Tuna, tuskers, tigers headline wildlife trade meet

Anne Chaon Yahoo News 13 Mar 10;

DOHA (AFP) – Atlantic bluefin tuna is in crisis and meets the criteria for a total ban on international trade, the head of the UN wildlife trade organisation said on Saturday in opening a 13-day meeting.

The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), convening for the first time in the Middle East, is the only UN body with the power to outlaw commerce in endangered wild animals and plants.

Besides the sharply disputed proposal on bluefin, the Convention will debate the status of African elephants, polar bears and tigers.

Delegates from the nearly 150 nations in attendance will also vote on less stringent protection for several types of shark and their lookalikes.

Up to 73 million of the open-water predators are killed every year for their fins, a prestige food eaten mainly in China and Chinese communities around the world.

Boosting the CITES budget -- at less than five million dollars (3.6 million euros) the smallest of the major UN conventions -- is the first item on the agenda.

"In the absence of necessary funding, CITES will not be able to fully exploit its great potential," Secretary General Willem Wijnstekers said in an opening statement.

Until now, the forum was best known for measures restricting commerce in charismatic species, including big cats, great apes and elephants.

But for the first time a marine species -- bluefin tuna -- has taken centre stage.

Despite self-imposed quotas, high-tech fisheries have drained tuna stocks in the Mediterranean and Western Atlantic by as much as 80 percent since 1970.

"The secretariat believes the species (Thunnus thynnus) meets the criteria for Appendix I" of the convention, Wijnstekers said.

This conclusion, he added, "has been confirmed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the scientific committee of the ICCAT," the inter-governmental fishery group that manages tuna stocks in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas.

The European Union and the United States back a move to list the 100,000-dollar-a-head fish on CITES' Appendix I, which bans international trade.

Top consumer Japan is fiercely opposed to the measure, and is sure to mount a vigorous campaign to block the two-thirds vote of those attending the conference needed for the top tier of protection, experts say.

On elephants, a proposal by Tanzania and Zambia would reopen trade in ivory, currently under a nine-year moratorium that started in 2008.

Most other African nations oppose the move, backing a competing measure that would extend the ban by another decade.

Polar bears are also being considered for the top level of protection.

Attended by environmentalists, animal rights advocates, big business and governments, CITES seeks a sustainable balance between protection and commercial exploitation.

Terrestrial flora and fauna have fallen victim to shrinking habitats, hunting and over-harvesting.

Many ocean species have simply been eaten to the brink of viability.

"We have nearly 34,000 species placed under our protection. You need scientific studies, legislation, enforcement, training for customs police, capacity building," said Juan Carlos Vasquez of CITES in pleading for a 16-percent budget boost.

Animals and plants are listed on three levels according to the degree of protection they need.

APPENDIX I covers about 530 animals -- including tigers, great apes, snow leopards and sea turtles -- and more than 300 plants.

The vast majority of species covered are in APPENDIX II, which permits carefully regulated trade.

Pink and red coral, harvested mainly in the Mediterranean for jewellery, is again up for this status after failing to gain it in 2007.

Several hundred APPENDIX III species are protected by national laws.

Separately, the forum will consider a resolution to condemn tiger farming, practised only in China.

Bluefin tuna tops CITES conference agenda in Doha
Michael Casey, Associated Press 13 Mar 10;

DOHA, Qatar – A contentious battle between Asia and the West over the fate of the Atlantic bluefin tuna prized by sushi lovers overshadowed a United Nations conference that opened Saturday in the Gulf state of Qatar.

The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, was discussing new proposals on regulating the trade in number of plant and animal species, including an all-out ban on the export of Atlantic bluefin that has been particularly opposed by seafood-mad Japan.

Raw tuna is a key ingredient in traditional dishes such as sushi and sashimi, and the bluefin variety — called "hon-maguro" in Japan — is particularly prized.

But global stocks of bluefin are dwindling, especially in the Atlantic, and governments around the world are increasingly supporting a complete trade ban to let the fish recover. About 80 percent of the species ends up in Japan.

CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers told The Associated Press this week that support for the ban was growing and was hopeful the ban would be approved doing the two-week meeting.

"There is no scientific argument against that," said Wijnstekers, whose organization has come out in support of the export ban.

There are 42 proposals on the table at the conference, addressing a range of issues from combating elephant poaching for ivory in Africa to banning trade in polar bear skins. But those focusing on sharks and tuna are likely to be among the most contentious.

They pit the Europeans and Americans against fishing nations in North Africa and Asia, especially Japan, which has already vowed to ignore any bluefin ban. A bid to regulate the trade in red and pink corals — harvested to make expensive jewelry — could also divide the delegates.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, more than half of all marine fish stocks are under threat.

Monaco — the sponsor of the proposed ban on the export of Atlantic bluefin tuna — says numbers have fallen by nearly 75 percent since 1957. But most of the decline has occurred over the last decade with demand driven by sushi lovers in Japan and elsewhere for the bluefin' succulent red and pink meat.

Supporters said the ban is necessary because the Atlantic bluefin is a migratory species that swims from the Western Atlantic to the Mediterranean — putting it beyond any one country's border. Compounding the tuna's plight is the growing threat from illegal fishing fleets and the failure of existing measures that are supposed to ensure the tuna is sustainable.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, is tasked with protecting the tuna. But critics said the intergovernmental body consistently ignores its own scientists in setting quotas and does little to stop countries from exceeding already high quotas.

