengthy as the FAO’s Committee on Fisheries (COFI)only met every two years and it would not be possiblefor the Standing Committee to develop a draft MoUprior to the 25th meeting of COFI in February 2003. TheParties adopted the decision by consensus.

Norway presented Doc. 12.17 Sustainable Use of andTrade in CITES Species, seeking greater alignment ofthe application of ‘sustainable use’ within CITES withthat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)and intergovernmental organizations such as FAO. Adraft resolution annexed to Doc. 12.17 called on CITESto co-operate with the CBD and FAO to develop guide-lines on the interpretation of the principle of sustainableuse in that regard. It also called on the CITESSecretariat and Committees to prepare a proposal withregard to applying the CITES listing criteria on thisbasis, and on the Parties to consider ways of ‘validating’the CITES Appendices through a more regular review orintroduction of a ‘sunset clause’ on CITES listings.

Following initial discussions in Committee II,Norway was asked to chair a working group to discussthe documents in more detail. Twenty-five Parties andobservers participated in the working group, expressinga range of views on the wider issue of addressing sus-tainable use within CITES as well as on the draft resolu-tion. There was no consensus within the working group,Norway reporting back to Committee II that while dis-cussions had been fruitful, a substantial differenceremained with regard to how to deal with sustainable usein a CITES context. Norway proposed amendments toits draft resolution, however neither these nor the origi-nal text was accepted by the Parties. The separateproposal from the Secretariat that Resolution Conf. 10.4on the co-operation and synergy with the CBD berepealed as part of the process of consolidating resolu-tions was not accepted, leaving open the possibility thatdiscussions on sustainable use, CITES and the CBD willcontinue within the framework of that resolution.

Doc. 12.18 Economic Incentives and Trade Policy,prepared by the Secretariat, addressed three main issues:consideration of economic incentives in designing tradepolicy and the use of economic instruments towardsachieving CITES objectives; and, the relationshipbetween CITES and the World Trade Organization(WTO). A draft resolution and decision were annexed tothe document linked to these points. Several amend-ments to the draft resolution were proposed, with areasof concern including recommendations aimed at reduc-ing the use of stricter domestic measures. An amendedversion was presented during a subsequent meeting ofCommittee II, but not accepted. Although there wasmore widespread support for the draft decision callingfor organization of a workshop and subsequent researchon trade policy and economic incentives, concern wasalso expressed that work on this issue exceeded theSecretariat’s core mandate, especially in view of


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A report on the Conservation of the Leopard, SnowLeopard and Clouded Leopard (Doc. 12.32) was sub-mitted by India in light of growing concerns about theimpact of trade on these big cats to meet demand forskins, bones and other products, and to draw attention tothe threats posed to big cats other than the Tiger. Thedocument proposed a new Resolution, the main pointsof which called upon Parties, particularly range andconsumer States, to increase enforcement efforts, pursueclear labelling systems for products containing parts andderivatives of these species, and to develop bilateral andregional agreements to improve conservation andmanagement of these species. Following discussionswith other range and consumer States, and noting therecommendations of the Secretariat regarding Resolu-tion Conf. 11.5 on the conservation of and trade inTigers, Doc. 12.32 was amended and a revised resolu-tion submitted by India was adopted (Resolution Conf.12.5). This is discussed below under Doc. 12.33.

The Parties considered a document relating to theConservation of and Trade in Tigers (Doc. 12.33),submitted by the Secretariat, which reported on theimplementation of Decisions (13 in total) relevant to theconservation of Tigers. It also served as the report of theStanding Committee, as required by Decision 11.82.The Secretariat recommended that all extant Decisionsbe deleted as they had been complied with. Doc. 12.33also put forward the Secretariat’s proposed amendmentsto the existing Resolution Conf. 11.5 on conservation ofand trade in Tigers, mainly to streamline the Resolutionand to repeal non-Tiger-specific sections. India spon-sored a revised document which expanded the existingResolution Conf. 11.5 away from its Tiger-specificfocus to include other Asian big cats listed in CITESAppendix I. This incorporated the proposed amend-ments of the Secretariat to Resolution Conf. 11.5 andinformation and recommendations from A ConservationPriority: Conservation of Tigers and other Asian BigCats, TRAFFIC’s briefing document on Asian big cats(available at www.traffic.org). Subsequently, ResolutionConf. 12.5 on conservation of and trade in Tigers andother Appendix-I Asian big cat species was tabled fordiscussion and adopted by the Parties. The main pointsadded included recommendations to Parties and non-Parties to: ensure that captive breeding facilities forTigers and other Asian big cat species were adequatelymanaged to prevent parts and derivatives from enteringillegal trade from or through such facilities; consolidateand ensure adequate control of existing stocks of partsand derivatives; establish and fund anti-poaching andenforcement units; establish co-operative bilateral andmultilateral arrangements, especially for the manage-ment of protected habitats with common boundaries;and, to conduct studies to examine the motivationbehind illegal killings so that appropriate measures andresponses could be devised. The Tiger EnforcementTask Force was also expanded to include all Asian bigcat species.

ment cases. TRAFFIC was emphasized in a verypositive light in this regard but the potential problems ofNGOs compromising operations and providing inadmis-sible evidence was recognized. Of note was the list ofParties that had not designated a CITES ScientificAuthority and should not have their permits accepted.The Annex to the document was a draft decision,requesting that the Parties agree to the Secretariat con-vening a meeting of enforcement experts to identifymeasures to improve information flow of enforcementdata to enforcement agencies, CITES ManagementAuthorities and the Secretariat. The meeting outputswould include a report to the Standing Committee, witha view to recommendations being taken forward to the13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties. TheSecretariat emphasized the budgetary implications ofthe workshop and the USA requested that a financialexplanation of what was required be provided. Therewas general support for the document, with particularemphasis on the need for more effective co-operationand communication, and the Secretariat was directed tohold the experts meeting (Decisions 12.88 and 12.89).

With respect to National Laws for the Implementa-tion of the Convention (Doc. 12.28), the Secretariatoutlined activities that had taken place during Phase 4 ofthe National Legislation Project (NLP). As a result ofDecision 11.132 the Secretariat was required, duringPhase 4 of the NLP, to amend the analyses of nationallegislation and associated ratings and provide assistanceto any Parties requiring guidance. The Secretariatdescribed the achievements in respect of the NLP,explaining the methodology and criteria for the legisla-tive analysis process and describing how various Partieshave fared in this process. Phase 5 of the NLP is to con-tinue with the provision of advice and assistance and theSecretariat also believes that Phase 5 should start assess-ing the effectiveness of legislation adopted by theParties who have been placed in Category 1.

Two draft decisions put forward by the Secretariatwere amended and Decisions 12.80 to 12.83 set out thetimeframes within which certain countries, falling eitherwithin Category 2 or 3, are required to submit a ‘CITESLegislation Plan’ and/or adopt adequate legislation.Decision 12.83 notes that the Secretariat is to issue anotification recommending a suspension of commercialtrade in specimens of CITES-listed species with the rel-evant countries, should the Parties fail to comply withthe provisions of the Decision. The Secretariat may,however, withhold action on such an instruction if goodlegislative progress has been made by a Party, but shallimplement the instruction immediately if adequate leg-islation had not been adopted by 31 March 2003. TheParties expressed support for the retention of these com-pliance provisions as they have in the past resulted inaction being taken quickly to enact legislation.




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Implementation of Resolution Conf. 10.12 (Rev.) onConservation of Sturgeons (Doc.12.42.1) was pre-pared by the Secretariat on behalf of the AnimalsCommittee in accordance with Decisions 11.96 and11.152. The document related to the Significant TradeReview, the establishment of catch and export quotas, aswell as to the progress made in implementing measuresagreed upon at the 10th and 11th meetings of the Con-ference of the Parties. These measures were largelysuperseded by the actions taken pursuant to the Reviewof Significant Trade in Specimens of Appendix IIspecies (Resolution Conf. 8.9 (Rev.)) with regard tocommercially exploited species of Acipenseriformes.

Parties acknowledged the important efforts made bythe Secretariat to improve the status of wild sturgeonpopulations in the Caspian Sea and Danube Riverbasins. They also recognized the relevance of the longlist of recommendations included in the document.Canada, as a range State of North American sturgeonspecies, insisted that owing to the wide range of theirapplication, extending from protection of sturgeon habi-tat and stock enhancement, to fisheries management andsocio-economic issues, they should be adopted asguidelines and not recommendations. Following a sug-gested amendment by the Secretariat, Decision 12.50was adopted which addresses the need for Eurasianrange States to develop regional strategies and actionplans for the conservation of sturgeon and paddlefishspecies.

Doc. 12.42.2 Consolidation of Resolutions Relatingto Sturgeons and Trade in Caviar was prepared by theSecretariat on behalf of the Animals Committee andproposes the consolidation of Resolutions Conf. 10.12(Rev.) and 11.13 following the review of their imple-mentation and effectiveness as required under Decisions11.96, 11.152 and 11.162.

With regard to Decision 11.162 and the universallabelling system for the identification of caviar, theSecretariat issued a series of Notifications to the Partiesin 2001 and 2002 that communicated the labellingsystem adopted by five of the range States and statedthat, from 31 December 2001 onwards, Parties would berecommended not to accept shipments of caviar unlessthese were labelled in accordance with Resolution Conf.11.13. The principal amendments proposed to the caviarlabelling system as indicated in Annexes 1 and 2 to thedraft resolution are: the extension of the system to caviarproduced for commercial and non-commercial trade, forboth domestic and international markets and labellingrequirements for re-exports on the basis of non-reusablelabels for primary containers of any size (formerly limit-ed to containers of more than 250 g). The draft decisionin Annex 3 of Doc. 42.2 stated that, if adopted, therevised labelling system should be implemented by allcaviar trading parties no later than 1 January 2004. Afterinclusion of a few amendments, the consolidated resolu-tion (Resolution Conf. 12.7) was adopted.

Four Decisions were also adopted, two of whichdirected the Parties to report to the Secretariat and to thecountries of origin, export or re-export on seizures andinvestigations regarding illegal shipments of Asian bigcat parts or derivatives (Decision 12.29), to considerways in which local communities may become involvedin the conservation of Asian big cats, and to report onsuch concepts and initiatives at the 49th meeting of theStanding Committee (Decision 12.30). Two Decisionswere also directed to the Standing Committee: Decision12.31 directs the Standing Committee to continue itsreview of progress in range and consumer States thatwere earlier subject to CITES Technical and PoliticalTiger Missions to ensure that recommendations made bythe Missions continue to be implemented; the other(12.32) being to report back to the 13th meeting of theConference of the Parties on progress made by range andconsumer States of Asian big cat species, presumablywith regard to Resolution Conf. 12.5.

A document (Doc. 12.39) prepared by the Secretariatwith the Animals Committee reported on the implemen-tation of Decisions pertaining to Resolution Conf. 11.8on the Conservation of and Trade in Tortoises andFreshwater Turtles, with particular reference toDecision 11.150 regarding the convening of a technicalworkshop. The technical workshop on conservation ofand trade in tortoises and freshwater turtles was held inKunming, China, in March 2002. Recommendationsformulated at an earlier workshop on trade in terrestrialand freshwater turtles and tortoises in Asia, held inCambodia in December 1999, were considered andconservation priorities and actions identified, as well asrecommendations for management and regulation oftrade. As requested under Decision 11.150, theSecretariat communicated the findings and recom-mendations of this technical workshop to the AnimalsCommittee at its 18th meeting. Full details, findings andrecommendations of the workshop are available atwww.cites.org in document AC18 Inf. 12 (Rev.).

Based on the outcome of the Kunming workshop, theAnimals Committee drafted amendments to Resolution11.9, subsequently adopted by the Parties at the 12thmeeting of the Conference of the Parties (ResolutionConf. 11.9 (Rev. CoP12)). Recommendations from theKunming technical workshop also included the develop-ment of proposals to list selected species in Appendix II.The proposals submitted and results can be found onpage 137.

Two Decisions were also adopted: Decision 12.41directs Parties involved in the commercial trade intortoises and freshwater turtles to submit a report on theimplementation of Resolution Conf. 11.9 (Rev. CoP12);Decision 12.42 directs the Secretariat to evaluate thesereports and other information and to report to the nextmeeting of the Conference of the Parties.



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The second issue under consideration was the needfor an evaluation of the impact of the Review of Signif-icant Trade. This was called for by both scientific com-mittees due to the need to analyse the factors contribut-ing to the success or failure of the process as a mecha-nism to secure the conservation of species in trade. Asa result, the Parties adopted Decision 12.75 directing thescientific committees to draft terms of reference for thestudy for consideration at the 13th meeting of the Con-ference of the Parties. The results of this study will becritical to any further modification of the processnecessary to ensure the review serves the best interestsof species conservation and sustainable use.

The discussion on Trade in Time-Sensitive BiologicalSamples (Doc. 12.51) was surprisingly heated and con-troversial in Committee II. The document prepared bythe Secretariat, at the request of the StandingCommittee, presented the findings of a working groupof the Standing Committee established to address issuesraised by a failed proposal on this topic at the 11thmeeting of the Conference of the Parties. The workinggroup aimed to develop provisions in CITES that wouldenable the more rapid movement of important biologicalsamples with a time-sensitive element, that have mini-mal conservation risk. The document submitted toCommittee II proposed that the expedited process covertrade in other types of specimens also, such as pre-Convention specimens, artificially propagated/captive-bred specimens and personal effects. ManagementAuthorities would be able to use the simplified proce-dures for any purpose at their discretion. This would beenacted through a proposed amendment to ResolutionConf. 10.2 (Rev.) included in Annex 1 to the document.During discussions, concerns were again raised aboutthe potential loss of intellectual property rights that mayarise with the relaxation of controls on biologicalsamples, a key issue for the Convention on BiologicalDiversity (CBD). Some expressed their view that thiswas an inappropriate vehicle to put these simplified pro-cedures forward without further research and discussionin a separate document. The need for simplified proce-dures for urgent samples was clear to many but that wasnot the case with these other certificates that werearguably beyond the original intent of the workinggroup. Brazil, China and Mexico, in particular, raisedvarious concerns, particularly that the process did notadequately address the issue of benefit-sharing, whichshould be addressed within the CBD. The discussionwent to a vote and the revision to the resolution wasaccepted, with 33 votes in favour, 16 against and 16abstentions. Resolution Conf. 10.2 (Rev.) was recalledand Resolution Conf. 12.3 outlined simplified proce-dures for issuing permits and certificates. In plenaryrequests to reopen discussion on this agenda item wererejected by a show of hands: 16 in favour and 58 against.

Doc. 12.47 Conservation of Swietenia macrophylla:Report of the Mahogany Working Group preparedby the Secretariat described the actions developed toaccomplish the instructions of Decision 11.4. Thereport noted the conclusions and recommendationsagreed at the meeting of the Mahogany Working Group(MWG) held in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia(October 2001), where available information onAppendix III effectiveness, legal and illegal trade, andthe status of the species were analysed and discussed.The conclusions emphasized the need to address illegaltrade and problems relating to border controls; the needfor field studies to assess the status of mahoganypopulations to promote sustainable management; and,the need for greater information exchange. Commentsby the Secretariat included in the report noted that manyrange States cited a need for better populationinformation to ensure sustainable use, adding that ittherefore seemed logical to make the species subject tothe provisions of Article IV by including it in AppendixII. The Parties were requested to consider the reportand to decide on further actions as appropriate. Fol-lowing the deliberations of Committee I, where theproposal to list, with effect from 15 November 2003,the neotropical populations of Swietenia macrophylla inAppendix II, was agreed (see page 135), the Secretariatsuggested that although some recommendations of theMWG remained valid, further meetings of the MWGwould not be needed. Nevertheless, other commenta-tors supported the continuation of the MWG and theEU’s suggestion to revise the Terms of Reference of thegroup to include discussion of the capacity needs foreffective Appendix II implementation. The continua-tion of the group was agreed subject to a revision of itsmandate and to the availability of external funding.

The CITES Review of Significant Trade provides anextremely important mechanism to resolve concern thatexports of particular species listed in Appendix II maybe exceeding sustainable levels. The Parties consideredDoc. 12.48.1 Revision of Resolution Conf. 8.9 (Rev.)Trade in Specimens of Appendix-II Species Takenfrom the Wild, comprising proposed revisions to Res-olution Conf. 8.9 (Rev.). The revised text was basedprimarily on the results of discussion by the scientific(Animals and Plants) committees since the 11thmeeting of the Conference of the Parties, with anemphasis on clarifying, simplifying and consolidatingthe process. With minor amendments to the draftpresented, the Parties adopted Resolution Conf. 12.8,which addressed the need for greater interaction withrange States, and increased flexibility for the scientificcommittees to establish deadlines for range States torespond to recommendations. A process to follow upwith range States when Standing Committee recom-mendations are not implemented was also agreed.



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Revision of Resolutions Conf. 8.15 and Conf. 11.14 onguidelines for a procedure to register and monitor Oper-ations that Breed Appendix-I Animal Species in Cap-tivity for Commercial Purposes (Doc. 12.55.1), pro-posed by the Secretariat, would have significantlychanged the procedure used for registering operationsthat breed Appendix-I animal species for commercialpurposes. Doc. 12.55.1 would have eliminated the cur-rently applicable procedure established in ResolutionConf. 8.15 and Conf. 11.14 and instead adopted a mod-ified version of the procedure used for registering oper-ations that artificially propagate Appendix I plantspecies for commercial purposes, established in Resolu-tion Conf. 9.19. The current procedures for registeringoperations producing specimens of Appendix-I animaland plant species are much simpler for operations prop-agating plants. A working group established by theParties to consider this issue recommended modifyingthe currently applicable procedure in Resolution Conf.11.14 instead of replacing it. In short, the grouprecommended treating plants and animals separately andsimplifying procedures to register breeding operations.The working group recommended using the currentlyapplicable framework for registration, but requiring itfor all operations that breed specimens of Appendix-Ianimal species for commercial purposes, rather than fora subset of such operations only, as had been specifiedin Resolution Conf. 10.16 (Rev.), and Resolution Conf.11.14. The recommendation of the working group wasapproved by the Parties as Resolution Conf. 12.10.

Chile put forward a paper on the Establishment of aWorking Group to Analyse Relevant Aspects of theApplication of CITES to Marine Species (Doc. 12.61)which proposed the establishment of a marine speciesworking group. The main purpose of this group wasenvisaged as addressing scientific and implementationissues concerning the application of CITES to marinefisheries resources. This was the second time that aproposal to form a marine working group had been dis-cussed, with a similar suggestion rejected at the 11thmeeting of the Conference of the Parties. Statements byParties opposing the proposal argued that these issuesshould be dealt with under the auspices of the FAO andrelevant regional fisheries organizations. The recom-mendation by Parties to move forward and develop anMoU with FAO was also seen by some Parties as amechanism to address the issues raised in the proposaland that such a group would be premature at this time.The Parties voted by secret ballot and rejected theproposal.

The Parties selected Thailand as the Venue of the NextRegular Meeting of the Conference of the Parties,which is scheduled to take place in Bangkok from 2 to14 October 2004.

