Report of the CITES 28th Animals Committee Meeting 30 August - 3 September 2015, Tel Aviv, Israel

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1 Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora & Fauna Report of the CITES 28th Animals Committee Meeting 30 August - 3 September 2015, Tel Aviv, Israel TO: Directors- Northeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Directors- Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Directors- Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Directors- Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies FROM: Jack Buckley- NEAFWA CITES Representative Carolyn Caldwell- MAFWA CITES Representative Buddy Baker- SEAFWA CITES Representative Jim devos- WAFWA CITES Representative Deb Hahn- Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies Bob Broscheid- U.S. CITES Delegate for State Fish & Wildlife Agencies Introduction: Buddy Baker, (Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries), Carolyn Caldwell (MAFWA CITES Technical Work Group Representative), Jim devos (Arizona Game and Fish Department), and Deb Hahn (Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies) represented the state fish and wildlife agencies at the 28th Animals Committee meeting held in Tel Aviv, Israel from August 30th through September 3 rd Summary Overview: The Animals Committee discussed 23 substantive agenda items, including but not limited to: non-detriment findings; the review of significant trade in Appendix II species; the periodic review of animal species included in the Appendices; tortoises and freshwater turtles; and snake trade and conservation management. Fifty countries were represented with two hundred fourteen participants at the meeting including a significant number of NGOs representing groups such as the Humane Society International, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Animal Welfare Institute. These organizations participated in the working groups and were vocal concerning many of the matters before the Animals Committee. Invariably these organizations offered interventions that were pushing for greater restrictions in trade. Following introductory comments by the CITES Secretariat and agreement on basic operating procedures, the Animals Committee Chair Carolina Caceres (Canada) began the meeting. Chair Carceres established 10 working groups to advance agenda topics. Details on agenda topics of importance to the state fish and wildlife agencies are provided below. Review of Significant Trade in Specimens of Appendix II Species Twenty species were included in the Review of Significant Trade. The decision to be made for each species is whether to end the review or remove the species and/or the range countries of the species from the review or to keep the species in the review and gather more information. The CITES Technical Work Group focused on two species that are native to the United States, the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Lined Seahorse (Hippocampus erectus). 1

2 All Polar Bear range countries provided trade and management information as required by the review. The initial recommendation made by the United States was that all range countries with the exception of Canada be removed from the review. They raised questions about the quality and sustainability of Canada s management and harvest of Polar Bears. Dr. Stephen Atkinson provided extensive data and information to address the questions raised. Six Parties and three nongovernmental organizations intervened in support of removing Canada from the review. The United States and three nongovernmental organizations offered interventions to retain the Canada in the review. The representative from the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies offered the intervention (Attachment 1). After considerable discussion, the Significant Trade Work Group recommended that Canada also be removed from the review for Polar Bear. Based on input from two Parties, the recommendation to remove the Polar Bear in Canada carried a notation that caution should be used in the management of sub-populations that are assessed as declining or data deficient (uncertain). The result of this review is important to U.S. state agencies and Canadian provincial and territorial fish and wildlife agencies because it supports our position that trade in Polar Bears is not significant and that the Polar Bear does not meet the criteria for uplisting to Appendix I. The Animals Committee ultimately recommended the Polar Bear should be removed from the Significant Trade Review in all range countries, with all range countries encouraged to apply a cautious approach in relation to the management of sub-populations that are assessed as declining or data deficient. Another species that was included in the Review of Significant Trade was the Lined Seahorse. There was little discussion regarding this species and the Significant Trade Work Group endorsed removal of this species from the review. An intervention was drafted but not used by the CITES Technical Work Group (Attachment 2). The Animals Committee accepted the work group recommendation and removed Lined Seahorse from Significant Trade Review for all range countries. Snake Trade and Conservation Management Working Group Over the past two cycles of the Conference of the Parties the impact of international trade on snake populations has become one of the most aggressively approached issues within CITES. There is no doubt that snake trade, especially in Asia needs better control measures. The world crocodilian managers lead by the US managers of the American alligator are in a good position to advise the development of sustainable mechanisms for snake trade. The model for sustainably managing American Alligators has direct applicability to trade in snake. As a result, we have been actively involved in intercessional work on snake trade and conservation. Two snake proposal that emerged at this year s Animals Committee had the potential to undermine the long standing and effective tractability processes for crocodilians. Specifically Mexico and Italy proposed a tagging system that would have broadened the Conventions charge on developing snake traceability systems to include all reptiles and would have expanded the tagging requirement beyond the level of tanned whole skins to include traceability to the retail level. The consequences of such a mandate would have been extremely difficult to implement and would have diverted limited CITES enforcement and management resources away from other more critical needs. Our AFWA CITES team was engaged in the work group established to deal with these issues and offered multiple interventions in defense of our interest. The outcome of the work group was favorable in that the recommendation to the Standing Committee from the Animals Committee was to draft a decision on traceability systems that was restricted to snakes and that did not extend beyond tanned whole skins. We will need to continue to actively monitor this issue as it moves toward the Conference of the Parties. 2