Wijnstekers said the latest tuna proposal was a reflection of ICCAT's failures and desires by many countries for tougher action. A tuna ban was first proposed in 1992 and tabled on the condition that ICCAT would implement stronger conservation measures.

"It's 18 years later and things have gone terribly wrong," Wijnstekers said. "Parties are coming to CITES and saying other instruments aren't dealing with this so it's time for CITES to do something more dramatic."

The United States backed the ban proposal last week. Many European countries also expressed support, although France and the European Commission have endorsed a compromise to delay the ban until 2011.

Japan, which consumes 80 percent of Atlantic bluefin eaten worldwide, has said it will ignore the ban. The more critical issue is whether other key fishing countries will join Japan's rebuff — which would allow them to sell tuna to Japan.

Tokyo also argues that concerns about the extinction of the Atlantic bluefin are overblown.

The threat of a ban has some Japanese warning their culture is under siege. Sushi is an iconic dish in Japan, where fatty bluefin — called "o-toro" in Japan — sells for as much as 2,000 yen ($20) a piece in high-end Tokyo restaurants.

The conference in Doha is also expected to discuss ways to tackle the illegal trade of tiger products, and the protection of less-known species such as the spiny-tailed iguanas of Mexico and Central America and the spectacular Dynastes satanas beetle of Latin America — both prized by collectors.

Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, which administers the CITES, said limiting the trade on a range of threatened species could go a long way to ensuring biodiversity.

"By ensuring that the international trade in wildlife is properly regulated, CITES can assist in conserving the planet's wild fauna and flora from overexploitation and contribute to the sustainable development," Steiner said.

Ivory and tuna top wildlife talks
Richard Black, BBC News 13 Mar 10;

Sales of ivory and a possible ban on trading bluefin tuna top the agenda for the two-week CITES meeting that opens this weekend in Doha, Qatar.

CITES - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species - will set a precedent if it votes to ban trading in a lucrative fish such as bluefin.

The US and EU back the proposal, but Japan is set against.

Conservation groups are also hoping for increased protection on sharks, coral, polar bears, lizards and amphibians.

African disunity

The ivory and tuna issues are both potentially controversial.

International ivory trading was banned in 1989.

But countries considered to have well-managed stocks of elephants and reliable systems for tracking tusks have three times been allowed to sell consignments from government stockpiles.

Zambia and Tanzania are now seeking permission for a further sale.

But other African nations led by Kenya and Mali want a 20-year ban on all ivory exports. They argue that the legal trade stimulates poaching, which has been on the rise in recent years.

"To permit any step towards further trade in ivory makes no sense whatsoever - it flies in the face of every basic conservation principle and is contrary to the agreement made at the last meeting," said Jason Bell-Leask from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw).

However, the organisation Traffic - which is charged with collecting data on illegal elephant killings and ivory smuggling - maintains there is no proof of a link.

Data from its Elephant Trade Information System (Etis) shows that the rate of seizures of illegal ivory began rising well in 2004, well before the last one-off legal ivory sale was authorised in 2007.

And the previous one-off sale, in 1999, co-incided with a fall in seizures.

Etis manager Tom Milliken argues that African governments wanting to stem the rising ivory tide would be better advised to step up enforcement efforts against poachers and traders.

And China, the principal market for illegal ivory, should live up to its promises to act against smuggling gangs, he says.

Otherwise, he says: "Arguments over the impacts of one-off sales will continue to divert attention away from the real problem: finding ways to stop the flow of illicit ivory at source."

Tuna battles

The chances of CITES voting to ban the international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna increased markedly during the week when - after months of wrangling - the EU decided to give its support.

The bloc includes several nations with tuna fleets in the Mediterranean, the main fishing ground.

Conservation groups argue that the ban is needed because governments involved in the industry have allowed overfishing to such an extent that the species' survival is in some doubt.

They also argue that a pause in fishing will eventually lead to higher catches.

"The goal is not to ban trade indefinitely, but to suspend international trade until the species recovers sufficiently to enable international trade to resume," said Sue Lieberman, director of international policy with the Pew Environment Group.

"This is a key conservation moment - whether the governments here will vote for the conservation of bluefin tuna, or will allow commercial fishery interests to prevail, further causing over-fishing and continued decline of this iconic species," she told BBC News from Doha.

Japan has indicated that it would opt out of a trade ban, as it is entitled to do under CITES rules.

But if all other tuna fishing countries went along with it, there would be no supply of tuna to import.

Conservation groups are urging the EU and US to make sure that other tuna fishing countries, particularly North African states bordering the Mediterranean, do not opt out.

Skin and teeth

The CITES meeting will also consider a US proposal to ban international trade in items originating from polar bears.

Rapid melting of Arctic sea ice in recent decades has placed the polar bear on the Red List of Threatened Species.

About 2,000 items are traded internationally each year, including skin, skulls, teeth and claws.

Although this is not considered to be the major threat to the species' survival, the US feels that the trade ban would be a help, and would not intrude on the rights of Arctic indigenous peoples with a history of hunting polar bears for meat and skin.

Other proposals would see trade banned in a number of reptiles and amphibians, including three iguanas from Mexico and the critically endangered Luristan newt of Iran.

Four species of shark are also up for consideration, as are the red and pink Corallium corals from the Mediterranean that are used in the jewellery trade.