Proposals for Amendment of Appendices I and II and other species-specific issues:

African Elephant

With a record number of six amendment proposals, pro-posed revisions to Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.) ontrade in elephant specimens, and scheduled presenta-tions in Committee I on the two CITES monitoringsystems, African Elephants Loxodonta africana onceagain dominated the CITES agenda for the meeting.Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe,whose elephant populations were already inAppendix II, submitted proposals to amend annotation°604 to allow conditional trade in hunting trophies, liveanimals, raw ivory, hides, leather goods, and, excludingSouth Africa, ivory carvings. The major effect of theseproposals would be to allow all four countries a condi-tional resumption of trade in raw ivory of national originthrough an initial one-off sale of existing stocks ofelephant ivory, followed by the establishment of annualexport quotas. The proposed one-off sale would haveinvolved 20 t of ivory from Botswana, 10 t from Namib-ia, 30 t from South Africa and 10 t from Zimbabwe,while the annual export quotas were set at not more thanfour tonnes, two tonnes, two tonnes and five tonnes ofraw ivory for each of these countries, respectively. As acondition of their proposals, Botswana, Namibia andZimbabwe would be committed to restricting any suchtrade until May 2004, some 18 months after the adop-tion of the proposal. Under a slightly different arrange-ment, South Africa did not propose a time limit on thesale of their ivory stock, but restricted exports toelephant tusks or ivory pieces originating from KrugerNational Park that are at least 20 cm in length and onekilogramme in weight. Finally, all countries, exceptSouth Africa, imposed conditions on the acceptability ofpotential trading partners for raw ivory, allowingexports only to “CITES-approved” countries that wouldensure that the ivory imported could not be re-exported.In addition to trade in raw ivory, Botswana and Namib-ia proposed to allow trade in hides, leather goods andworked ivory products, trade options currently notallowed under annotation °604 for any country otherthan Zimbabwe. In another amendment proposal, Zam-bia sought the transfer of its population of AfricanElephants from Appendix I to Appendix II for thepurpose of a one-off sale of 17 t of whole ivory tuskscurrently held by the government, and the export of liveanimals under “special circumstances”. And finally, ina contrary move, Kenya and India submitted a proposal,as they did at the 11th meeting, to transfer all AfricanElephant populations currently in Appendix II back toAppendix I, arguing that elephant poaching and illegaltrade in ivory continued and that listing all elephantpopulations in Appendix I would be a precautionarymeasure.



C I T E S C o P 12

Discussions on the suite of elephant issues commencedat the fifth African Elephant Range States Dialoguemeeting, which was convened from 29 to 31 October inSantiago, just prior to the 12th meeting of the Confer-ence of the Parties. As in the past, this meeting allowedAfrican countries with elephant populations an advanceopportunity to deliberate on all CITES agenda items per-taining to the species. Facilitated by the CITESSecretariat, chaired by Mr D. Koulagna Koutou fromCameroon, and attended by 24 of the 37 AfricanElephant range States, the meeting concluded with acommuniqué which, among other things, presented aconsensus agreement on future trade in elephant ivory.There were two main elements to the consensus. First,Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe wouldbe allowed a conditional, one-off sale of registered, gov-ernment-owned stocks of raw ivory of national origin,amounting to the volumes declared in their amendmentproposals, to designated and formally-approved tradingpartners with sufficient controls to ensure that none ofthe imported ivory would be re-exported, and that itwould be managed in full compliance with the provi-sions of Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.) concerninginternal trade in ivory. No such trade would be permit-ted before May 2004, specifically to allow MIKE(Monitoring of the Illegal Killing of Elephants), the des-ignated monitoring system for tracking the illegal killingof elephants, time to establish and report on baselineinformation. Secondly, provided that the monitoringsystems were able to present the necessary ‘feedback’information, and a future meeting of the AfricanElephant Range States Dialogue agreed, annual quotasfor trade in raw ivory could be established in accordancewith Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.). In other develop-ments, reservations were expressed about Zambia’sproposal and the country was urged to incorporate anumber of amendments prior to its presentation at the12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties. TheDialogue meeting also agreed to certain modifications toResolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.) and to submit two draftdecisions to Committee I for consideration. Kenya,whose proposal with India to place all elephantpopulations back in Appendix I was ostensibly rejectedby the meeting, objected to the consensus agreement andthis was duly noted in the document that came forwardto the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

The Dialogue communiqué, presented in Doc. 12.20.1Results of the African Elephant Dialogue Meeting,formed the basis for the formal deliberations on elephantconservation issues in Committee I. The agenda com-menced with presentations on the two CITES-monitoring systems for elephants. Addressing Doc.12.34.1 Illegal Trade in Ivory and other ElephantSpecimens, TRAFFIC summarized the three reports onthe Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS). Thesereports included the results of the first comprehensiveanalysis of the ETIS data, which concluded that illegaltrade in ivory is most directly linked to the existence oflarge-scale, unregulated, domestic ivory markets in

Africa and Asia and that, due to the influence of anemerging market in China, illicit trade in ivory hassteadily increased since 1998. The ETIS reportsrecommended the establishment of a formal mechanismunder the direction of the Standing Committee to evaluatemajor domestic ivory markets against the provisions forinternal trade in ivory outlined in Resolution Conf. 10.10(Rev.). Concurrently, and based on Doc. 12.34.2 IllegalHunting of Elephants, a similar presentation on MIKEwas given. In this regard, the Director of MIKE outlinedprogress that had been made with establishing the site-based system in Africa, and future plans for establishingand implementing the system in Asia. In sum, consider-able progress in Africa had resulted in over 80% of thesites producing data on a regular basis, while activation ofMIKE in Asia was only just beginning owing to the timeit had taken to secure adequate funding.

As a consequence of the ensuing discussion on ETIS andMIKE, and following on from the consensus reached atthe African Elephant Range States Dialogue meeting,two draft decisions were introduced. The first calledupon Parties, donors and organizations “to provideurgent financial and technical support” for the imple-mentation of Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.) with respectto internal trade in ivory in elephant range States. Thesecond endorsed the establishment of an inter-sessionalprocess whereby the Secretariat would evaluate compli-ance of currently active internal ivory markets with theprovisions of Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.) for internaltrade in ivory and submit a report on its findings to the50th meeting of the Standing Committee. In cases ofnon-compliance, the suspension of all trade in CITES-listed specimens with the Party in question wasspecifically articulated in the decision as a possibleoption. The Parties originally named in the draftdecision from the Dialogue meeting were Cameroon,China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti,Ethiopia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, and the USA,while Japan was added without objection following thediscussion in Committee I. Both of these Decisions(12.36 and 12.39, respectively) were adopted by con-sensus by the Parties.

Proposed revisions to Resolution Conf. 10.10 (Rev.),which stemmed from a submission by Kenya and Indiafound in Doc. 12.34.3 Revision of Resolution Conf.10.10 (Rev.) on Trade in Elephant Specimens, andwhich had been further revised during the Dialoguemeeting and presented in Annex 3 of Doc. 20.1, wereintroduced, discussed and accepted. The principalchanges strengthened requirements for control ofdomestic ivory markets, established the inter-sessionalprocess under the Standing Committee for evaluatingcompliance of specified countries with the outlinedcontrols for internal trade in ivory, and provided thebasis for an independent technical advisory group toassist with the implementation of MIKE and ETIS.These changes were accepted by consensus.


Other proposed changes to Resolution Conf. 10.10(Rev.) outlined in Doc. 12.34.4 Revision of ResolutionConf. 10.10 (Rev.) in Relation to Quotas and Trade inIvory, which had been prepared by the CITESSecretariat, were withdrawn.

In accordance with the consensus reached during theAfrican Elephant Range States Dialogue meeting,Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe amend-ed their original proposals to subject the one-off sale andfuture annual quotas to the conditions outlined above andcontained in Annex 2 of Doc. 20.1. Following a generalpresentation on elephant conservation in southern Africaby Botswana, each of the proponent countries introducedtheir proposals with the appropriate amendments. Duringthe ensuing debate, the USA moved to amend theproposals further in a manner that would have the effectof specifically linking the scope of MIKE to both Africanand Asian Elephants, postpone the one-off sale of rawivory stocks to a decision of the CITES StandingCommittee in 2005, and eliminate the annual quotas alto-gether. Botswana, rejecting key elements of the USproposal, offered another amended version which elimi-nated the request for annual quotas, but kept the “notbefore May 2004” timing, the need for MIKE to report onbaseline information, and the requirement for the Stand-ing Committee to certify that all of the agreed conditionshad been met. Botswana and Namibia also dropped theirrequest to allow trade in worked ivory products. Becauseit was less restrictive than the proposal offered by theUSA, the Parties voted on Botswana’s amended proposalfirst, approving it in a secret ballot, with 59 in favour, 26against and 21 abstentions. Namibia’s proposal, similar-ly amended, was accepted in a secret ballot, with 65 infavour, 28 against and 22 abstentions. Likewise, SouthAfrica’s proposal was carried by 65 votes in favour, 24against and 25 abstentions in a secret ballot, but theParties rejected Zimbabwe’s proposal by 60 in favour, 45against and ten abstentions.

Zambia’s proposal sought the transfer of its AfricanElephant population to Appendix II and a one-off sale ofsome 17 t of raw ivory. Citing the need for revenue tosupport elephant conservation, particularly the deficien-cies cited in the Panel of Experts report, Zambiaacknowledged that there were a number of key issuesthat needed to be addressed, and accepted a delay untilMay 2004. In a secret ballot, the Zambian proposalfailed to win a two-thirds majority vote and was defeated57 votes in favour, 54 against and two abstentions.

Finally, during a plenary session, Kenya proposed adecision that would require the Standing Committee atits 49th meeting to further clarify terminology and otherprocedures in annotation °604 pertaining to the futureimplementation of MIKE and the basis for concludingthat “a detrimental impact” had resulted from anyapproved trade in ivory under CITES. During discus-sion, amendments to the proposed decision were offeredby Namibia, and accepted by the Parties, to have the


C I T E S C o P 12

Standing Committee, “in consultation with the MIKECentral Co-ordinating Unit and IUCN”, define the geo-graphical scope and the nature of the data that wouldconstitute the baseline for MIKE. The final decisionalso required the Standing Committee “to recommendmeasures for improving law enforcement co-ordinationbetween ivory producing and ivory importing States”.

In the final analysis, the Parties generally followedthe framework of the consensus that emerged from theAfrican Elephant Range States Dialogue meeting andagreed a compromise that allows selected southernAfrican countries a future opportunity to benefit from aconditional one-off sale of ivory, provided that MIKEbecomes operational to the point of establishing acredible baseline. At the same time, the Parties used theresults of ETIS to commence actions through an inter-sessional process against key domestic ivory marketswhich fail to comply with Resolution Conf. 10.10(Rev.). This represents a cautious move away from sub-jecting elephant conservation under CITES to a regimenof strict protection, but subjects future trade to a systemof checks and balances. The onus is once again on theCITES monitoring systems to become dynamic instru-ments that fulfil the requirements of the Parties.

Humphead Wrasse

The USA submitted a proposal to list the HumpheadWrasse Cheilinus undulatus in Appendix II. This species,which occurs throughout the Indo-Pacific region, is slowgrowing, long-lived, and late maturing, making it highlyvulnerable to overexploitation. It is the most highlyvalued of all species in the live reef food fish trade inAsia. Catches for international trade have already result-ed in widespread declines in local populations and thereis concern that increasing demand for the species willplace further pressure on remaining populations in theabsence of greater controls. Parties opposing the proposalbelieved, variously, that FAO should be the responsibleagency for commercial fish stocks; that the proposalwould be difficult to implement; and, it would not addressdestructive fishery practices, which were the major causeof the decline in the species. Among the reasons cited byParties in favour of the proposal was that a listing wouldhelp ensure sustainable fisheries practices and wouldassist in implementing domestic legislation. The proposalwas rejected following a secret ballot, with 65 votes infavour, 42 against and five abstentions.

Seahorses and other members of the familySyngnathidae

The USA submitted a proposal to include Hippocampusspp. in Appendix II. There are 32 recognized subspeciesof seahorses, all falling within the genus Hippocampus.It is evident that some species are vulnerable to exploita-tion and the international trade in specimens for use inaquaria, as curios, and as medicine, has increased signif-icantly in recent years. Of the 23 species currently foundin trade, 16 (65%) are classified by IUCN as Vulnerable.



C I T E S C o P 1 2

The listing proposal was informed by a workshop onseahorses and other members of the family Syngnathidae,convened by the Secretariat in the Philippines in May2002. That workshop recommended the Appendix II-list-ing and that the effective date of the listing be delayed by18 months (until May 2004) in order to ensure effectiveimplementation. Parties accepted the proposal and theproposed delay in implementation, with 75 votes in favour,24 against and 19 abstentions. In plenary, a motion byChina, which had opposed the listing proposal, to re-openthe debate was defeated, with eight votes in favour and 69against. Since the 12th meeting of the Conference of theParties, Indonesia, Japan, Norway and South Korea havetaken out reservations with respect to the listing.

Sharks

Two shark species were proposed for listing inAppendix II: the Whale Shark Rhincodon typus, proposedby India and the Philippines, and the Basking SharkCetorhinus maximus, proposed by the UK on behalf of theMember States of the EU. These proposals led to intensediscussions that focused on both the technical merits of thelisting proposals themselves and a broader debate overwhether CITES was an appropriate instrument for regulat-ing the trade in commercially-fished marine species. Bothproposals were defeated in Committee I by secret ballot,the Whale Shark proposal by 62 votes in favour, 34 againstand nine abstentions, and the Basking Shark by 72 votes infavour, 38 against and two abstentions. In the last plenarysession of the meeting, discussion on both proposals wasreopened for further debate and again put to secret ballot.This time both proposals received the required two-thirdsmajority to be accepted, with 81 votes in favour of the list-ing of the Whale Shark (with 37 against and three absten-tions) and 82 in favour of the Basking Shark listing (36against and two abstentions).

Prior to the meeting, the Australian and Ecuadoriangovernments provided discussion papers on theconservation of sharks (Doc. 12.41.1 and Doc. 41.2,respectively), both containing a draft resolution. The twoParties re-drafted these documents as a joint paper(Conservation of and Trade in Sharks Doc. 41.2addendum) that was presented at the meeting for theconsideration of the Parties. In discussing the paper anddraft resolution many Parties raised particular concernsover the lack of progress on the implementation of theFAO International Plan of Action on the Conservationand Management of Sharks (IPOA-Sharks). With somesuggested changes to the text, Resolution Conf. 12.6 andDecisions 12.47, 12.48 and 12.49 were accepted bysecret ballot, with 63 votes in favour and 28 against. TheResolutions and Decisions direct the Animals Committeeto monitor the implementation of IPOA-Sharks and toexamine information provided by range States in sharkassessment reports and other available relevantdocuments, with a view to identifying key species andexamining these for consideration and possible listingunder CITES. The Committee was to report on progressat the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

After a narrow defeat in Committee I, the listing in

Appendix II of Basking Shark Cetorhinus maximus and

Whale Shark Rhincodon typus succeeded in the final hours

of the meeting.

These listings are widely considered landmark decisions as

CITES has not traditionally played a major role in global

marine fisheries.

The Whale Shark is the largest fish in the world. The listing

proposal cited the species’ declining numbers and the role

of continued international trade in Whale Shark meat, fins,

and liver oil. The Basking Shark is highly migratory and is

hunted for its meat and fins. It is also caught and killed

accidentally as by-catch.

Drawings by Bruce Mahalski for TRAFFIC

Humphead Wrasse Cheilinus undulatus

A proposal to list Humphead Wrasse, used extensively in the

live reef food fish trade, in Appendix II was rejected.

Basking Shark Cetorhinus maximus

Whale Shark Rhincodon typus


Toothfish

Australia put forward a proposal to list Dissostichus spp.(Patagonian Toothfish and Antarctic Toothfish) inAppendix II and a document Doc. 12.44 Conservationof and Trade in Dissostichus Species. The proposal tolist toothfish was particularly controversial as it relatedto marine fish targeted in a large-scale commercialfishery managed throughout much of the species’ rangeby a regional fisheries organization - the Commission forthe Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources(CCAMLR). The proposal included an annotation thatsought to establish the basic elements of a complemen-tary relationship between CCAMLR and CITES. Thetoothfish proposal brought into sharp focus the debatesurrounding the relationship between CITES andcommercially exploited marine fisheries.

As well as the proposal to list Dissostichus spp. inAppendix II, Parties were also presented with adocument from Chile on Co-operation between CITESand CCAMLR Regarding the Trade in Toothfish(Doc. 12.16.1. (Rev. 1)). This paper included a draft res-olution setting out the main elements of co-operationbetween CITES and CCAMLR and called for CITESParties engaged in the catch and/or trade in toothfish toadopt the relevant measures of CCAMLR and provide areport on their implementation of these measures. TheSecretariat would compile this information for consider-ation at the 13th meeting of the Conference of theParties. The premise of the draft resolution was there-fore to strengthen CCAMLR’s management measuresfor toothfish through their voluntary uptake by CITESParties. Parties expressed support for the Chilean draftresolution, with some cautioning of the need to maintainthe primacy of CCAMLR in the management of thefishery, while others welcomed greater collaborationbetween the two organizations in addressingconservation concerns with toothfish. The Secretariatdrew attention to certain elements of the draft resolutionthat were time-bound and suggested that these would beappropriate in a decision. The Parties adopted the reso-lution by consensus.

Following the adoption by Parties of Resolution Conf.12.4 on the co-operation between CITES and CCAMLR,Australia withdrew the proposal to list Dissostichus spp.in Appendix II and the accompanying document onconservation and trade in toothfish species. There was nodiscussion of these before they were withdrawn.

Vicuña

Three separate proposals relating to Vicuña Vicugnavicugna were adopted by consensus. One, submitted byBolivia, sought to transfer those of their Vicuñapopulations that were listed in Appendix I to AppendixII, with the exclusive purpose of allowing internationaltrade in products made from wool sheared from liveanimals and bearing the label ‘VICUÑA-BOLIVIA’.The proposal drew attention to the benefits that would


C I T E S C o P 12

accrue to local communities and Vicuña populations if itwere accepted. Japan, joining a number of Parties insupport of the proposal, highlighted that this was a goodexample of sustainable trade contributing to speciesconservation and community development.

Argentina’s proposal to transfer from Appendix I toII the population of Vicuñas in the province of Cata-marca, for the exclusive purpose of allowinginternational trade in wool sheared from live animals,cloth, derived manufactured products and other handi-craft artefacts bearing the label ‘VICUÑA-ARGENTI-NA’, also received support.

In introducing a proposal to transfer the populationof Vicuñas of the Primera Region of Chile fromAppendix I to II through a modification of annotations-106 (part of the population of Parinacota Province, 1a.Region of Tarapacá) and +211 (part of the population ofParinacota Province, 1a. Region of Tarapacá), Chilestressed that annotation °606 (for the exclusive purposeof allowing international trade in wool sheared from liveVicuñas of the populations listed in Appendix II) wouldapply if the proposal were accepted. Some observerswere concerned that captive-breeding operations mightnot benefit local communities and could have a detri-mental effect on wild Vicuña populations as the much-needed incentives for the conservation of wildpopulations are weak or non-existent when “semi-cap-tive” breeding operations are developed as the mainmanagement option. They appealed to range States toconcentrate more on benefiting local communities andwild Vicuña populations. The Secretariat urged Chileand other range States to harmonize conservation strate-gies for Vicuñas in the wild.

