Species Survival Network Calls on U.S. to Support Protection For Species In International Trade at Conference in Chile

10/22/2002

From: Nicholas Braden, 301-258-3072, for the Species Survival Network, e-mail: nbraden@hsus.org

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 -- With the twelfth meeting of the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) set to begin in two weeks in Santiago, Chile, The Species Survival Network (SSN), an international coalition of 65 environmental, animal protection and conservation organizations from around the world, is issuing an urgent message: The United States must take a leadership role at the CITES meeting to secure protection for animals and plants threatened by international commercial trade.

Elephants

One of the most contentious debates at this CITES meeting is expected to be the international commercial trade in elephant ivory. Such trade was banned by CITES in 1989 after the ivory trade had wiped out half of Africa's elephants in just one decade. Poached ivory was funneled into the then-legal ivory trade, proving that attempts by CITES to regulate the trade had failed. Now, five southern African nations want to re-open the legal international ivory trade.

"The reopening of the international ivory trade would spell doom for elephants," said Dr. Teresa Telecky, acting executive director for the Species Survival Network and director of the Wildlife Trade Program for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). "The CITES ivory trade ban has worked: it stopped the precipitous decline of elephant populations. However, poaching and illegal trade to supply poorly regulated domestic markets in ivory, including those in the United States, have continued to take a toll. A new HSUS study of the ivory trade in the United States reveals that Americans are contributing to the elephant poaching problem by purchasing ivory objects sold on the United States domestic market and purchasing ivory overseas and bringing it back to the United States. This is all the more reason that the United States must oppose these five ivory trade proposals and encourage other countries to do so as well."

Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Christopher Shays (D-Conn.) have sent a letter to the head of the U.S. CITES delegation urging the U.S. to oppose ivory trade proposals. The letter was also signed by 53 other House members. A similar letter from Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and 18 other Senators was also sent to the U.S. CITES delegation head.

Marine Species

Whale populations were decimated by years of commercial hunting which fed an international market for their meat and blubber. In 1982 the International Whaling

Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling. Now, Japan has proposed to allow international commercial trade from certain populations of minke and Bryde's whales under CITES. "The Government of Japan's proposals to downlist minke and Bryde's whales represent an outrageous and cynical attempt to reopen trade in protected whales," said Natalie Brandon, whales campaigner for Greenpeace USA. "The United States government and other CITES members cannot stand idly by while Japan whittles away at international protections for whales."

The Earth's two largest species of fish, the whale shark and the basking shark, are experiencing dramatic declines in their numbers due to over-fishing. Unsustainable uses of sharks include whale shark meat for human consumption and fins from basking sharks for shark fin soup. Other sharks are used in aphrodisiac preparations, health supplements and cosmetics.

Proposals to better regulate international trade in these species will be debated at this CITES meeting. "Despite a handful of nations producing action plans to help protect sharks from the burgeoning fin trade, it is crucial that CITES also implements an effective international mechanism for monitoring and controlling the global trade in basking and whale shark parts," said Sarah Tyack, campaigns manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "We therefore strongly urge CITES delegations, including the United States, to support the proposals from the United Kingdom and Philippines which would allow for such trade controls."

Trade protection for Patagonian toothfish, served in restaurants as "Chilean sea bass," will also be discussed in Santiago. Illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing of this species is rampant, threatening fish populations and the livelihoods of legal fishermen. "Listing Patagonian toothfish on Appendix II at CITES will level the playing field for legal fishermen by closing ports to the pirates who illegally take more than half the world's annual catch," said Gerald Leape, marine conservation program director for the National Environmental Trust. "In fact, the United States government knows that one third of the toothfish currently sold here in the United States is illegally caught. It should actively work for passage of this proposal to protect fishermen who are following the rules and to stop the sale of illegal toothfish in the United States."

Mahogany

International demand for bigleaf mahogany is threatening the survival of that species as well. "Illegal and unsustainable logging for mahogany is a major driver of deforestation in the Amazon," said Carroll Muffett, director of international programs for Defenders of Wildlife. "The United States has recognized for more than a decade that bigleaf mahogany deserves protection under CITES. As the world's biggest importer of mahogany, this country has a responsibility to ensure it receives that protection."

CITES

"The CITES meeting in Chile promises to be contentious," said Adam M. Roberts, senior research associate at the Animal Welfare Institute and Member of the Board of the Species

Survival Network. "However, many CITES Parties seem to appreciate that the path toward a sustainable future is one that recognizes the enormous value of live animals and ecotourism to local communities and people across the globe. As such, in the long run, whale watching could be more profitable than commercial whale hunting and wildlife viewing safaris more profitable than hunting safaris. This recognition bodes well for the future of wildlife and community development."

CITES, a 27-year-old United Nations treaty with 160 member countries, is an important mechanism for international cooperation in the effort to protect wild animal and plants species from harm caused by international commercial trade. In addition to the aforementioned issues, SSN delegates will advocate stronger protection for Black Sea bottlenose dolphins, four species of parrots, populations of vicuqa, and thirty other species whose long term future is threatened by demand from international commercial trade.

The SSN is an international coalition of 65 conservation, animal protection and environmental organizations from more than 27 countries. It is committed to the promotion, enhancement, and strict enforcement of CITES. SSN will hold daily press briefings throughout the two-week CITES conference. Wildlife experts affiliated with SSN will be available to provide delegates and the media with expert knowledge of the issues under consideration.

Editors Notes: Information on the Species Survival Network and on issues under consideration at COP12 is available on the Internet at http://www.speciessurvivalnetwork.org. Photos and B-roll are available by contacting Nicholas Braden, SSN Press Officer for COP12, 301-258-3072 or nbraden@hsus.org. In Santiago, Braden can be reached at 09-204-1569 beginning October 30.