3 Implementation of the Convention Relating to Captive-Bred and Ranched Specimens We continue to remain active in work groups related to this issue. The laundering of wild specimens of a number of species of crocodilians through captive-bred and ranching programs continues. These abuses have the potential to discredit all crocodilian trade including that of our American alligator. We continue to monitor trade levels to identify these illegal activities through a contract between Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and Ashley and Associates. One issue highlighted by our monitoring is that Colombia again exceeded the unofficial quota of 600,000 Caiman fuscus skins in This is the third year ( ) Colombian exports of this species exceeded the maximum number most experts believe are possible from captive-bred production. This issue (laundering wild skins thru captive breeding operations) is not new and, as the Crocodilian Specialty Group emphasized during their most recent meeting, must be directly addressed by the Colombian CITES Management Authority and farming operations. Side Event on Amphibian Trade We participated in a side event that the Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Institute provided on the outcomes of a May 2014 workshop. At the workshop, they identified the amphibian species most at risk from trade (domestic and international), habitat loss, or disease and developed conservation actions for a subset of them. Trade can transfer disease such as Bsal in salamanders. Bsal has been imported to Europe from Asia and has spread to native populations causing declines. The US has an amazing diversity of salamanders. The majority of our salamander species are considered to be under serious threat of contagion from Bsal. They estimated that greater than 100 million live amphibians are traded globally for biomedical, food, or the pet trade. This doesn t include domestic trade. However, the numbers in trade are declining. They identified a number of species that might qualify for listing in CITES. They have not released the entire list but it does include some US species such as the California Tiger Salamander. Side Event on Snake Traceability A side event was hosted by companies representing some of the luxury brands that utilize snake and crocodilian skins. Some of the companies (Swatch and Hermes) have been pushing mandatory product marking of retail reptile products. We believe that tagging beyond finished leather (tannery level) does not offer any additional conservation value. The push by some luxury brands is a reaction to recent highly effective animal rights organization attacks on the use of reptile skins. The luxury brands are reacting by attempting to enhance the green image of these products. Our presence at these side events are necessary to keep hallway discussions centered in science and to avoid over reactions that impose unnecessary management or enforcement burdens on range countries. To learn more about the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, visit the CITES website at: 3

4 Attachment 1: Intervention Provided by the WAFWA CITES Technical Work Group Representative in Significant Trade Review Working Group and Plenary My three colleagues and I are here representing the 50 state fish and wildlife management agencies within the United States. We appreciate the extensive review of the science foundation with which Canada manages its Polar Bear populations to ensure sustainability. As biologist in State wildlife agencies within the United States we support/endorse the Canadian scientificallybased management of the PB and the methodology employed by their CITES Management and Scientific Authorities to complete accurate NDF and issue permits for the species. CITES is a treaty that focuses on the sustainability of species that enter into international trade. We applaud efforts of Parties to uphold the intent and purpose of the Treaty. We are in agreement with the Parties from European Union, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and Mexico and believe that Canada should be removed from the Review of Significant trade for the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus). We believe that Canada has met its obligation under Article 4. 4

5 Attachment 2: Intervention Prepared for Significant Trade Review Working Group but not presented My colleagues and I are here representing the 50 state fish and wildlife agencies within the United States. We work in partnership with the national government. We participate in CITES meeting collectively as representatives of the four Regional Associations of Fish & Wildlife Agencies. On behalf of the 50 state fish and wildlife agencies within the United States that we represent, the existing trade data support that the US population of the lined seahorse should be removed from the list of species for review of significant trade. The US population of lined seahorse has minimal international trade. The US population is managed sustainably and monitored by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to ensure that the level of regulated harvest is not detrimental to the wild population. 5