Whales

Japan introduced its proposals to transfer northern hemi-sphere stocks of Minke Whale Balaenoptera acuto-rostrata (except the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and Seaof Japan stock) and western North Pacific stocks ofBryde’s Whale B. edeni from Appendix I to II to enabletrade between signatory Parties to the InternationalConvention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW).Citing stock abundance, Japan stated that both speciesfail to meet criteria for Appendix I listing. It furtherrequested an amendment to clarify the proposals’ objec-tive: to allow trade “by Parties” to the ICRW, rather thantrade “between Parties.” After protest by some Parties,delegates voted by a simple majority that the amend-ment would increase the scope of the proposals andshould therefore be disallowed. Discussions were there-fore based on the original proposals. Noting robust whalestocks and lack of a scientific basis for Appendix I-listing,many delegates supported Japan’s proposals. Norwayand Iceland supported the proposals but, with the RussianFederation, raised concerns that the proposals’ annota-tions present implementation challenges and imposeunwarranted trade restrictions.



C I T E S C o P 12

Parties debated the relationship between CITES and theInternational Whaling Commission (IWC), with Iceland statingthat the IWC moratorium had no scientific basis. Pakistanstressed that CITES should be led by its own criteria and Grena-da said that whales should not be considered under CITES, ifwhale-related issues continue to be deferred to the IWC. TheSecretariat confirmed the IWC’s designated role in dealing withwhales and, together with Brazil, stated that the proposalsundermine that role.

Canada, Chile, EU, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Monaco,USA and the International Environmental Law Project opposedthe proposals, stating that the species do not meet Appendix IIlisting criteria and that downlisting would cause enforcementproblems. Australia outlined implementation problems in dis-tinguishing robust from endangered whale stocks. Fiji ques-tioned the number of whales culled for research and invitedJapan to analyse its data. IFAW reported that whale meat fromendangered species was being sold on the market, and WWFnoted scientific and legal concerns in Japan’s proposals andannotations.

In a vote by secret ballot, suggested by Japan, both proposalsfailed, with 41 votes in favour and 54 against the downlisting ofthe Minke Whale, and 43 votes in favour and 63 against thedownlisting of Bryde’s Whale.

Japan reopened the debate on the Minke Whale in plenary,amending its proposal to consider transferring only the North-western Pacific stock of Minke Whales to Appendix II. Theamended proposal was rejected by secret ballot, with 53 votes infavour and 66 against. The decision to reject the Bryde’s whaleproposal was adopted in plenary.

It is interesting to note that similar whale proposalspresented at the ninth and 10th meetings of the Conference ofthe Parties received simple majorities.

Mexico introduced a document on the Co-operationbetween CITES and the IWC (Doc. 12.16.4), while Japanintroduced a proposal on abundant cetacean stocks (Doc. 12.38).Both these documents were withdrawn following the rejectionof the proposals to transfer from Appendix I to Appendix IIstocks of the two whale species.

Flora

Discussion of the trade in medicinal plants included considera-tion of work on Devil’s Claw Harpagophytum spp. undertakensince the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Doc.12.46), when a proposal to include this genus in Appendix IIwas considered and subsequently withdrawn.

All species in the genus Guaiacum - small evergreen trees andshrubs of the Americas - were included in Appendix II at therequest of the member States of the EU. Two species - G. offic-inale and G. sanctum - were already listed in Appendix II, theirwood traded internationally for medicinal and other purposes.The amendment expanded coverage to species such as G. coul-teri, traded internationally for mechanical bearings (e.g. for boatpropeller shafts), and G. angustifolium, native to the southwest-ern USA and northern Mexico and used locally for soap andmedicinal purposes.

a long-lived conifer

endemic to Chile and

Argentina, the species

is used for timber

and as a horticultural

plant. The proposal

to include non-native

populations in

Appendix I was

accepted.

Bigleaf Mahogany

Swietenia macrophylla is

one of the most valuable

tropical timber species in

international trade.

Neotropical populations

of this species were

included in Appendix II,

effective 15 November

2003.

OPUNTIA BRASILIENSIS >

MONKEY PUZZLE TREE >ARAUCARIA ARAUCANA

the proposal to remove

cacti species in the sub-

family Opuntioideae

from Appendix II was

withdrawn. High volumes

of wild specimens of a

few Opuntia species have

been exported on

occasion from Mexico

and the USA in recent

years.

MAHOGANY >SWIETENIA SP.



C I T E S C o P 12

< CYMBIDIUM SP.

a proposed annotation

intended to reduce the

trade in wild-collected

orchids by increasing

incentives for trade in

artificially propagated

specimens was

discussed at the meeting.

< DENDROBIUM SP.

the proposed annotation,

referred to above,

intended to exclude from

CITES controls artificially

propagated specimens of

hybrids within six orchid

genera. It was amended

at the meeting to include

Phalaenopsis species only,

and accepted.

< DUDLEYA SP.

Santa Barbara Island

Dudleya Dudleya

traskiae, a small

succulent plant species

endemic to an island in

North America, was

transferred from

Appendix I to II. There

is no evidence of illegal

collection or trade in this

protected species.

PH

OTO

GR

AP

HS

: K. L

OC

HE

N/T

RA

FFIC

Nicaragua introduced Doc.12.50 to include Bigleaf MahoganySwietenia macrophylla in Appendix II, believing that thecurrent Appendix-III listing was inadequate to address many ofthe concerns associated with trade in the species. They notedthat not all range States had included the species in AppendixIII, and that this had led to problems with the implementationof the Convention. They stressed that the proposed Appendix-II listing would only cover populations occurring in the Amer-icas.

Guatemala, as co-proponent, suggested the proposal beamended so that the Appendix-II listing would not take placeuntil one year after the meeting. The Secretariat explained thatan Appendix-II listing would require that a non-detriment find-ing be made.

Costa Rica, speaking on behalf of the Central AmericanCommission for Environment and Development, and supportedby Ecuador, Mexico and the UK, were in favour of theproposal, noting that populations were still declining and thatan Appendix-II listing would support sustainable use. Den-mark, on behalf of the Member States of the EU, stated that anAppendix-II listing would not be used to ban imports.Indonesia and the observer from Greenpeace also supported theproposal.

Bolivia, Brazil, Ghana and Peru did not support theproposal, Ghana believing the International Tropical TimberOrganization to be the more appropriate body for managing thespecies. Bolivia outlined its new forestry management system,stating that mahogany was not threatened in Bolivia and iturged the range States that had not yet done so to list thespecies in Appendix III.

Noting there was no consensus, a vote conducted by secretballot was proposed, the result of which was 68 in favour, 30opposed and 14 abstentions. The proposal was thereforeaccepted. Brazil expressed its concern that a CITES AppendixII-listing would hinder the access of mahogany to consumermarkets and hoped that procedures established in theConvention for monitoring the international trade of mahoganywould fully take into account the national laws and regulationsof the exporting countries.

Reports from the meeting were contributed by:

C. Allan, A. Barden, S. Broad, X. Buitrón, M. Burgener,K. Davis, S. Habel, K. Lochen, T. Milliken, T. Mulliken,R. Parry-Jones, C. Raymakers, A. Reuter, G. Sant, A. Willockand S. Zain. Information was also extracted from the minutesof the meeting available at www.cites.org.



C I T E S C o P 12

Decisions on Amendment Proposals at the 12th Meeting of the Conference ofthe Parties to CITESThe following pages summarize the proposals that were adopted, rejected and withdrawn at the 12th meeting of the Conference of theParties to CITES held, from 3 to 15 November 2002, in Santiago, Chile. Unless otherwise indicated, the decisions entered into forceon 13 February 2003. The countries that put forward the proposals are named in parentheses.

SPECIES PROPOSALS (PROPONENT) RESULT

Amendment of annotation °607 to exclude from the Convention synthetically derived DNA that WITHDRAWNdoes not contain any part of the original; urine and faeces; synthetically produced medicines and other pharmaceutical products such as vaccines that do not contain any part of the originalgenetic material from which they are derived; and fossils (Switzerland)

FAUNALovebirds Agapornis spp. Annotation to exclude colour morphs produced by captive breeding (Switzerland) REJECTEDBarnardius spp. [as amended]Platycercus spp.Yellow-crowned Parakeet

Cyanorhamphus auricepsNew Zealand Parakeet

C. novaezelandiaeAlexandrine Parakeet

Psittacula eupatriaRing-necked Parakeet

P. krameriJava Sparrow

Padda oryzivora

Black Sea Transfer from Appendix II to Appendix I (Georgia) ACCEPTED Bottlenose Dolphin [as amended to retain inTursiops truncatus ponticus Appendix-II with zero export

quota for live specimens from the Black Sea population ofTursiops truncatus removedfrom the wild and traded forprimarily commercialpurposes]

Minke Whale Transfer from Appendix I to Appendix II of northern hemisphere populations REJECTEDBalaenoptera acutorostrata (except the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and Sea of Japan populations) with annotation (Japan)

Bryde’s Whale Transfer from Appendix I to Appendix II of the western North Pacific population REJECTEDBalaenoptera edeni (Japan) [as amended

Okhotsk Sea-West Pacific stock only]

African Elephant Amendment of annotation °604 regarding the population of Botswana (Botswana)1 ACCEPTEDLoxodonta africana [as amended]

African Elephant Amendment of annotation °604 regarding the Namibian population (Namibia)1 ACCEPTEDLoxodonta africana [as amended]

African Elephant Amendment of annotation °604 regarding the South African population (South Africa)1 ACCEPTEDLoxodonta africana [as amended]

African Elephant Transfer of the Zambian population from Appendix I to Appendix II for the purpose of REJECTED Loxodonta africana allowing trade in raw ivory under a quota of 17 000 kg of whole tusks obtained from

management operations; and live sales under special circumstances (Zambia)

African Elephant Amendment of annotation °604 regarding the population of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe) REJECTEDLoxodonta africana

African Elephant Transfer to Appendix I of populations currently included in Appendix II (India, Kenya) WITHDRAWNLoxodonta africana

Vicuña Transfer from Appendix I to Appendix II of the population of Vicuña of the province of Catamarca ACCEPTEDVicugna vicugna (Argentina)

Vicuña Transfer to Appendix II of the populations of Bolivia that are in Appendix I (Bolivia) ACCEPTEDVicugna vicugna

Vicuña Transfer from Appendix I to Appendix II of the population of the Primera Región of Chile (Chile) ACCEPTEDVicugna vicugna

Lesser Rhea Transfer from Appendix I to Appendix II of the Chilean population (Chile) ACCEPTEDRhea pennata pennata

Yellow-naped Amazon Transfer from Appendix II to Appendix I (Costa Rica) ACCEPTEDAmazona auropalliata



C I T E S C o P 12

Yellow-headed Amazon Transfer from Appendix II to Appendix I (Mexico) ACCEPTEDAmazona oratrix

Blue-headed Macaw Transfer from Appendix II to Appendix I (Germany) ACCEPTEDAra couloni

Brown-necked Parrot Transfer of the South African population from Appendix II to Appendix I (South Africa) WITHDRAWNPoicephalus robustus

Big-headed Turtle Inclusion in Appendix II (China, USA) ACCEPTEDPlatysternon megacephalum

Annam Pond Turtle Inclusion in Appendix II (China, Germany) ACCEPTEDAnnamemys annamensis

Heosemys spp. Inclusion in Appendix II (China, Germany) ACCEPTED[as amended to refer to Heosemys depressa,H. grandis, H. leytensis andH. spinosa (and notHeosemys spp.).]

Yellow-headed Temple Turtle Inclusion in Appendix II (China, USA) ACCEPTEDHieremys annandalii

Kachuga spp. Inclusion in Appendix II (India, USA) ACCEPTED(except K. tecta)

Sulawesi Forest Turtle Inclusion in Appendix II (China, Germany) ACCEPTEDLeucocephalon yuwonoi

Yellow Pond Turtle Inclusion in Appendix II (China, USA) ACCEPTEDMauremys mutica

Malaysian Giant Turtle Inclusion in Appendix II (China, Germany) ACCEPTEDOrlitia borneensis

Keeled Box Turtle Inclusion in Appendix II (China, USA) ACCEPTEDPyxidea mouhotii

Black Marsh Turtle Inclusion in Appendix II (China, USA) ACCEPTEDSiebenrockiella crassicollis

Chitra spp. Inclusion in Appendix II (China, USA) ACCEPTED

Giant softshell turtles Inclusion in Appendix II (China, USA) ACCEPTEDPelochelys spp.

Hoplodactylus spp. and Inclusion in Appendix II (New Zealand) REJECTEDNaultinus spp.

Orange-throated Race-runner Deletion from Appendix II (USA) ACCEPTEDCnemidophorus hyperythrus

Whale Shark Inclusion in Appendix II (India, the Philippines) ACCEPTED Rhincodon typus

Basking Shark Inclusion in Appendix II (UK) ACCEPTEDCetorhinus maximus

Seahorses Inclusion in Appendix II (USA) ACCEPTEDHippocampus spp. [as amended, effective

15 May 2004]

Humphead Wrasse Inclusion in Appendix II (USA) REJECTEDCheilinus undulatus

Patagonian Toothfish Inclusion in Appendix II, with annotation (Australia) WITHDRAWNDissostichus eleginoidesAntarctic Toothfish D. mawsonii

Sri Lankan Rose Inclusion in Appendix IIAtrophaneura jophon (Germany, on behalf of the EU) ACCEPTEDA. pandiyana

Papilio aristophontes Inclusion in Appendix II (Germany, on behalf of the Member States of the EU) WITHDRAWNP. nireus and P. sosia



C I T E S C o P 12

F L O R AMonkey Puzzle Tree Inclusion in Appendix I (all populations) (Argentina) ACCEPTEDAraucaria araucana

All CACTACEAE taxa Amendment of the text of the annotation °608 that refers to artificially propagated specimens ACCEPTEDlisted in Appendix II (cultivars) of Gymnocalycium mihanovichii forms lacking chlorophyll (Switzerland)

Opuntioideae spp. Deletion from Appendix II (Switzerland) WITHDRAWN

Pereskioideae spp. Deletion from Appendix II (Switzerland) WITHDRAWNPereskiopsis spp.Quiabentia spp.

Sclerocactus nyensis Transfer from Appendix II to Appendix I (USA) ACCEPTED

Sclerocactus spinosior Transfer from Appendix II to Appendix I (USA) WITHDRAWNssp. blainei

Santa Barbara Island Transfer from Appendix I to Appendix II (USA) ACCEPTEDDudleya Dudleya traskiae

Aloe thorncroftii Transfer from Appendix I to Appendix II (South Africa) ACCEPTED

Bigleaf Mahogany Inclusion in Appendix II of the neotropical populations, ACCEPTEDSwietenia macrophylla including logs, sawn wood, veneer sheets (Nicaragua) [as amended, effective

15 November 2003]

ORCHIDACEAE spp. Annotation to exclude artificially propagated specimens of hybrids within the genera ACCEPTEDCattleya, Cymbidium, Dendrobium (phalaenopsis and nobile types only), Oncidium, [as amended for hybrids Phalaenopsis and Vanda, including their intergeneric hybrids (USA) within the genus

Phalaenopsis only]

Desert-living Cistanche Deletion of the annotation to Cistanche deserticola in Appendix II (China) ACCEPTEDCistanche deserticola

Maguire’s Bitter-root Deletion from Appendix II (USA) ACCEPTEDLewisia maguirei

Guaiacum spp. Inclusion in Appendix II of all parts and derivatives, including wood, bark and extract (Germany) ACCEPTED[as amended to replace theproposed annotation withexisting annotation #2]

1Populations of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa (listed in Appendix II):For the exclusive purpose of allowing: 1) trade in hunting trophies for non-commercial purposes; 2) trade in live animals for in situ conservation programmes; 3) trade inhides; 4) trade in leather goods for non-commercial purposes; 5) trade in registered raw ivory (for Botswana and Namibia, whole tusks and pieces; for South Africa,whole tusks and cut pieces of ivory that are both 20 cm or more in length and one kilogramme or more in weight) subject to the following: i) only registered govern-ment-owned stocks, originating in the State (excluding seized ivory and ivory of unknown origin) and, in the case of South Africa, only ivory originating from theKruger National Park); ii) only to trading partners that have been verified by the Secretariat, in consultation with the Standing Committee, to have sufficient national leg-islation and domestic trade controls to ensure that the imported ivory will not be re-exported and will be managed in accordance with all requirements of ResolutionConf. 10.10 (Rev. CoP12) concerning domestic manufacturing and trade; iii) not before May 2004, and in any event not before the Secretariat has verified the prospec-tive importing countries, and the MIKE programme has reported to the Secretariat on the baseline information (e.g. elephant population numbers, incidence of illegalkilling); iv) a maximum of 20 000 kg (Botswana), 10 000 kg (Namibia) and 30 000 kg (South Africa) of ivory may be traded, and despatched in a single shipment understrict supervision of the Secretariat; v) the proceeds of the trade are used exclusively for elephant conservation and community conservation and development pro-grammes within or adjacent to the elephant range; vi) only after the Standing Committee has agreed that the above conditions have been met. On a proposal from theSecretariat, the Standing Committee can decide to cause this trade to cease partially or completely in the event of non-compliance by exporting or importing countries, orin the case of proven detrimental impacts of the trade on other elephant populations. All other specimens shall be deemed to be specimens of species included inAppendix I and the trade in them shall be regulated accordingly.



Keith M. Martin-Smith, Timothy Fung-ngai Lamand Samuel Kwok-hung Lee

P ipehorses - large members of the seahorse familySyngnathidae - are highly valuable ingredients intraditional Chinese medicine (TCM). The volume,

value, sources and trade routes of pipehorses ininternational trade remain poorly understood, however.This study, carried out in Hong Kong SAR (SpecialAdministrative Region) in January 2002, provides firstestimates of these variables from interviews with whole-salers, retail surveys and Customs data. It appears thatat least 1000-2000 kg of pipehorses are traded eachyear within Hong Kong, with a retail value ofHKD2700-6700 per kg. Historically, Australia has beenthe most important source nation. However, indirectestimates from Customs data suggest that Malaysia, thePhilippines and particularly Thailand may also beimportant exporters of pipehorses to Hong Kong. Theeffect of trade on the survival of pipehorse populationscannot be evaluated at present. To ensure long-termsustainability of pipehorse trade and to avoid the needto consider listing under CITES, increased engagementwith TCM stakeholders is required. This will allowmore precise evaluation of the trade, determination ofalternatives to pipehorses in TCM and acceptability ofmanagement measures or controls. In addition, report-ing by genus or species from other source and importnations is urgently required to determine the globaleffects of trade on pipehorses.

INTRODUCTION

The international trade in marine fishes of the familySyngnathidae - seahorses and their relatives - has beenthe subject of increasing concern in recent years (Vin-cent, 1995, 1996). Dried specimens are prized intraditional medicine - traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) in particular - and are used as curios. Live sea-horses and some pipefish are traded as aquarium fishes.Declines in catches of up to 50% from some seahorse

fisheries were reported over a five-year period in theearly 1990s (Vincent, 1996). Further work since 1996has indicated declines in the commonly traded speciesin a number of countries (Project Seahorse, unpublisheddata). In response to declines and perceived threats, 37species of syngnathid were first listed in the IUCN RedList in 1996 (Ballie and Groombridge, 1996), althougha number of the species’ names used have since beenrevised (Lourie et al., 1999). Forty-five species of syn-gnathid are found on the 2002 IUCN Red List (Hilton-Taylor, 2002). In recognition of continuing declines andpotential trade threats, seahorses (genus Hippocampus)were accepted for listing in CITES Appendix II inNovember 2002 (CITES, 2002).

Apart from seahorses, other syngnathids extensivelytraded internationally include pipehorses1 of the genusSolegnathus and the Double-ended Pipefish Syng-nathoides biaculeatus. It is believed that these animalsare traded almost exclusively as dried specimens for theTCM trade. Pipehorses are perceived to be of high med-icinal value and are among the most valuable syng-nathids in TCM (Vincent, 1996). They have similarmedicinal uses to seahorses (see Box 1). Global trade inpipehorses is poorly understood. Vincent (1996)provided limited data on imports and exports for somecountries including Australia, China, Hong Kong, thePhilippines and Taiwan. However, it was not possible toextract quantitative data from the figures provided astrade records lumped pipehorses with pipefishes. In2002, the only country reporting trade (exports) inpipehorses separately was Australia, although a numberof other countries reported trade for pipehorses andpipefishes combined.

There are no known target fisheries for pipehorses asthey are generally found in deep water and at low abun-dance. The source of pipehorses for trade is incidentalbycatch from non-selective fishing gears (see Box 2).

As one component of a larger study to investigateglobal trade in pipehorses, a study was conducted inHong Kong. This region was selected for its knowninvolvement in the trade (Vincent, 1996) and because ofthe work being done in the region by the Marine Medi-

1The Chinese names for Solegnathus spp. (da hai long) and Syngnathoides biaculeatus (xiao hai long) in TCM are often translated as ‘seadragon’ (largeand small respectively). However, in general English language usage, seadragon is reserved for the two endemic Australian species - the Leafy Sea-dragon Phycodurus eques and the Common or Weedy Seadragon Phyllopteryx taeniolatus - neither of which is used in TCM. In New Zealand, Sole-gnathus spinosissimus is often called the Spiny Seadragon. For consistency, in this paper the term ‘pipehorse’ will be used for all Solegnathus spp.

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K.M. Martin-Smith, T.F. Lam and S.K. Lee

cinal Conservation Programme of Project Seahorse(MMCP-PS), in collaboration with TRAFFIC East Asia.The objectives of the study were to determine whichspecies were involved in the trade, their biological char-acteristics, volumes traded and prices for which theywere sold, and trade routes.

DISTRIBUTION AND STATUS

Pipehorses have a long, narrow body, prehensile tail,extended snout and reduced or absent fins (Figure 1).The body is surrounded by dermal plates in a series ofrings which create a very rigid structure that maintainsits shape even when the animal is dead. Spines andtubercles (small, rounded nodules) are also present onthe body surface. Pipehorses can grow to more than50 cm in length and weigh 150 g wet weight (67 g dryweight), making them the largest syngnathids (seeBox 3).

Pipehorses are found in the Indo-Pacific from Japanand the South China Sea southwards through the Philip-pines and Indonesia to Australia and New Zealand (Fig-ure 2). Understanding of the distribution of specieswithin the genus is limited owing to uncertain taxonomyand their preference for deep-water habitats. The genusSolegnathus includes at least five species (Dawson,1985), although as many as nine species have been sug-gested (Kuiter, 2000). At least two species are endemicto Australia with narrow geographic ranges: Duncker’sPipehorse Solegnathus dunckeri and the RobustPipehorse S. robustus. Two further species have slight-ly larger geographic ranges - the Spiny PipehorseS. spinosissimus and Günther’s Pipehorse S. lettiensis -while one species, Hardwick’s Pipehorse S. hardwickii,appears to be widely distributed although it may proveto be a complex of different species (Kuiter, 2000). Allfive species recognized by Dawson (1985) are classifiedas Vulnerable in the 2002 IUCN Red List on the basis oftheir actual or potential levels of exploitation (Hilton-Taylor, 2002).

LEGISLATION

No international legislation directly regulates tradein pipehorses. Australia, the range nation with the mostspecies (Figure 2), has domestic legislation that protectspipehorses at both State and federal levels. All syng-nathids have been protected in Australian Common-

wealth (federal) waters (greater than three nautical milesfrom the coast) since the beginning of 1998. As mostpipehorses are caught in Commonwealth waters they areprotected under the Environment Protection and Biodi-versity Conservation Act 1999 wherein they are ‘listedmarine species’. It is an offence to take, trade, injure orkill listed marine species except under permits issued bythe Minister of the Environment. Such permits forexports of syngnathids are issued subject to amanagement plan which must be approved by the exec-utive agency, Environment Australia (within the Depart-ment of Environment and Heritage). Legal protection isvariable for pipehorses caught in Australian State waters(less than three nautical miles from the coast), rangingfrom full to no protection. In other range nations suchas New Zealand, Indonesia and the Philippines,pipehorses are subject to the provisions of fisheries leg-islation but receive no specific protection. Thus, forexample, pipehorses may not be a targeted catch in NewZealand but there are no restrictions on the retention andsale of those caught as bycatch.

METHODS

Three approaches were used to obtain data on thetrade in pipehorses in Hong Kong for use in TCM:through interviews with importers/wholesalers, surveysof retail outlets, and examination of Customs data.

Owing to the limited time available for this study, itwas not possible to contact the circa 400 TCMimporters/wholesalers who operate in Hong Kong. Alocal TCM trader association was contacted and ameeting arranged on 4 January 2002 with five TCMtraders (importers/wholesalers) who have been engagedin syngnathid trade. The purpose of the study wasexplained and the traders were asked for help in

Figure 1. Dried specimen of Hardwick’s Pipehorse showing characteristic body morphology.

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Figure 2. Known geographical distribution of pipehorses (modified from Dawson, 1985).



Trade in Pipehorses Solegnathus spp. for Traditional Medicine in Hong Kong

PIPEHORSES are invariably caught as incidental bycatch (see Box 2). It is believed that all international

trade in pipehorses involves dried animals. If they are retained by fishers, they may be dried immediately

after sorting on board the vessel, or frozen for later drying. On receipt by TCM importers or wholesalers, the

skin and viscera are removed, the specimens washed clean and left to dry in the sun. As pale pipehorses are

considered to be more efficacious in TCM, the animals may also be bleached at this stage. Although some

pipehorses may be incorporated into prepared medicines, it is believed that the vast majority of animals trad-

ed are sold whole through TCM retailers owing to their large size since large syngnathids are considered to

be more efficacious in TCM. Under the TCM system, illness is caused by an imbalance between the com-

plementary principles of yang (maleness, creation, heat, light, sun, dominance) and yin (femaleness, comple-

tion, cold, darkness, moon, submission). Pipehorses have a similar function in TCM to seahorses - to invig-

orate the yang. The Chinese Materia Medica of the Pharmacopoeia Commission of the Ministry of Health,

People’s Republic of China, states that the function of pipehorses is “to warm the kidney and promote virili-

ty, to reduce modulation, and to induce subsidence of swelling” while the indications for use include: impo-

tence and seminal emission; mass in the abdomen; scrofula; traumatic injuries; external use for carbuncles

and boils. Other reported uses include the treatment of respiratory problems, throat infections and difficult

childbirth (Bensky and Gamble, 1993; Vincent, 1996). For external use the pipehorse is ground into powder

and applied topically. When taken internally, pipehorses are used as one part of a prescription, the other ingre-

dients being dependent on the nature of the problem. The pipehorse is broken into several pieces which may

be steeped with other ingredients or added to a ‘soup’ which is then drunk.

Figure 3 (above). Syngnathids for sale in a traditional medicine shop in Hong Kong: pipehorses (jar in centre of picture),pipefish (bundle in foreground) and seahorses (jar on left).

B O X 1 . T H E P R E P A R A T I O N A N D U S E S O F P I P E H O R S E S I N T C M

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Species Number Mean total length Mean dry weight % Juveniles1 Sex ratio (male: % mature males Mean price per kg measured mm±SE (range) g±SE (range) female:undet.) with egg scars ±SE (range)

Duncker’s PipehorseSolegnathus dunckeri 11 361±5 (331-389) 13.0±0.9 (10-17) 9 7:2:2 71 HKD4320±210 (2670-6670)

Hardwick’s PipehorseSolegnathus hardwickii 248 383±3 (290-517) 20.4±0.7 (5-47) 8 95:75:78 75 HKD4320±210 (2670-6670)

Spiny PipehorseSolegnathus spinosissimus 12 328±3 (315-345) 9.3±1.5 (5-17) 0 4:0:8 50 HKD 5330

Table 1. Characteristics of pipehorses for sale in Hong Kong during January 2002.1Male size at maturity from Dawson (1985) is: Duncker’s Pipehorse 337 mm; Hardwick’s Pipehorse 296 mm; Spiny Pipehorse 206-300 mm.Male size at maturity from Connolly et al. (2001) is: Hardwick’s Pipehorse 322 mm.

Wholesaler Participation Est. volume (kg) Est. turnover Retailer Participation Est. volume (kg) traded Est. turnovernumber level (%) traded per year HKD million (range) number level (%) per year (range) HKD million (range)

400 10 360 1.80 (1.56-1.98) 1000 10 660 (60-1170) 2.87 (0.16-7.80)20 720 3.60 (3.12-3.96) 20 1320 (120-2340) 5.74 (0.32-15.61)30 1080 5.40 (4.68-5.94) 30 1980 (180-3510) 8.61 (0.48-23.41)40 1440 7.20 (6.24-7.92) 40 2640 (240-4680) 11.48 (0.64-31.22)

600 10 540 2.70 (2.34-2.97) 2000 10 1320 (120-2340) 5.74 (0.32-15.61)20 1080 5.40 (4.68-5.94) 20 2640 (240-4680) 11.48 (0.64-31.22)30 1620 8.10 (7.01-8.91) 30 3960 (360-7020) 17.23 (0.96-46.82)40 2160 10.80 (9.35-11.88) 40 5280 (480-9360) 22.97 (1.28-62.43)

Table 2. Estimates of retail volumes and values of pipehorses in Hong Kong in 2002. Numbers of wholesalers and retailers were lower and upper approximations based on the experience of MMCS-PS in Hong Kong. Levels of participation in pipehorse trade were chosen to span the observed level in the retail trade (given in bold).




obtaining trade information. They were reluctant to dis-close trade information in the presence of other traderswhom they perceived as potential competitors, andinstead gave vague and generic descriptions. A visit andinterview was subsequently arranged on 8 January 2002with one of these five traders: he provided information onhis trade routes, volumes, sizes and the value of pipehors-es that he had traded over the previous five years.Attempts to follow up with other importers/wholesalerswho were present at the first meeting were unsuccessful.

For retail surveys, three suburbs in each of HongKong Island, Kowloon and the New Territory wereselected and surveyed between 8 and 28 January 2002(Figure 4). These nine suburbs, distributed across HongKong were considered by MMCP-PS and TRAFFIC EastAsia to be representative of the general demand for TCMin Hong Kong; they included the two most widely-knownareas for the medicinal trade - Sheung Wan and theMongkok section of Nathan Road. Between six and 19shops were visited in each suburb in order to obtain asample size of three or four retail outlets with pipehorses,excepting Tai Po Market where only a single shop stock-ing pipehorses was found (sample sizes shown in Figure4). These shops were selected at random to represent thefull spectrum of retail operations within each suburb.

The sampling design used was to select randomlyand measure up to ten pipehorses per species per shop.Previous experience of the MMCP-PS when carryingout surveys for seahorses suggested that access to theentire stock and communication with retail assistantswas facilitated by purchasing some individuals. Thus,two pipehorses per establishment were bought andretained as a reference collection representing the rangeof species and size. If fewer than 10 pipehorses wereavailable then all individuals were measured. There wasa minimum sample size of five pipehorses per shop (Fig-ure 4). The species of pipehorse was identified and theadults sexed from information given in Connolly et al.(2001) and Bowles (2001). However, there were diffi-

PIPEHORSES are a good example of incidental

bycatch. Bycatch is the capture of organisms other

than those that are being targeted in the fishery. It

may have impacts on fisheries, biodiversity and

ecosystem function. The highest levels of bycatch

are found with benthic gear, particularly prawn and

shrimp trawls or mollusc dredges. The fate of

bycatch when it is landed on a vessel depends on

many factors including: species, length of time it

has been in contact with the fishing gear, depth

from which it has been caught, fullness of trawl net,

etc. Bycatch may be retained or discarded. Species

may be retained because they can be eaten or sold

and this is often termed byproduct. In fisheries

where there is regulation of target catch, retained

bycatch may provide an economic subsidy to the

fishery. Discarded bycatch can be dead or alive

when returned to the water - dead organisms will

provide food for scavengers as may some of the live

organisms as they descend through the water col-

umn or are returned to unsuitable habitat. All

sources of pipehorses exported from Australia are

from bycatch - the most important fishery being the

Queensland East Coast Otter Trawl Fishery which

targets mostly prawns (Figure 5). The Spiny

Pipehorse Solegnathus spinosissimus is caught as

bycatch in the South East Trawl Fishery in

Australia, while it is also caught as bycatch in New

Zealand trawl fisheries. Sources of pipehorses in

other countries are unknown.

B O X 2 . F I S H I N G F O R P I P E H O R S E S :

NON-SELECTIVE GEAR AND INCIDENTAL BYCATCH

Figure 4. Sampling locations and sample sizes for study of pipehorse retail trade in Hong Kong.nv= number of shops visited; np= number of shops stockingpipehorses; and, nsp= number of pipehorse specimens identifiedand measured.




culties in sex identification of some individuals. Theproportion of juveniles was calculated from the mini-mum size of brooding males given in Dawson (1985)and Connolly et al. (2001). The length of the head, trunkand tail was measured, together with the dry weight, andthe presence or absence of egg scars on the tail was noted(Table 1). In common with other syngnathids, malepipehorses brood their eggs and thus egg scars indicate arecently reproductive active male (Figure 6).

Retail assistants or shop owners were asked (i) theorigin of the pipehorses; (ii) their retail price; (iii) thenumber of pipehorses they would sell per day, week ormonth; and, (iv) whether the source, size or price of thepipehorses had changed over the past one, two or fiveyears. Answers were generally given in the traditionalunit system for medicinals in Hong Kong wherein tenqian constitutes a tael (37.5 g) and 16 tael make up acatty (600 g). These units have been converted to met-ric values in this paper. Prices are given in Hong Kongdollars (HKD) with an exchange rate of approximatelyUSD1=HKD7.80 (January 2002).

In common with most work on wildlife trade,extrapolating from market observations to estimate thelevel of regional or national trade can be problematicowing to high data variance, unknown numbers of

traders and retailers involved in the trade and year-to-year fluctuations. The total number of retailers in HongKong was estimated during this study at somewhereover 1000. Although the level of participation in thepipehorse trade over the whole retail sector in HongKong is unknown, the authors considered that theirobserved participation rate might be higher thanaverage. Thus the total pipehorse trade in Hong Kongwas estimated using a matrix assuming a range of retail-er numbers (1000 and 2000) and used different levels ofparticipation in the trade (10-20% and 40%) (Table 2)and minimum, mean and maximum volumes from retail-er interviews. These data were compared with officialdata on pipehorses exported from Australia to HongKong (extracted from Environment Australia WildlifeTrade Database provided by K. Hammond in litt.,August 2001) and official data for all pipehorses andpipefishes imported into Hong Kong from Australia(extracted from Hong Kong Customs and StatisticsDepartment Database and provided by B. Kwan in litt.,October 2001) (Table 3). As there was no recordedexport of pipefishes from Australia to Hong Kong (Envi-ronment Australia Wildlife Trade Database), it wasassumed that all declared imports into Hong Kong werepipehorses.

AUSTRALIAN EXPORT DATA HONG KONG IMPORT DATAYear Quantity (kg dry weight) Quantity Declared value Declared value/kg

Duncker’s Pipehorse Hardwick’s Pipehorse Total (kg dry weight) (HKD million) (HKD)Solegnathus dunckeri Solegnathus hardwickii

1998 767 608 1375 1674 0.92 5501999 16 111 117 883 1.39 15702000 91 121 212 732 1.10 15102001 9 shipments 10 shipments - 518 0.53 1020

(weight of 75 kggiven for one)

2002 - - - 516 0.74 1440

Table 3. Data for pipehorses exported to Hong Kong from Australia1 and pipefish and pipehorses imported into Hong Kong from Australia2,1998 to mid-2001.- = no data available. Note that Australian records for 2001 only show the number of consignments and no data were available for 2002.Sources: 1Environment Australia Wildlife Trade Database; 2Hong Kong Customs and Statistics Department Database

Figure 5.

Measuring pipehorses caught as

bycatch in Queensland, Australia.

Figure 6 (inset).

Area of the tail of a Hardwick’s

Pipehorse showing cup-shaped

egg scars. Such scars indicate

that the males were

reproductively active.

INSET PHOTOGRAPH: T.F. LAM/PROJECT SEAHORSE

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For other range nations which export both pipefish-es and pipehorses, an indirect method had to be used.This was based on the assumption that Australia exportsonly pipehorses and that India exports only pipefish (asit is not a range nation for pipehorses) and the observa-tion that pipehorses are considerably more valuable thanpipefish (generally at least 10x). Thus, using thedeclared price from Australia and India for each year,combined data for other range nations could be parti-tioned between pipehorses and pipefishes.

RESULTS

Three species of pipehorse - Dunker’s Pipehorse,Hardwick’s Pipehorse and Spiny Pipehorse - were iden-tified during this survey. The trader who was willing toanswer detailed questions did not import his pipehorsesdirectly, but bought them from a wholesaler. He cleanedand bleached the pipehorses and then sold them to retail-ers. He specifically mentioned that Duncker’s Pipehors-es and Hardwick’s Pipehorses were sourced exclusivelyfrom Australia while Spiny Pipehorses came from NewZealand. Three different sizes of pipehorses, describedonly as small, medium and large, were sourced to meetcustomer demand. The total volume of all sizes tradedby this individual was 0.75 kg in December 2001 and9 kg during the whole of 2001. He reported this quantityhad been stable since 1998 following a drop in demandduring 1997. Similarly, he reported prices had been sta-ble since 1998 following a drop in price during 1997.Large pipehorses sold for HKD5500/kg, mediumpipehorses for HKD5000/kg and small pipehorses forHKD4330/kg. There had been no change in the avail-ability over the three years 1999-2001.

Twenty-nine of 104 shops (28%) had pipehorses forsale when they were visited. A greater proportion ofshops in Sheung Wan, Tseung Kwan O and the Mongkokregion of Nathan Road stocked pipehorses than otherareas of Hong Kong, confirming initial suppositionsabout the location of the trade (Figure 4). A total of 760pipehorses (approximately 15 kg dry weight) were seenin all 29 shops, of which 271 were identified and mea-sured. The vast majority were Hardwick’s Pipehorses(91.5%) but a few Duncker’s Pipehorses (4.1%) andSpiny Pipehorses (4.4%) were also seen.

Almost all pipehorses were adults, with >90% largerthan minimum size at maturity (Table 1). Specimens ofHardwick’s Pipehorse were significantly longer thanDuncker’s Pipehorses, and the latter were significantlylonger than Spiny Pipehorses (F2,253=12.6, p<0.001).Hardwick’s Pipehorse (the only species for whichenough data were available) had a normal size-frequencydistribution (Shapiro-Wilk W=0.98, p=0.274) and a sta-tistically equal sex ratio (chi-squared=3.3, p=0.125).

Sources of pipehorses were largely unknown orundeclared, with 20 of 29 retailers providing no answerto this question. Of those that did answer, two retailers(both selling Duncker’s and Hardwick’s Pipehorses)said that their pipehorses were from Australia, while

B OX 3 . T H E B I O L O G Y O F P I P E H O R S E S

LITTLE is known about many aspects of the life history

of pipehorses. This is probably because, in most parts of

their range, they are found at substantial depths and in

low numbers. Most specimens have been recorded at

depths of more than 40 m, with many records in the 100-

200 m depth range. One record of a Spiny Pipehorse

from the coast of New South Wales records a capture

depth of 640 m. This depth distribution precludes direct

observation by divers and most information has had to be

gained by indirect methods. The only species known to

come into shallow water (2-10 m) is the Spiny Pipehorse

which has been seen by divers in Tasmania and in Fiord-

land, New Zealand. Pipehorses appear to be associated

with benthic habitat structure: they have been observed in

New Zealand holding on to sponges with their prehensile

tails, while fishers in south-eastern Australia report catch-

ing them in association with gorgonians, black corals,

algae or sponges (Bowles, 2001; Bowles and Martin-

Smith, unpublished data). In Queensland, Australia,

catches of Hardwick’s Pipehorse were associated with

habitats at the edge of coral reefs (Connolly et al., 2001).

In common with other syngnathids, pipehorses show

male parental care during egg incubation. During the

breeding period the tail of mature males becomes bright-

ly coloured, spongy and heavily vascularized. Mating

has not been observed, but it is known that eggs are

deposited on to the tail where they embed and form cup-

shaped depressions (Figure 6). The male incubates the

embryos until they hatch, but the duration of this brood-

ing is not known. The breeding period is only known for

Hardwick’s Pipehorse from Queensland where Connolly

et al. (2001) observed peak breeding in late winter to

early spring (July-September); they estimated a brood

size of approximately 120 (range 19-207) from the

number of egg scars. Capture of a single pregnant male

with late stage embryos suggested that the length of the

offspring at birth is approximately 33 mm. Growth of

Hardwick’s Pipehorse was estimated to be rapid for the

first year, with individuals reaching maturity in one year

and attaining a maximum age of three to five years (Con-

nolly et al., 2001).




ments, while no data were available for 2002 (Table 3).Reported imports into Hong Kong from Australiadropped significantly over the reporting period - from1674 kg in 1998 to 883 kg in 1999 to 732 kg in 2000before stabilizing at about 520 kg in 2001 and 2002(Table 3). Consequent with the decrease in recordedvolumes traded in 1999 was a sharp increase in thedeclared price per kg - from HKD500 to over HKD1500(Table 3).

As reported exports from Australia declined, the cal-culated contributions from other range nations increasedin importance (Table 4). Inferred imports into HongKong from the Philippines were highly variable rangingfrom 60-400 kg per year, while those from Malaysiawere generally low (<50 kg) except in 2001. From thesecalculated data, it would appear that Thailand became animportant source of pipehorses from 2000 onwards, pos-sibly supplying volumes greater than Australia in someyears (Table 4).

Retailers had a general perception that pipehorsesizes and prices either had not changed significantlyover the past three to five years or had fluctuated with-out a pattern (n=20 for size, n=19 for price). Themajority that did report changes said that size haddecreased (n=4) but that prices had remained stable(n=4), particularly after 1997 which was specificallymentioned by two traders. One retailer reported that thesize of individuals had increased over the past five years.

five retailers (all selling only Hardwick’s Pipehorse)variously said their source was South China Sea, South-east Asia, China or the Philippines. Two retailers sellingonly Spiny Pipehorses said that they were from thePhilippines, which is not known to be a range nation forthis species. These two retailers also mentioned thatSpiny Pipehorses were considered to be ‘false seadrag-ons’ and thus less favoured than other species.

Estimates of volumes traded were difficult to obtain,with 10 retailers saying that they kept no record and afurther 10 saying trade was ‘infrequent’. Of the remain-ing retailers, two were unwilling to reveal volumeswhile estimates from the other seven ranged from 0.6-11.7 kg/year (mean 6.63 kg/year ±1.46 SE). Pipehorseswere expensive items compared with many other medi-cine ingredients, with a mean retail cost of HKD4350/kg±209 SE and a range of HKD2670-HKD6670/kg. Theauthors’ calculated estimates of total pipehorse volumestraded in Hong Kong ranged from 360-5280 kg/yearwith associated turnover of HKD1.8-23.0 million,depending on the assumptions used (Table 2).

Customs data were available from Hong Kong andAustralia from 1998, when syngnathid exports were firstrecorded as a separate category. Reported exports ofpipehorses from Australia to Hong Kong declinedsharply from 1375 kg in 1998 to only 117 kg in 1999 andthereafter increased to 212 kg in 2000; Australianrecords for 2001 only show the number of consign-

Year Country Total volume Declared value Declared value/kg Estimated volumeof pipefish and of pipefish and of pipefish and of pipehorses (kg)

pipehorses (kg) pipehorses (HKD000s) pipehorses

1998 Australia 1674 917 550 1674India 3240 192 59 -

Malaysia 1398 92 66 19Philippines 2996 283 94 216Singapore 2980 222 75 93

ALL 20021999 Australia 883 1387 1570 883

Malaysia 3254 268 82 65Philippines 3298 285 86 75Singapore 1500 76 51 0

ALL 10232000 Australia 732 1102 1510 732

India 1830 82 45 -Malaysia 1390 137 99 51

Philippines 3741 387 103 150Singapore 1240 68 55 9Thailand 3174 1369 431 840

ALL 17822001 Australia 518 528 1020 518

India 12173 418 34 -Malaysia 683 299 438 280

Philippines 6169 606 98 400Singapore 45 8 178 7Thailand 1749 716 409 666

ALL 18712002 Australia 516 744 1440 516

Malaysia 360 49 136 26Philippines 9891 743 75 287

Thailand 3587 721 201 425ALL 1253

Table 4. Estimated volumes of pipehorses imported into Hong Kong from other range nations during the period 1998-June 2001. All imports from Australia were assumed to be pipehorses, all imports from India were assumed to be pipefish and those from other nations a mixture of both and areestimated as follows: in 2001, Australian pipehorses had a value of HKD1020/kg while Indian pipefishes were HKD34/kg. Malaysian exports of 683 kg had a value ofHKD438/kg. The equation 1020*x + 34*(683-x) = 299 000 which gives a value of x=280 kg of pipehorses. For years when there were no imports from India, the meanof the values for the closest years was used.




DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

Pipehorses in Hong Kong are an example of a low-volume, high-value commodity in the TCM trade. Theirhigh prices are a reflection of the perceived efficacy ofpipehorses in TCM (Bensky and Gamble, 1993). Thisperception may lead to resistance if one wanted tochange consumer demand or preference for pipehorses.Estimates of annual trade are an order of magnitude lessthan seahorses which are used in a similar medicinalmanner, but prices are at least equivalent to those for thehighest quality, large seahorses (Vincent, 1996; ProjectSeahorse, unpublished data).

During the course of this study, the retail tradeappeared to be fairly diffuse with most retailers holdingsmall numbers of pipehorses (<100 individuals), butretailers stocking pipehorses were found in all suburbsvisited. Low reported turnover per retailer combinedwith wariness from pipehorse traders made it difficult toprovide precise estimates of total volumes traded.

Australia appears to be an important source ofpipehorses, from a consideration of range distributions(Figure 1), information from traders and retailers andexport/import data (Table 3). However, it appears likelythat Hardwick’s Pipehorse - which constituted themajority of pipehorse exports from Australia - was alsosourced from other range nations. Exports fromAustralia generally consist of approximately 40%Duncker’s Pipehorse and 60% Hardwick’s Pipehorse(Connolly et al., 2001; Table 3), while sales in HongKong consisted of only 4% Duncker’s Pipehorse and90% Hardwick’s Pipehorse. This suggests either (i)species misidentification in Hong Kong surveys; (ii)species misidentification in Australian export data; (iii) aloss of Duncker’s Pipehorse on route to retail outlets;and/or, (iv) extra sources of Hardwick’s Pipehorse out-side Australia. This latter option is supported byevidence from some retailers who stated that thepipehorses they sold came from the South China Sea andthere are reports of pipehorses in trade from the Philip-pines in 2000 (M. Pajaro pers. comm., 2002).

Using fairly conservative estimates of the total retailtrade in Hong Kong (Table 2), it appears that all theAustralian exports of pipehorses could be consumed inHong Kong and still leave a shortfall. The contributionof Hardwick’s Pipehorses by other range nations -Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (allmentioned by retailers) - remains unknown. However,the approximate calculations given in Table 4 suggestthat Malaysia and Thailand became important suppliersof pipehorses when supplies from Australia diminishedin 2000 and 2001.

This study provides evidence of significant pipehorseexploitation for the TCM trade but it is not possible toevaluate the effects of the trade on pipehorse populations.There are few or no data available on the size of unex-ploited populations, catch-per-unit-effort for fishedpopulations, levels of discarding or retention of pipehors-es or even where they are caught outside Australian andNew Zealand waters. Whilst estimates of imports intoHong Kong have fluctuated apparently without pattern

(Table 4), imports from Australia decreased consistentlyfrom 1998 to 2001. This may reflect overexploitation,changes in fishing practices or behaviour of fishers.Similarly, estimated year-to-year changes from othersource nations cannot be ascribed to particular causesowing to lack of data. Although juvenile pipehorseswere not found in the Hong Kong trade surveys, it is pos-sible that they were discarded or entered trade throughother countries or in patent medicines. It will benecessary to verify the fishing practices of source fish-eries to determine whether or not recruitment overfishingis occurring. However, only a small number of traderssuggested that pipehorses had decreased in size over thepast five years and many of the males measured had eggscars indicating that they were reproductively active andhad released at least one brood before capture.

All three species of pipehorse for sale apparentlyreach the same maximum size in the wild (approximately500 mm (Dawson, 1985)) so it is puzzling why Dunck-er’s Pipehorse and Spiny Pipehorse specimens in retailoutlets were smaller than Hardwick’s Pipehorse. Thiscould have been a sampling artefact associated with thesmall number of individuals measured or reflective of dif-ferent selectivity (e.g. mesh sizes, areas fished) associat-ed with different methods of capture.

Pipehorse exports from Australia are an encouragingexample of using charismatic species to help highlightmanagement issues related to bycatch. The QueenslandEast Coast Trawl Fishery has recently been assessedunder guidelines for sustainable fisheries and pipehors-es can be retained and exported from this fishery until1 July 2005 (M. Tailby in litt., July 2002). However, anumber of significant conditions have been attached tothis provision including logbook recording, introductionof an observer programme, measures for the reductionof bycatch and increased research on the distribution,abundance and biology of the affected species.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Increased engagement with TCM stakeholder groupsby fisheries management agencies and conservationgroups. More dialogue with TCM importers, whole-salers and retailers involved in the pipehorse trade isneeded to foster exchange of information. Assessmentof the true level of trade and any changes in volumes,prices and sources will only be obtained through closeco-operation with these stakeholder groups. Resultsand trends in trade can be fed back using the sameroute, and the acceptance of management, policy ortrade measures can be evaluated.

2. Improved reporting by genus or species from sourcecountries. Evaluation of trade and consequent effectson populations of pipehorses are hampered at presentfor many countries by the aggregated level of report-ing. Pipehorses need to be recorded separately todetermine the impact of extractive use on theirconservation status. Thailand appears to be a particu-larly important source nation for pipehorses and thusa priority for this level of reporting.




REFERENCES

Ballie, J., Groombridge, B. (compilers) (1996). 1996 IUCNRed List of Threatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerlandand Cambridge, UK.

Bensky, D., Gamble, A. (eds) (1993). Chinese Herbal Medi-cine: Materia Medica (revised edition). Eastland Press,Seattle, USA.

Bowles, D.R.J. (2001). The nature of the bycatch fishery ofSolegnathus spp. (Pipehorses) in NSW demersal trawlfisheries. Report to NSW Fisheries Scientific Committee.

CITES (2002). Web Notice. Amendments to Appendices I andII of the Convention adopted by the Conference of theParties at its 12th meeting in Santiago, Chile, from 3 to 15November 2002. http://www.cites.org/common/cop/12/appendix_notice.PDF.

Connolly, R.M., Cronin, E.R., Thomas, B.E. (2001). Trawlbycatch of syngnathids in Queensland: catch rates,distribution and population biology of Solegnathuspipehorses (seadragons). Fisheries Research and Develop-ment Corporation Project No. 1999/124. GriffithUniversity, Gold Coast.

Dawson, C.E. (1985). Indo-Pacific Pipefishes (Red Sea to theAmericas). The Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, OceanCity, Mississippi, USA.

Hilton-Taylor, C. (compiler) (2002). 2002 IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland andCambridge, UK.

Kuiter, R.H. (2000). Seahorses, Pipefishes and their Relatives.A Comprehensive Guide to Syngnathiformes. TMCPublishing, Chorleywood, UK.

Lourie, S.A., Vincent, A.C.J., Hall, H.J. (1999). Seahorses: anIdentification Guide to the World’s Species and theirConservation. Project Seahorse, London.

Project Seahorse (unpublished data). The International Tradein Seahorses and their Relatives. Vincent, A.C.J. and Perry,A.P. (eds).

Vincent, A.C.J. (1995). Trade in seahorses for traditionalChinese medicines, aquarium fishes and curios. TRAFFICBulletin 15(3):125-128.

Vincent, A.C.J. (1996). The International Trade in Seahorses.TRAFFIC International, Cambridge, UK.

Keith M. Martin-Smith, Project Seahorse, Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Dr.Penfield, Montréal, Québec H3A 1B1, Canada; Project Seahorse, School of Zoology,University of Tasmania,GPO Box 252-05, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia.E-mail: [email protected] Fung-ngai Lam, Project Seahorse,c/o PO Box 12721, Hong Kong SAR, China.E-mail: [email protected] Kwok-hung Lee, Programme Officer, TRAFFIC East Asia, Room 2001, Double Building, 22 Stanley St., Central, Hong Kong SAR, China.E-mail: [email protected]

3. Expansion of trade monitoring to other consumercentres. Although Hong Kong is an important centrefor TCM, there are other locations which may havesignificant trade in these animals, in particular main-land China and Taiwan. If pipehorses are consideredfor listing under CITES, it is very important thatlevels of importation, wholesale and retail trade aredetermined for these centres.

4. Assessment of attitudes of TCM practitioners andconsumers to pipehorses and acceptability of alter-natives. There is almost no information on howpipehorses are perceived by TCM practitioners orconsumers. For example, it is not known whetherthey are considered to be essential and irreplaceablewithin TCM. There may be a number of other med-icinals, about which there are no conservationconcerns, which could be used in the same manner aspipehorses.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper is a contribution of Project Seahorse. Theauthors gratefully acknowledge Guylian Chocolates,Belgium, GlaxoSmithKline plc and the UK Departmentfor Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for financialsupport; Dr A.C.J. Vincent and Dr R.C. Kirkpatrick fortheir supervision and encouragement; TCM traders inHong Kong for their information, as well as othercolleagues of Project Seahorse, TRAFFIC East Asia andWWF Hong Kong for their continuous support.

S.K

.LEE

/TR

AFF

IC

A market stall in Hong Kong specializing in traditional medicineingredients. The box on the left contains pipehorses and pipefish.



In an anti-poaching campaign that started on 17 May2003, by mid-June police had already detainedalmost 1000 poachers and seized nearly 1000 kg ofcaviar and 43 000 kg of sturgeon and other fish. Thelargest single seizure of caviar - some 500 kg fromAmur Sturgeon Acipenser schrencki - took place ata storage and canning plant, which had been dis-guised as a garage, in a village near the Russian FarEastern city of Khabarovsk. A targeted sturgeonfishery is banned on the Russian bank of the AmurRiver, to which the Amur Sturgeon is endemic(TRAFFIC Bulletin 19(1):38). The case is underinvestigation.

The Vladivostock News (Russia), 24 June 2003:www.vlad.tribnet.com/news

SWITZERLAND

Between January and April 2003, Customs officersat Zurich Airport seized consignments of ivory thathad arrived from Douala, Cameroon. Some of theivory had been concealed inside clay sculptures anddeclared as terracotta/cowry shell sculptures. Fourof these shipments - of six kg (one tusk), 11 kg (fourtusks and one statue), 1.5 kg, and seven kg (threecarved tusks and three figures) - had been destinedfor New York; one, bound for Barcelona, contained3.3 kg of ivory jewellery; another consisting of 31.5kg (eight tusks, five carved tusks, 28 figures, andjewellery) was to go to Madrid, and 300 g of ivorywas destined for Brussels. A further 71.4 kg of ivorywas seized on 6 May, bound for New York, and con-sisted of carved figures that had been painted black.Earlier this year, 800 g of ivory from Nairobi, des-tined for Moscow, were seized.

Authorities in the respective destination countriesand the CITES Secretariat have been informed.

Swiss Customs Administration, April/May 2003

UK

In February 2003, Arqadia Ltd., one of the biggestfirms in the UK picture framing industry, was finedGBP80 000 (USD127 000) after pleading guilty toillegally importing 700 cubic metres of picture framemouldings constructed from Ramin Gonystylus spp.The goods, from Indonesia, had been seized byCustoms officials at Felixstowe port and from thepremises of Arqadia Ltd in Bedford, in March 2002.Samples of the wood were passed to the RoyalBotanic Gardens, Kew, for identification, which con-firmed that the majority of the samples were ofRamin.

The genus is listed by Indonesia in CITESAppendix III, which means that the export of Raminor related products is banned without an exportpermit. When arrested and interviewed, staff at thecompany claimed to be unaware of the CITESrestrictions on Ramin imports. However, documentsfound during the search of Arqadia’s offices sug-gested that the company had actively colluded withtheir Indonesian suppliers to evade restrictions.

Customs officers are currently working with theIndonesian CITES Management Authority to helpthem prosecute the Indonesian supply company.The information, initially supplied to Customs by theEnvironmental Investigation Agency (EIA), wasacted on by the Customs Wildlife and EndangeredSpecies Officer in Felixstowe, the Customs NationalInvestigation Services and the Heathrow CITESteams.

S E I Z U R E S A N D P R O S E C U T I O N S

E U R O P EDENMARK

On 6 October 2002, Customs officials at Copen-hagen Airport seized 103 Sperm Whale Physetercatodon (CITES I) teeth and three Walrus Odobenusrosmarus (CITES III) tusks from a Danish nationaltravelling to Bangkok, Thailand. There was noaccompanying documentation and the case washanded over to the police. The suspect stated that hehad purchased the items in Greenland.

The country of origin of these teeth is not clearto the Greenlandic or Danish CITES authorities. Cur-rently, CITES is implemented in Greenland via exec-utive orders that govern the importation and export ofspecific species of wildlife and related products.According to Greenlandic legislation, it is unlawful toexport Sperm Whale teeth and Walrus tusks withouta CITES permit. The CITES Management Authorityin Greenland has informed all handicraft shops inGreenland of the regulations applying to wildlifeproducts, and information booklets aimed at touristshave been produced in several languages outliningthe rules governing wildlife exports. New legislationspecifically designed to apply the provisions ofCITES in Greenland is currently in preparation. Thecase is under investigation.

T. Hjarsen, EcoAdvise, Copenhagen; Berlingske Tidende(Denmark), 7 October 2002; Ø. Slettermark, CITESManagement Authority, Greenland; N.K. Nielsen, CITESManagement Authority, Denmark; TRAFFIC Southeast Asia

MALTA

On 11 August 2003, Customs officials seized skins ofsome 700 protected birds, 23 mammals and threereptiles from two people returning from Cairo viaAthens. The items, which were in four suitcases, weredetected during a random luggage scan. Three menhave been detained by police.

The birds, which had been shot, included skins ofBlack-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris/caeruleus andSteppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis (both CITES II),Long-legged Buzzards Buteo rufinus, Little GreenBee-eaters Merops orientalis, pelicans and storks.From the condition of the plumage, the birds arethought to have been shot between March and May.The shooting of protected birds in Egypt by Maltesehunters has long been suspected: shooting holidaysare reported to take place during winter months andthe birds left in cold storage in Egypt and smuggledin the summer when the hunting season is closed. Atthis time the volume of work for Customs officials isheavier, and monitoring, it is perceived, is lower.

The Times of Malta, 13 August 2003:www.timesofmalta.com/core/article.php?id=133012

RUSSIA

During February and March 2003, operations directedat preventing the gathering and sale of rare and pro-tected species of wild flowers were carried out inMoscow by the Environmental Protection Team of theStudent Movement of Russia, which includesmembers of the Biology faculty of Moscow StateUniversity (MSU) who have specialist botanical train-ing; two raids alone resulted in the seizure of some75 000 snowdrop Galanthus (CITES II) plants. >

The sources of information upon which the cases beloware based are cited at the end of each country section.

Ivory figures, painted black to disguise thesource material, were among consignments ofivory from Cameroon that were seized inSwitzerland in early 2003.

Sperm Whale Physeter catodon teeth and Walrus Odobenus rosmarus tusks were seizedat Copenhagen Airport from a Danish nationaltravelling to Thailand.

SW

ISS

CU

STO

MS

AD

MIN

ISTR

ATIO

NW

WF-

US

> Trains arriving at two railway stations fromCrimea and the Caucasus were searched for wildflower shipments. 0n 10 February, at Kazansky sta-tion, almost 800 bouquets with up to 50 snowdropplants in each, were confiscated from one person. AtKursky station the following morning, two suspectswere detained with 1000 bouquets each containingup to 35 snowdrops.

Snowdrops, among the first flowers to appear inFebruary/March, are gathered in Crimea, the Cau-casus and in southern Russia, leading to the tram-pling of vast areas of reserved forest. One third of allthe plants collected are thrown away during sorting,transportation and sale. These seizures form just apart of the enforcement work taking place in Russiato stop the illegal trade in wild plants (see also pages157-159).

Natalia Kurbatova, Student Movement of Russia, Biology faculty of Moscow State University




On 23 June 2003, at the Court of Appeal in London,bird smuggler Ray Humphrey had his gaol sen-tence reduced from 6.5 years to 5.5 years. Refus-ing to cut his sentence by any more, Mr JusticeGray said that Humphrey was a professional crimi-nal who had shown utter disregard for the law (seeTRAFFIC Bulletin 19(2):76).

HM Customs & Excise, National Investigation Services;http://209.68.34.145/eia/cgi/news/news.cgi?a=125&t=tem-plate.htm; Norfolk News (UK), 24 June 2003

A F R I C A

KENYA

On 23 February 2003, game wardens of the KenyaWildlife Service intercepted a jeep in the Lare Soroarea of Marsabit district, near Kenya’s border withEthiopia, and seized 33 tusks of African ElephantsLoxodonta africana (CITES I); five suspected poach-ers were arrested. It was not immediately clear wherethe suspects acquired the tusks or whether they hadkilled any elephants in Kenya.

http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s792768.htm, 25 February 25, 2003

SOUTH AFRICA

On 15 July 2003, a container of shells on route fromNacala, Mozambique, to Naples, Italy, was inter-cepted by port authorities in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Alarmed at the size of the shipment, the PortAnti-Narcotics Unit alerted KwaZulu-Natal Wildlifeofficials who seized the cargo for furtherinvestigation under South Africa’s Marine LivingResources Act.

The shipment of almost 50 000 shells, weighingapproximately 11 t comprised: 17 308 Spiny MurexChicoreus ramosus; 15 450 Red Helmet ShellsCypaecassis rufa; 12 470 Pink-lipped Agate SnailsAchatina immaculata; 1500 Common Spider ShellsLambis lambis; 830 Arthritic Spider Shells Lambischiragra arthritica and 661 Frog Shells Tutufa bubo.

All of the ornamental species were without doubtcollected alive - the fresh condition of the shells and thesmell of the rotting remains of the animals inside theshells was clear evidence of this. They would havebeen collected, probably by subsistence gatherers, inthe sheltered lagoons and reefs on the northernMozambique coast. They were almost certainly des-tined for the ornamental shell trade.

While none of the species is listed in the CITESAppendices nor protected under Mozambican law, col-lection on this scale must be a matter of concern.Although the species involved may be common in pris-tine tropical habitats, there is no information available toindicate whether this level of harvesting of living mol-luscs is sustainable. Similarly, there is no informationregarding the frequency with which such shipmentsoccur. Subsequent investigation has shown thatpermits for shipping this cargo were issued, but thatthese originated from the Mozambican Ministry of Agri-culture and concerned matters relating to animal andplant health. The National Directorate of FisheriesAdministration in the Ministry of Fisheries was evidentlynot aware of the shipment. As the consignment did notcontravene any law, it has been allowed to continue itsjourney to Italy. The Mozambican fisheries authorities areto investigate the case.

Dr D. Herbert, Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

A S I A EAST ASIACHINA

On 23 October 2002, at the court of the capital ofHainan Province, Liang Huijiang, Zheng Songchang,both of Guangdong Province, and Liang Yushen, aresident of Thailand, were sentenced to life impris-onment for the illegal trafficking of wild animals to theport of Sanya, Hainan, on 24 July 2001. Theanimals, which were seized, included 566 monitorlizards, 259 pythons, five pangolins Manis and 7563snakes from Thailand (168 cobras, 2956 Indochi-nese Rat Snakes Ptyas korros and 4439 OrientalRat Snakes Ptyas mucosus).

In early January 2003, police in 14 provinces andmunicipalities - including Beijing, Shanghai andGuangdong - confiscated more than 107 000 birds,of which 1223 were protected species, during a 10-day nationwide crackdown on illegal trade. Policeraided more than 3370 bird markets, as well as16 380 hotels and restaurants, and arrested 318people (see also page 122).

In April 2003, the Shanghai No. 1 IntermediatePeople’s Court sentenced one man to death for hispart in the illegal trade in more than three tonnes ofivory seized last year. If the accused is of goodbehaviour in gaol for a period of two years, the sen-tence will be commuted to life imprisonment. Anotherman has been sentenced to life imprisonment andhad all of his personal property confiscated.Customs officials in Shanghai arrested the twoChinese traders on 30 August 2002 in possession ofthe ivory, which was thought to have originated in theDemocratic Republic of Congo and routed to Mom-basa via Uganda.

On 11 April 2003, Guangdong forest police seized 85Water Monitors Varanus salvator (CITES II) from acoach travelling from Hepu, Guangxi Province, toGuangzhou. The specimens, ranging from between1.5 kg to 5 kg, were found in five boxes that hadbeen covered by fish; three lizards were dead. Thespecies is nationally protected.

Agence France Presse, 4 January 2003; CITES Secretariat;China Daily: www.chinadaily.com.cn, 28 October 2002; NewChina News Agency report, 11 April 2003; TRAFFIC EastAsia/WWF China-China Programme

HONG KONG

During the last two weeks of January 2003, 25seizures of orchids were carried out at Customscheckpoints (18 at the border with mainland Chinaand seven at the Hong Kong-Macau and HongKong-China ferry terminals). Most of the orchidsseized were of Cymbidium and Phalaenopsisspecies. The same number was made for the sameperiod last year. Illegal orchid imports are commonlyfound among travellers returning from mainlandChina. Under the Animals and Plants (Protection ofEndangered Species) Ordinance, trade in highlyendangered wild orchids is prohibited. The importa-tion, export or possession of other wild orchids,including their parts and derivatives, requires alicence, which must be obtained in advance. Artifi-

cially propagated orchids including their parts andderivatives also require a valid export permit issuedby the exporting country.Press release of Agriculture, Fisheries and ConservationDepartment, Hong Kong, 6 February 2003

SOUTH ASIAINDIA

In November 2002, in a landmark judgement, twoNepalese labourers were imprisoned in UttaranchalState, Dehradun, for three months and finedRs.5000 (USD108) following their arrest in May2002 for possession of one musk pod. This is thefirst case in India where a conviction has beenordered within six months from the date of thearrest.

On 12 February 2003, a raid conducted in the Mati-gara area yielded the skins of 20 Leopards Pan-thera pardus (CITES I) and 19 civets Viverridae(listed in Schedule II of India’s Wildlife (Protection)Act 1972. This is reportedly the largest haul ofwildlife products ever made in North Bengal.

On 1 April 2003, a special police unit seized a con-signment of skins of 15 Leopards Panthera pardus(CITES I) near Dharchula from people crossing Kaliriver along the border between Nepal and India.Upon being challenged, the suspects ran into Nepalbut dropped the parcel of skins they were carrying.

On 13 May 2003, some 47 shahtoosh items (madefrom the wool of the Tibetan Antelope Pantholopshodgsoni (CITES I)) were seized in Delhi by theCentral Bureau of Investigation of the Indian Gov-ernment in a series of raids. These consisted of twokurtas (long shirt-like garment), 45 shawls, and oneseven-metre length of shahtoosh fabric. One manwas arrested.

On 7 April, wildlife officials of Delhi’s governmentseized a consignment of 211 kg raw shahtoosh woolpacked in 11 sacks. This quantity of wool is esti-mated to derive from nearly 3000 TibetanAntelopes. It came by lorry from Haldwani town inUttaranchal. Interrogation of the owner of the goodsrevealed that the wool had been transported toIndia from Nepal via the border town of Dharchula.Three people are in custody. A lawyer from theWildlife Trust of India was present in court tooppose bail.

In Resolution Conf. 11.8 (Rev. CoP12), the Con-ference of the Parties to CITES recommended thatall Parties and non-Parties, especially consumerand range States, adopt comprehensive legislationand enforcement controls as a matter of urgency,with the aim of eliminating commercial trade inTibetan Antelope parts and derivatives, especiallyshahtoosh, in order to reduce demonstrably theillegal trade in products of this species. It also urgesthe processing countries of the products of TibetanAntelope to continue their efforts to ban the pro-cessing of Tibetan Antelope wool.

On 29 July 2003, Customs officials at ChennaiAirport, Tamil Nadu, acting on information receivedfrom the Deputy Directorate of Wildlife, SouthernRegion, seized about 980 kg of dried sea cucum-bers from a flight bound for Singapore. The itemshad been packed in 32 cartons and declared as




‘dried rays and skin fish’. Pursuant to NotificationNo. 665(E) of 11 July 2001, sea cucumbersHolothuroidea are classified under Schedule I ofIndia’s Wildlife Protection Act 1972, which prohibitsall trade in holothurians.

On 7 August 2003, at Chennai Airport, authorities ofthe Deputy Directorate of Wildlife, Southern Region,seized 900 Star Tortoises Geochelone elegans(CITES II) from the luggage of a passenger boundfor Singapore. The man was taken into custody butlater escaped. The tortoises have been released inGuindy National Park. With a maximum carapacelength of about 35 cm, the Star Tortoise is popular inthe pet trade.

CITES Management Authority, India; Bibhab Kumar Taluk-dar, Ph.D., Wildlife Crime Monitoring Center of AARANYAK;CITES Secretariat; Ashok Kumar, Wildlife Trust of India;The Hindu (India), 31 July/11 August 2003

NEPAL

On 4 April 2003, police seized skins of 109 Leop-ards Panthera pardus (CITES I) that had been con-cealed in sacks of pepper on a bus bound for Dhad-ing at Halchowk in Swayambhu, Kathmandu. Theowner of the sacks, who was arrested, claimed thatin return for a remuneration, he had been asked bya Tibetan to transport the sacks to Tibet via Chheke-mar, through Dhading district. The skins were hand-ed over to the National Wildlife Preservation Depart-ment in Babarmahal.

In September 2003, at the district forest office inBharatpur, Chitwan, Ram Bahadur Praja, SukraBahadur Praja and Prem Bahadur Praja were sen-tenced to 15 years in gaol for killing 17 rhinos; theywere also fined Rs.100 000 (USD1337) each.

The Himalayan Times (Nepal), 4 April 2003: www.thehimalayantimes.com.www.nepalnews.com.

SOUTHEAST ASIAINDONESIA

On 23 March 2003, two Czech citizens who enteredIndonesia on tourist visas were detained by officersat South Bukit Barisan National Park, West Lam-pung, after they were found to have collected more

than 300 insect species [sic] and their larva insidethe park. In addition to the insects, authorities seizedtwo nets, ether, cellulose, tissues, preservatives andtubes. The case is being investigated by the police.

Jakarta Post (Indonesia), 29 March 2003

MALAYSIA

On 17 January 2003, Wildlife and National ParksDepartment officials seized more than 220 kg of wildmeat from a restaurant in Segamat, Johor, andarrested the owner. In addition to two bear paws, themeat was of mainland Serow Naemorhedus suma-traensis, Malayan Porcupine Hystrix brachyura, WildPig Sus scrofa, civet, monitor lizard, monkey anddeer. The owner’s licence to sell had expired inFebruary; he had previously been fined for a similaroffence. He was to be charged under Section 64(1)and Section 68 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972with illegal possession of animals, which are fullyprotected under the Act, and with smuggling thespecimens. Three pangolins Manis were seized froman adjacent restaurant.

The department has reportedly stepped upenforcement and is closing in on restaurants knownto be serving wild animal dishes. Over the previousmonth, staff had detained nine people for illegallytrading and serving dishes containing meat of pro-tected animals.

On 26 June 2003, 207 Malayan Pangolins Manisjavanica (CITES II) were to be released in the wild inLangkawi and Pahang following their seizure twodays earlier in Jalan Batu by National Parks andWildlife Protection Department officials. Some of thepangolins have been tagged with chips so that theirdevelopment and adaptation can be studied.

One man was detained after the pangolins werefound in 26 plastic baskets in a lorry. They had beentaken from forests in Johor and are believed to havebeen trapped for a syndicate supplying theinternational black market for exotic animals. Themeat, blood and scales of the pangolin are said to bedelicacies and of medicinal value, while the bodyparts are used to make bags and decorative items.The species is protected under the Wildlife Preser-vation Act 1972. Anyone caught in possession of theanimal without a permit faces a fine of RM3000 ortwo years in gaol, or both.

Following an investigation prompted by the CITESSecretariat, the Government of Malaysia announcedin October 2002 that it would confiscate four youngGorillas Gorilla gorilla (CITES I) imported into thecountry earlier in the year. The investigation foundthat the Gorillas were not born in a Nigerian zoo asclaimed, but had been captured in the wild, either inNigeria or, more likely, in a neighbouring country.The commercial trade in all wild Gorillas is strictlyforbidden under CITES.

The Gorillas were imported into Malaysia fromNigeria by Taiping Zoo on the basis of falsifieddocuments. The CITES Secretariat took action afterreceiving information from several sources question-ing the claim that the animals had been born in cap-tivity. It has been firmly established that the Gorillaswere traded illegally and in violation of the treaty.

In July 2003, Malaysian Environment MinisterLaw Hieng Ding announced that the Gorillas wouldbe transferred to Pretoria Zoo in South Africa which,he stated, is best equipped to care for the animals.

The 50 000 shells seized in Durban, South

Africa, were almost certainly destined for the

ornamental shell trade. Weighing some 11 t,

the shipment consisted of, from top left

above, clockwise: Spiny Murex Chicoreus

ramosus, Frog Shells Tutufa bubo, Common

Spider Shells Lambis lambis, Arthritic Spider

Shells Lambis chiragra arthritica, Pink-lipped

Agate Snails Achatina immaculata (x 2) and

Red Helmet Shells Cypaecassis rufa (x 2).

These species, with the exception of the

agate snails, are all spectacular tropical

marine species. The Red Helmet Shells

would most likely be used to make cameo

jewellery, a popular item in Italy. The possible

use of the agate snails is not clear but it could

be that they would be ground up and used as

ingredients of specialized products, for

example pottery glazes.

Cymbidium sp. (below): illegal orchid imports

are commonly found among passengers

returning to Hong Kong from mainland China.

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On 24 July 2003, authorities in Kuala Lumpur seized580 Star Tortoises Geochelone elegans (CITES II)from an Indian national. Sixty-five of the tortoiseshad died and the remainder were cared for by theNational Parks and Wildlife Department before beingtransported back to Nehru Zoological Park, Hyder-abad, Andhra Pradesh, via Chennai, Tamil Nadu,from where they had been smuggled. It is reportedthat the tortoises will eventually be rehabilitated inprotected areas in Andhra Pradesh and their move-ments closely monitored by electronic tags.

In August 2003, police seized over 700 logs fromillegally felled trees in the province of Papua and533 logs in Semarang. Six Malaysians and twoIndonesians were arrested. The logging had report-edly taken place in the forestry concession of PTRimba Kayu Arthamas in Merdey district, Bintuniregency in Papua. Unauthorized logging is prohibit-ed by Forestry Law No 41/1999 but illegal logging isreported to have increased across the countryowing to the inability or unwillingness of localadministrations to enforce the law.

New Straits Times (Malaysia), 26 June 2003; Jakarta Post(Indonesia), 25 January/15 August 2003; CITESSecretariat, 11 October 2002; www.news.bbc.co.uk: 9 July2003; The Hindu (India), 11 August 2003; http://hinduon-net.com; Islamic Republic News Agency, 8 July 2003

THAILAND

Thousands of logs and pieces of processed TeakTectona grandis were seized in forests nationwideduring a three-month crackdown in early 2003,during which the northern province of Phrae wasfound to be the most active in the illegal trade. Busi-nessmen in Phrae were reportedly illegally purchas-ing logs from nearby Phayao and Lampangprovinces, causing heavy deforestation along theborder. Some areas of these provinces located with-in Mae Yom National Park have been declaredwildlife refuges.

Bangkok Post (Thailand), 31 March 2003 cited in Community Forestry E-News No. 2003/5, 17 April 2003

VIETNAM

On 11 February 2003, Customs officials at Noi BaiInternational Airport, Hanoi, discovered more than2.6 t of monitor lizards on board a flight fromMalaysia. Although its final destination was thoughtto be China, the shipment was addressed to a trad-ing company in Hanoi which has denied anyknowledge of the order.

During late February/early March 2003, Customsofficers at Noi Bai International Airport, Hanoi,seized two separate shipments containing a total ofnearly four tonnes of iguanas and pangolins Manis(CITES II). The reptiles - which included 616 pan-golins - had arrived on a cargo flight from Malaysia.

All living specimens were transferred to Hanoi’sWild Life Rescue Centre but most of the animalshave subsequently perished following the poor con-dition they were in when they arrived.

The animals were apparently on their way toChina where they were destined to be used intraditional medicines.

In March 2003, Customs officers seized a shipmentcontaining 4889 kg of turtles at Noi Bai Airport,Hanoi, following their arrival from Kuala Lumpur;

in a specially protected area of the Sea of Cortes,off Isla Estanque, south of Bahia de los Angeles. Ontheir vessels police found recently caught - andcooked - sea cucumbers.

For Profepa, Mexico’s environmental police,these arrests are something of a coup as theagency tries to crack down on illegal fishing in theSea of Cortes. Poachers have been stopped in thepast, but were usually released after posting bail.Earlier this year, however, reforms to Mexico’s penalcode increased the maximum penalties from six tonine years. The increase allowed judges to denybail to serious offenders.

The men, all from the Sea of Cortes fishingcommunity of Bahia Kino in the state of Sonora,have been in custody since their arrests. Thecharge of catching a protected species in a protect-ed natural area is considered so serious that themen are not allowed to post bail.

The shipment is believed to have comprisedspecimens of Isostichopus fuscus, the species ofsea cucumber most commonly caught in thesewaters. In 1994, it was listed by the Government ofMexico as an endangered species and harvestingwas banned. Though its status has since beendowngraded to protected, the ban remains in place.

Sea cucumbers are often cooked immediatelyafter being caught to reduce the specimens’ size foreasier transportation.

San Diego Tribune (USA), 2002; TRAFFIC North America-Mexico

USA

On 31 January 2003, Mikhail Kovtun of Moscowwas sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment for ille-gally importing 44 kg of osietra caviar (derived fromthe Russian Sturgeon Acipenser gueldenstaedtii)without the required permits; he was also ordered tobe deported following his gaol term. Kovtun wasarrested at Miami Airport in August 2001 with twoother passengers who had tins and a bag of the roehidden in their suitcases. Kovtun is reported to haveorganized the trio’s journey from Moscow throughZurich to Miami. His two companions, also Russiancitizens, pleaded guilty to smuggling charges andhave already received gaol sentences of six andseven months, respectively.

Reuters, 3 February 2003; The Miami Herald (USA), 1 February 2003; TRAFFIC International

On 30 July 2003, a federal grand jury in Orlando,Florida, indicted a Singaporean reptile trader onthree counts for conspiracy, smuggling of protectedreptiles and false labelling of imported animals fol-lowing his arrest on 28 June at Orlando InternationalAirport, on arrival from Singapore.

The indictment alleges that the suspect con-spired with others to smuggle, in January 2003, avariety of protected animals from Singapore,including Star Tortoises Geochelone elegans(CITES II), Fly River Turtles Carettochelys insculptaand monitor lizards. The consignment, destined forOrlando but intercepted by inspectors in Memphis,Tennessee, had been labelled as containing maga-zines and book samples.

See also page 113 for information on sturgeon andpaddlefish seizures.

US Fish & Wildlife Service news release, 5 August 2003;New Straits Times (Malaysia), 1 August 2003

only 1800 softshelled turtles had been declared onthe freight bill. In addition to softshells, however, theconsignment was found to contain Giant Asian PondTurtles Heosemys grandis, Yellow-headed TempleTurtles Hieremys annandalii, Black Marsh TurtlesSiebenrockiella crassicollis, and Southeast AsianBox Turtles Cuora amboinensis. Most of thespecimens have since died and were burned toprevent pollution and disease.

Agence France Presse, 18 February/13 March 2003; SouthChina Morning Post (China), 15 March 2003; TRAFFICSoutheast Asia; www.trafficindo.org

O C E A N I AAUSTRALIA

In late December 2002, at Sydney Airport, Customsofficials foiled an attempt to export illegallyapproximately 600 beetles and larvae. Two menbound for Bangkok were arrested. About two thirdsof the specimens, which had been discovered incereal and biscuit packets in the pair’s luggage, werealive and were handed over for identification to theveterinary quarantine centre at Taronga Zoo, Syd-ney. The suspects, both Japanese nationals, hadbeen visiting Lord Howe Island, a World HeritageProtection Area. They have been charged under theEnvironment Protection and Biodiversity Conser-vation Act 1999.

On 28 August 2003, a Uruguyan fishing vessel sus-pected of illegally catching Patagonian Toothfish Dis-sostichus eleginoides in Australian waters, wasapprehended some 2000 nautical miles south-westof Cape Town after being pursued for 20 days byAustralian, South African and British vessels.

The vessel was first seen fishing inside Australianwaters on 8 August and fled at high speed after ignor-ing radio orders from the Australian authorities tostop. After a 4000-nautical-mile chase throughdifficult sea conditions, the vessel was boarded anddetained. It was escorted, with its 40-member crew,to Fremantle, Australia, where it arrived on 3 October;the detainees face charges of illegal fishing.

A range of measures to address the problem ofillegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing hasbeen introduced by the Commission for theConservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources(CCAMLR), including an automated satellite-linkedvessel monitoring system (VMS) and a Catch Docu-mentation Scheme (CDS). However, IUU fishingcontinues to jeopardize the management andconservation of Patagonian Toothfish, which is highlyprized in restaurants in Japan and the USA, the prin-cipal consumer markets for this fish.

The episode clearly demonstrates the importanceof international co-operation in tackling illegal fishing.

TRAFFIC Oceania press release, 28 August 2003;Australian Customs Service Minister media release, 31December 2002; www.traffic.org; TRAFFIC press release,28 August 2003

A M E R I C A S

MEXICO

On 12 October 2002, a group of seven fishermenwere arrested after being caught in two small boats



North America’s forests support botanicalresources fundamental to the cultural fabric andfinancial well-being of rural households.

Emblematic of the cultural and economic significance offorest botanicals is American Ginseng Panax quinque-folius, an herbaceous perennial inhabiting the understoryof mid- to late-successional deciduous forests (forests atthe middle-to-late-mature stage of growth) in easternUSA and southeastern Canada. Worth an estimatedUSD18 million to harvesters, wild American Ginseng is avaluable cash crop to local rural economies and a sourceof supplementary income to households during economicdownturns. Most wild-dug American Ginseng roots sup-ply domestic and international medicinal markets, themost significant of which are in East Asia. In 2001,26 062 kg of wild ginseng roots were exported to HongKong, Singapore, Taiwan, China and South Korea, with90% of these exports shipped to Hong Kong (Figure 1).

Before the onset of commercial exploitation in theUSA in the 18th century, the species was (and remains)an important plant to Native Americans. Some 11American Indian tribes harvested American Ginseng foras many as 30 different uses, ranging from a generaltonic to a remedy for tuberculosis (Moerman, 1998).Even today, American Ginseng is recognized amongmedical researchers as having promising pharmacologi-cal properties that may inhibit cancer, regulate bloodsugar in individuals with Type II diabetes, alleviatemenopausal symptoms and boost body defences (Oliff,2001; Duda et al., 2001; Wang et al., 2001). In the early1970s, commercial exports of wild American Ginsengroots reached levels believed to be putting wildpopulations at risk from unsustainable harvest. Owing toincreased conservation concerns, governments opted toregulate and monitor trade in American Ginseng by list-ing the species in CITES Appendix II in 1975. The USAimplements the CITES listing through a domesticmanagement programme under which States and the fed-eral government co-operate to ensure harvest for exportis legal, biologically sustainable and closely monitored(Robbins, 1998). States participating in this programmesubmit ginseng harvest data to the US Fish and WildlifeService (USFWS), which uses this information to assessthe status of wild populations and to determine whetherapproval should be granted to States to export wild-dugginseng roots. As of mid-2002, 19 States had been givenauthorization by the USFWS to export wild ginsengcollected during the 2002 harvest season (Augustthrough December) based on biological evidence thatharvesting would not affect the status of natural ginsengpopulations in those States. Only plants five years orolder may be exported from approved States, as youngerplants are not mature enough to produce seeds to replen-ish the population.

S H O R T C O M M U N I C A T I O N S

Ginseng’s cultural legacy: one community’s experience

American Ginseng is the principal focus ofTRAFFIC North America’s work on non-timber forestproducts (NTFPs), a group of forest commodities ofeconomic and/or cultural importance harvested for usesother than wood. During the last several years,TRAFFIC has worked closely with industry and the USGovernment to refine management strategies forAmerican Ginseng, recommending ways to improve thespecies’ conservation in the USA. In 2001, TRAFFIClaunched an initiative to evaluate the conservation mer-its of an eco-labelling programme for wild AmericanGinseng, focusing on western North Carolina (GrahamCounty) as the site for a pilot project. Out of 19 Statesreporting harvest in 2001, North Carolina was the fourthlargest producer of American Ginseng that year,producing 3079 kg of wild ginseng root (Table 1).

Eco-labels are meant to convey ecological sustain-ability of a product to those consumers who base theirpurchasing decisions in part on the environmentalimpacts of a product or company. Wild ginsengharvested in an ecologically sustainable manner andindependently certified or labelled as such would giveconsumers such information and companies selling cer-tified roots a possible competitive advantage in the mar-ketplace. Ginseng harvesters and vendors may find thevoluntary, market-based nature of eco-labelling appeal-ing if the commercial advantages are shown to outweighits costs. Under an eco-labelling programme, stipula-tions relating to the age of the plants at harvest andexport will be equal to or greater than those alreadyrequired by the State or the federal government. Harvestwould be limited to mature ginseng plants that have pro-duced enough seed to offset their removal from the pop-ulation, leaving younger plants to reach seed-bearingage. The enlarged roots of mature ginseng plants fetchhigher prices in Chinese markets and may reward sellerswith higher profits. Restricting the harvest of wildginseng to mature plants under an eco-labelling schememight complement rules imposed by the federal govern-ment which currently limits ginseng exports to plantsfive years or older.

While the concept of an eco-labelled ginsengproduct must be embraced by vendors and consumers tosurvive in the marketplace, an eco-labelling programmecannot succeed without the participation of ruralginseng diggers. Seeking the participation of diggersfirst requires an understanding of the historical, socialand economic concerns and complexities surroundinglocal perceptions towards land ownership and forestresource use in southern Appalachia. Looking at forestresource use through a geocultural lens is intended toexpose potential conflict and opportunities for workingin a co-operative fashion with local stakeholders such asharvesters. To this end, TRAFFIC North America com-missioned Yellow Creek Botanical Institute in Rob-binsville, North Carolina, to engage residents of GrahamCounty in a dialogue to gain insight into their views

Eco-labelling as a Conservation Tool forAMERICAN GINSENG

Christopher S. Robbins


towards management, harvest patterns and economics ofNTFPs, including American Ginseng. Working closelywith TRAFFIC staff, Yellow Creek carried out a seriesof interviews with 16 residents of Graham Countybelieved to be knowledgeable about NTFP harvest andtrade in the region. Yellow Creek set out to documentthe demographics, opinions and depth of knowledge ofdiggers concerning the status of NTFP resources. Resi-dents were also asked for input on what measures theybelieve are necessary to protect NTFPs from unsustain-able harvest.

By historical standards, NTFPs appear to have lostsome of their significance among Graham County resi-dents as a source of income or raw materials for use inthe home. The main reason offered by respondents forlower interest in NTFPs is the labour-intensive, time-consuming nature of extracting botanical species ofcommercial interest from the forest. Increasing scarcityand inaccessibility of forest resources to harvesters com-bined with weak prices for many medicinals owing tolower market demand may dampen the desirability ofNTFPs among residents (Cozzo, 1999). Instead, NTFPcollection is usually an opportunistic activity to pay foremergency purchases or luxury items such as stereosystems or television sets, and is carried out in conjunc-tion with other forms of income generation such as log-ging or construction. NTFP harvest levels are also afunction of seasonal changes in employment, resourceavailability or market forces. In addition, land tenurecontributes to the economic stability and social structureof residents by anchoring their historical and family tiesto Graham County. Most individuals interviewed ownat least one acre of land transferred to them by deed bya relative - typically their parents - but avoid largerparcels of two to five acres or more owing to increasingproperty taxes. Small private land holdings also serve asreservoirs for ginseng transplanted from the wild aslandowners attempt to maximize profits by waiting forginseng prices to increase before selling wild roots.Moreover, transplanting wild ginseng plants to privateproperty removes the risk of another digger harvestingthe plants from the wild.

Some of the Graham County residents interviewedwho derive most or all of their income from NTFP salesindicated that American Ginseng and log moss (Thuidi-um delicatium, Hypnum curvifolium and H. impunens)are the only NTFPs of commercial value that they con-tinue to harvest with any regularity. Even so, the priceof these products almost always dictates the amount oftime invested in collecting either or both. For instance,one respondent harvested in excess of 19 kg of wildginseng roots in 2000 when a kg fetched USD1100 butdid not sell any wild roots in 2001 when prices fellappreciably. While profitability is a strong motive forcollecting NTFPs, tradition and recreation are also citedby Graham County residents as reasons for gathering theplant. Local residents who learned to collect ginseng intheir youth on turkey or squirrel hunting trips havecarried on what is called ‘a family or poor man’s sport”,


even taking a full month off from their regular job in theautumn to collect ginseng. In addition, many nativespecies of forest plants are gathered as edibles or medi-cinals for personal consumption or used for ceremonialpurposes, as is the case with local members of theNative American tribe, the Cherokee.

Graham County residents and other individuals inwestern North Carolina close to the NTFP trade say theethic of harvesting NTFPs has changed due in part todiversification of the region’s economy in the decadesfollowing World War II. As the national economy beganto shift workers away from traditional land-based jobs inagriculture and forest products to the manufacturing sec-tor in cities, rural residents had fewer opportunities tospend time in the woods to teach their children aboutplant collecting and conservation. Symptomatic of thistrend is the disappearance of NTFP harvest practicesthat promote sustainability and the emergence of har-vesters who collect plants for cash with little knowledgeof or regard for conservation practices (Cozzo, 1999).

Graham County residents were asked about theeffectiveness and fairness of the regulatory proceduresfor harvesting NTFPS, including ginseng, and much ofthe feedback was negative. Most of the residents inter-viewed believe that the permit system administered bythe US Forest Service is expensive, inconvenient orbiased against local NTFP harvesters. As one exampleof local sentiment, residents accuse the Forest Service ofmisusing revenue generated from the sale of harvestpermits by not reinvesting in ginseng seeding or restora-tion. In another example, respondents expressed frus-tration with unannounced or frequent changes in gov-ernment harvest policies or regulations that they believeare not adequately communicated to harvesters. Someof these regulatory changes are unpopular among har-vesters because they limit the duration or level ofharvest and therefore erode profit margins, possibly con-tributing to higher unauthorized harvest. Indeed, theForest Service has reason to believe that the actualamount of wild ginseng collected in national forestsexceeds the amount that may be legally collected undereach harvest permit (USFWS, 2002). Harvesters areapparently required to disclose on their permits theamount of ginseng collected on US Forest Service land,and if the amount of ginseng collected is marginallyhigher than the amount allowed under permit, they couldbe cited and fined by a forest ranger. The difficulty ofharvesting precisely the amount allowed under eachpermit and the Forest Service’s obligation to enforceharvest rules for a valuable public resource illuminatethe contrasting perspectives of harvesters and govern-ment land use officials.

Underpinning the adversarial views of local resi-dents may be a legacy of 20th century government landacquisitions in southern Appalachia that displaced localfamilies whose relatives and descendants still perceivegovernment land management policies as exclusionary.Thus, past government actions resulting in the displace-ment of local families from their land likely reinforce





Graham County residents’ concerns about access toNTFPs (e.g. ginseng) that they consider fundamental totheir livelihoods, traditions and rights. Even thoughlocal residents interviewed by Yellow Creek questionNTFP management strategies and objectives of the For-est Service, they acknowledge that ginseng overharvestis a widespread problem requiring attention.

Taking Steps Towards Sustainable Wild-Collection

Reconciling the conservation needs of NTFPs in theface of mounting human pressures, including exploit-ation, with strong local biases against the appearance ofgovernment or external interference, complicates NTFPmanagement on public lands. In addition, GrahamCounty residents and harvesters are sceptical of finan-cial schemes whose benefits are unclear, as previousefforts to promote economic diversification and sustain-able forestry in the region have not met the expectationsof rural residents. Based on the observations and opin-ions of local residents interviewed, establishing an eco-labelling programme for ginseng that is designed toimprove the standard of living of harvesters while con-serving wild ginseng populations for future users is pos-sible if several steps are taken to allay suspicions amonglocal residents. These steps are by no means exhaustivebut represent a general course of action to increase resi-dents’ receptiveness.

• First, cultivate trust among local residents and har-vesters by explaining the intended benefits of eco-labelling and warning in advance of likely setbacksand possible failure. Some residents believe thateco-labelling may benefit a few at the expense ofothers by giving certified harvesters a competitiveadvantage over uncertified gatherers. If residentsunderstand that certification is voluntary and open toindividuals willing to follow harvest protocols devel-oped with their input, opposition may be tempered.

• Second, ensure local NTFP gatherers have completeaccess to the decision-making process regarding eco-labelling. Forest management is more sustainableand successful under the direction of local stake-holders who realize that their livelihoods depend onthe long-term vitality and health of forest resources(Emery, 1998; Nabhan, 1997). Botanical dealersmay be appropriate vehicles for the exchange ofinformation and dialogue between local harvestersand eco-labelling proponents as the former may bemore comfortable interacting with local dealers withwhom they conduct business.

• Third, request local, longstanding professional har-vesters to share their ideas and experience in sus-tainable harvest practices, which should be workedinto harvester guidelines produced for a ginseng eco-labelling programme. As older, traditional har-vesters who possess intimate knowledge of local

Kentucky 10326Tennessee 3963Indiana 3197North Carolina 3079West Virginia 2454Virginia 1733Ohio 1704Illinois 1510Wisconsin 1130Missouri 727Pennsylvania 657Minnesota 591Arkansas 420Maryland 410Alabama 396Iowa 355New York 342Georgia 320Vermont 54

41 451

23536

112 1161 761

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Kg

Canada China Hong Kong

South Korea

Singapore Taiwan

Figure 1. US exports of American Ginseng (kg), 2001.

Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service

Table 1. Reported harvest of wild American Ginsengroots in 2001.

Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service

State kg



REFERENCES

Cozzo, D.N. (1999). Herb Gatherers and Root Diggers ofNorthwestern North Carolina. Appalachian Studies Mas-ters Thesis, Appalachian State University.

Duda, R.B., Kang, S.S., Archer, SY, Meng, S. and R.A. Hodin(2001). American Ginseng transcriptionally activates p21mRNA in breast cancer cell lines. Journal of Korean Med-ical Science, 16 December, Suppl:S54-60.

Emery, M. (1998). Invisible Livelihoods: Non-timber ForestProducts in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. GeographyPh.D. dissertation, Rutgers, The State University of NewJersey-New Brunswick.

Moerman, D. (1998). Native American Ethnobotany. TimberPress, Portland, Oregon [http://www.umd. umich.edu/cgi-bin/herb].

Nabhan, G.P. (1997). Cultures of Habitat: On nature, culture,and story. Counterpoint; Washington DC.

Oliff, H.S. (2001). American Ginseng and Cancer Drugs Inhib-it Breast Cancer Cell Growth in Vitro Study. HerbalGram53:18-19.

Robbins, C.S. (1998). American Ginseng: the Root of NorthAmerica’s Medicinal Plant Trade. TRAFFIC NorthAmerica, Washington, DC. 94pp.

USFWS (2002). Scientific finding on the export of AmericanGinseng harvested in 2002 prepared by the Division ofScientific Authority of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Servicefor the Division of Management Authority of USFWS.

Wang, M., Guilbert, L.J., Ling, L., Li, J., Wu, Y., Xu, S., Pang,P. and Shan, J.J. (2001). Immunomodulating activity ofCVT-E002, a proprietary extract from North AmericanGinseng (Panax quinquefolium). Journal of Pharmacy andPharmacology. November. 53(11):1515-1523.

Christopher S. Robbins, Biota LLC, 2233 NE Mason Street, Portland, Oregon, 97211, USA.E-mail: [email protected].

Portions of this paper focusing on the profiles, practicesand perceptions of ginseng harvesters are based on theresults of a survey commissioned by TRAFFIC NorthAmerica and undertaken by Shannon E. McBride of theUniversity of Georgia, Department of Anthropology forYellow Creek Botanical Institute.


ecology and forest resources are replaced by ayounger generation, conservation practices may notbe transferred. Eco-labelling could be an education-al as much as an economic opportunity by facilitat-ing the transfer of responsible harvest techniquesfrom the older experts to younger novices or newarrivals to the region.

The educational, social and logistical framework forginseng eco-labelling, or some form of harvester certifi-cation, may be achieved more effectively through a har-vester co-operative created with private foundationfunds. Worker co-operatives can have inherenteconomic advantages such as a greater ability to lever-age price premiums by controlling a higher percentageof product and serving as a source of current market andprice information to members. A NTFP harvester co-operative may be able to integrate eco-labelling into itsoperation by purchasing ginseng of a certain quality orage from harvesters who have been accredited by the co-operative or an independent organization specializing insustainable botanicals management. Established oremerging NTFP harvester co-operatives in NorthernCalifornia and the Olympic Peninsula, in north-westUSA, based on ecological sustainability and social equi-ty, are potential models for Graham County.

Regardless of the shape or form of ginseng eco-labelling, much work remains ahead to address theconcerns of resource users along the value chain. Inaddition, the impacts of eco-labelling should beconsidered within the cultural context of the Cherokeenation and the regulatory requirements of the US ForestService, USFWS and the State Government of NorthCarolina. The Eastern Band of the Cherokee is increas-ingly reticent about the commercial collection of plantspecies on tribal lands, and eco-labelling may or maynot be compatible with their traditions. About 70% ofthe land in Graham County is within the NantahalaNational Forest where the harvest of wild ginseng is reg-ulated by the Forest Service. As the largest landownerin the County, the Forest Service controls public accessto much of the resource base and should therefore beconsulted to ensure eco-labelling is implemented with-out undermining the agency’s own conservation effortsfor the species. Similarly, the USFWS, which imple-ments the CITES Appendix II-listing for AmericanGinseng in co-operation with States (e.g. North Caroli-na), should be included in discussions to determine ifcomponents of an eco-labelling programme might assistthe government with fulfilling its obligations underCITES.

TRAFFIC North America will continue to work withthese stakeholders to determine whether eco-labellingcan achieve the twin goals of conserving AmericanGinseng in the wild while benefiting harvesters, dealersand vendors in the marketplace. TRAFFIC welcomesinput from anyone willing to provide feedback or anopinion on the use of eco-labelling as a market-basedtool for conserving wild non-timber forest products.




S T E M M I N G R U S S I A ’ S W I L D F L O W E R T R A D E

Mikhail Kreindlin

Since the early 19th century, certain wild plants in the Crimea,Caucasus, western Ukraine and southern Russia, have been declin-ing in number. These plants include snowdrops Galanthus spp. and

cyclamen Cyclamen spp. that grow primarily in broad-leaved forests.The 1820s saw the beginning of active industrial logging that resulted inthe complete destruction of a large part of these forests during the courseof the 20th century. Habitats of these plants shrank notably, and theirnorthern borders shifted to the south, with plant populations becomingfragmented and restricted to mountains and foothills. According toscientific research, one of the main causes for the fall in snowdrops,cyclamen and other wild ornamental plants has been the mass collectionfor sale. Large-scale collection of flowering plants results in underde-veloped bulbs being trampled and destroyed and has led to the disap-pearance of whole populations of wild plants, with some species nowclose to extinction. An example is the Kuznetsov Cyclamen Cyclamenkuznetsovii which was formerly widespread throughout the Crimea andis now restricted to a single mountain in the centre of the Crimea.

It seems that the only way to preserve these plants in their naturalenvironment is by imposing restrictions on their collection. This objec-tive has become the major focus of an operation, code-named OperationPervotsvety, set up by the Environmental Protection Team of the Stu-dent Movement of Russia which includes members of the Biology fac-ulty of Moscow State University who have specialized botanical train-ing. Many of the plants that this operation strives to protect are includ-ed in the Red Data Books of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and theCaucasus Republics; all snowdrop and cyclamen species are listed inCITES Appendix II.

The work of Operation Pervotsvety comprises two principal method-ologies. The first of these involves working with the media, distributingmessages via advertising and leaflets, and visiting schools, to highlightthe impact of the trade on wild plant populations and discourage suchactivities. The trade in endangered plants in Moscow has received a lotof press, radio and television coverage. The second method employedto control this trade is by direct intervention of collection, importationand sale of these plants, with the main focus of the operation onMoscow.

Monitoring the trade

In 1994, the Government of the Russian Federation signed a resolu-tion describing measures aimed at implementing provisions of CITESnational wildlife trade law. However, it was three years before suchmeasures were put into effect, following the establishment of the Envi-ronmental Police; even then, such work was limited to assisting the Stu-dent Environmental Protection Team while the service developed.Despite such limitations, however, raids on several trains to the Crimearesulted in the confiscation of plants consisting of some 10 000 bunchesof wild flowers. This period saw the illegal trafficking of plants for salein Moscow at its peak. This was probably caused by the huge disparityin the exchange rates in Russia and Ukraine, as well as a deterioratingeconomy, with growing unemployment and a decline in standards of liv-ing in the regions where people collect plants for sale. The main sourceof the plants was the Crimea, while political unrest in Abkhazia, Georgiaand Azerbaijan resulted in almost a complete halt in the movement ofplants from the Caucasus to Russia. However, demand for these plantsin Moscow grew because prices for indoor plants had increased.

THOUSANDS OF PLANTS,

INCLUDING SNOWDROPS

GALANTHUS AND CYCLAMEN

CYCLAMEN WERE SEIZED

DURING RAIDS ON RAILWAY

STATIONS IN MOSCOW

EARLIER THIS YEAR.

THE PLANTS HAD BEEN

WILD-COLLECTED IN CRIMEA

AND THE CAUCASUS

PHOTOGRAPHS: SNOWDROPS GALANTHUSAND CYCLAMEN CYCLAMEN

(K. LOCHEN/TRAFFIC)




By March 1997, trade in endangeredspecies was becoming more organizedand integrated into other spheres of trade.Wild flowers would be sent in bulk towholesale markets from where smallerquantities would be despatched to streetmarkets; by this time, it became moredifficult for inspectors (members of theStudent Environmental Protection Team)to penetrate the core of the wholesaletrade; moreover, most traders had the“protection” of criminal groups and cor-rupt law enforcement agencies.

Having considered all these factors,in 1998 the monitoring of this illegaltrade was organized in a completely dif-ferent manner, with a shift in focus to thetrafficking of plants by rail. Such workwas mostly undertaken by the Environ-mental Police who by this time werebetter equipped to deal with suchoffences than previously. The result wasthat in 1998, three times more rare flow-ers than in previous years were confiscat-ed - in most cases these consisted ofwholesale shipments. This increasedpressure marked the end of open sales ofendangered species in Moscow and theyears that followed saw a drop in thenumber of plants imported from theCrimea.

In 1999, the Moscow City Duma(Parliament) passed the Law of the City ofMoscow On Regulation of Use of Rareand Endangered Wild Animal and PlantSpecies in the City of Moscow whichstrengthened the legal basis for penaliz-ing illegal trade by increasing fines andvesting responsibility for monitoringsuch activities in environmentalprotection and law enforcement bodies.The following year, the local policedepartment was carrying out raids atMoscow’s Kazan railway station, wherepreviously such work had been carriedout at Kursk railway station only. Thisclosed off another channel for the illegalimportation of plants to Rizhsky market -one of the primary destinations for wildflowers - and other markets in Moscow,including the importation of cyclamenCyclamen coum, for which trade waspreviously uncontrolled, and otherspecies listed in Category I of the RedData Book of the Russian Federation.

However, volumes of illegal trade inendangered species in Moscow rose againfollowing the dissolution of the StateEnvironmental Protection Committee andthe Environmental Police. In May 2000,

environmental protection agencies were united with the Ministry ofNatural Resources. This resulted in a weakening of State environmen-tal control because the officials responsible for resource use were alsoin charge of controlling it. Furthermore, the Moscow City Environ-mental Protection Committee was dissolved and replaced by the Envi-ronmental Protection Department of the Moscow City Governmentwhose authority and powers in 2000 were still undefined. For this rea-son, it was decided that enforcement efforts should focus directly onRussian Customs checkpoints. Initially, such efforts were directed atthe Russian-Ukrainian frontier, in co-operation with the BelgorodCustoms Department and the Russian-Abkhazian frontier in Sochi, inthe Krasnodar Region. This work brought encouraging results and theinflux of illegal plant species from Abkhazia almost stopped. However,judging from the number of subsequent confiscations of plants fromother regions, it became apparent that Customs officials in Russia andneighbouring States did not have sufficient resources to control thetraffic of rare plants at the border.

Simultaneous to the work undertaken in Moscow and Sochi by Oper-ation Pervotsvety, other Environmental Protection Team inspectorsobserved trafficking of plants in the absence of any controls whatsoever;they learned that the importation of illegal plants into Moscow, inparticular from the Crimea, had grown significantly over a period of justone year.

In direct response, on 1 March 2001, a full-scale operation waslaunched to stop the illegal importation and trade in wildlife in Moscow.Since the Environmental Police department was no longer functioningat this time, the Student Environmental Protection Team had to signspecial agreements with the transport police at Kursk and Kazan railwaystations to operate there. Their monitoring activities resulted in the con-fiscation, between 1 to 8 March, of plants comprising 12 000 bunches offlowers in Moscow. Most had been brought into the city by train. In1999-2000, train conductors preferred to stay away from such practicesfor fear of disciplinary action. In 2001 several train conductors werearrested for their involvement in such activity and it is hoped that thisparticular practice will once again cease.

In early 2001, large numbers of Kuznetsov Cyclamen Cyclamenkuznetsovii - one of the rarest plants in Russia and subject to specialprotection and conservation measures - were being imported for the firsttime, demonstrating a growing weakness in the control over collectionof flowers in the Crimea.

WITH ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACTIVITIES IN RUSSIA STILL VESTED MAINLY IN

NGOS, WHOSE CAPABILITIES AND RESOURCES ARE LIMITED, AND WITH THE

TRAFFICKING OF WILD PLANTS BECOMING MORE ORGANIZED AND INFILTRATED

BY CRIME, THE EFFICIENCY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION MEASURES

IN RUSSIA WILL SIGNIFICANTLY DECREASE.

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In 2002, the Student Environmental Protection Teamworked at the Ukrainian and Abkhazian borders and inMoscow, targeting illegal trade and places where whole-sale trade in rare plant species was taking place. By thistime the Environmental Police had been re-established,greatly assisting such operations. All trains going to andarriving from the Crimea and Caucasus were checkedand 80 000 bunches of rare or endangered plants(comprising about 400 000 flowers) were seized inMoscow alone. Most of these plants had come from theUkraine. Further, the following seizures were made atthe Abkhazian border: 11 120 specimens of Colchis BurGrass Ruskus colchicus (listed in Category I in Russia’sRed Data Book); 5883 Caucasus Bear’s Foot Erythroni-um caucasikum plants; 4180 cyclamens Cyclamen coum;2000 Voronov Snowdrops Galanthus woronwii; and, 448specimens of Colchis Box Buxus colchica. Efficientborder controls almost stopped the movement of theseplants into Russia.

Efforts to stop the illegal traffic of rare plants toMoscow received support from the State in 2003 for thefirst time. Operations to control these illegal activitieswere approved by the Head of the Public Safety Police ofthe city of Moscow. This saw the beginning of large-scale involvement of law enforcement personnel and asignificant decrease in the number of plants being trans-ported into Russia: officials seized flower bunches con-taining thousands of specimens of rare and endangeredplant species, including 7500 branches of Colchis BurGrass, cyclamen (all species of which are classed asEndangered in Russia’s Red Data Book (RDB) andsnowdrops (all species of which are protected underArticle 60 of Russia’s Environmental Protection Lawand some species classed as Rare in Russia’s RDB (seepage 149)).

There may be several reasons for the decline in con-fiscations of illegal plants, the most obvious being adecline in the volumes traded. It is apparent that the effi-cient job undertaken by the environmental agenciesduring 2002 forced many traders to switch to othermethods to make a living. Moreover, the last couple ofweeks in February in the Crimea had been very cold,resulting in smaller “crops” of snowdrops. The work ofthe group in the Caucasus placed obstacles in the way oftrafficking rare or endangered plants from Abkhazia andthe Black Sea coast of the Caucasus. Another reason forthe decrease could be that traffickers found new ways ofbringing plants to Moscow - by car, aeroplane, commutertrain and long-distance trains.

Considering all of the above, it is clear that providedthere is efficient control over the movement and trade inrare and endangered plant species, it is possible toachieve a significant decrease in the volumes of com-mercial harvesting of these plants. However this cannot

resolve the issue completely as traffickers will look forother ways to smuggle plants to Moscow. Besides,despite the high level of organization into theconservation of rare plants in certain regions likeMoscow and Sochi, in general, this issue receives verylittle attention at government level in Russia or theUkraine. With environmental protection activities stillvested mainly in non-governmental organizations,whose capabilities and resources are quite limited, andwith the illegal trade in wild plants becoming more orga-nized and infiltrated by crime, the efficiency of environ-mental protection measures will significantly decrease.In this respect, the Student Environment ProtectionTeam believes that the following steps should urgentlybe taken:

• develop governmental programmes aimed at protect-ing habitats; stop illegal harvesting, trafficking andtrade in rare and endangered plant and animalspecies, focusing initially on species listed in the RedData Books of the Russian Federation, Ukraine andthe Caucasus Republics, and in the CITES Appen-dices.

• facilitate environmental protection activities (inspec-tion controls and education) in places where rare andendangered species grow, including in the Ukraine,the Caucasus States and southern provinces of theRussian Federation.

• reduce the commercial demand for wild plants byreplacing wild specimens on the market with culti-vated plants.

• undertake more educational activities aimed at dis-couraging the trade in regions where demand forwild plants is high.

• introduce amendments to the Russian Federationlegislation to ensure tougher punishment (includingbringing offenders to court) for the collection, traf-ficking and trade in CITES species.

• continue scientific assessment into the impact ofmass collection of plants on their populations - workthat has already begun and is being maintained bythe Environmental Protection Team of the CaucasusNature Reserve and Sochi National Park.

Mikhail Kreindlin, formerly a member of the StudentEnvironmental Protection Team of Moscow StateUniversity, is currently a researcher at GreenpeaceRussia. E-mail: [email protected]



P U B L I C A T I O N S

T R A F F I C R E P O RT S

The following TRAFFIC reports are now available from the relevant TRAFFIC office indicated below (addressesback page) or can be accessed from www.traffic.org.

Regional Fisheries Organizations and the World Trade Organization: TRAFFIC InternationalCompatibility or ConflictRichard TarasofskySeptember 2003. 36 pp.

Fading Footprints: The Killing and Trade of Snow Leopards TRAFFIC InternationalStephanie TheileAugust 2003. 72 pp.

A Survey of the Commercial Trade in Whale Meat Products in Japan. TRAFFIC East AsiaAkiko Ishihara and Junichi Yoshii2003. 33 pp. (in Japanese and English)

Eels: their Harvest and Trade in Europe and Asia TRAFFIC East AsiaStéphane Ringuet, Fumihito Muto and Caroline Raymakers2003. 40 pp. (in Japanese and English)

Japan’s Trade in Ivory after the Tenth Conference of the Parties to CITES TRAFFIC East AsiaHisako Kiyono2003. 25 pp. (in Japanese and English)

A Question of Attitude: South Korea’s Traditional Medicine Practitioners and TRAFFIC East AsiaWildlife ConservationSue Kang and Marcus PhippsJune 2003. 58 pp.

Status, Management, and Trade of North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish TRAFFIC North AmericaDouglas F. Williamson May 2003. 240 pp.

Fishery Activities and Trade of Patagonian Toothfish in South America: TRAFFIC South Americaa Regional Perspective.Ana Sancho Andrade, Bernardo Ortiz-von Halle, Nicolas Naranjo Cuvi (eds)January 2003. 178 pp. (in Spanish or English)

In Harmony with CITES? An Analysis of the Compatibility between Current TRAFFIC Southeast AsiaForestry Management Provisions and the Effective Implementation of CITES Listing for Timber Species in MalaysiaChen Hin Keong and Balu Perumal.October 2002. 42 pp. (in Spanish or English)

O N L I N E R E P O R T S

The TRAFFIC Online Report Series hosts TRAFFIC reports published primarily in a PDF file format on TRAFFIC’swebsite www.traffic.org. Reports in the series feature new research results and policy analyses for priority issuesTRAFFIC is working on as part of its ongoing efforts to ensure that wildlife trade is not a threat to the conservation ofnature. Notification of on-line publications are sent to target audiences and partner organizations and printed copiesof the reports are also provided to key reference libraries.

> > NO. 7. An assessment of the domestic ivory carving industry and trade controls in India.Prepared by TRAFFIC India. February 2003.

> > No. 8. Certifying certification: can certification secure a sustainable future for medicinal plants, harvesters and consumers in India? Prepared by Pushp Jain. October 2003.


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