What will the EU do on bluefin?

The EU should shortly announce their position on the Appendix I listing under CITES proposed by Monaco for bluefin tuna. Actually, they should have announced it a few weeks ago but things just keep getting delayed. We're hearing that Italy (big opponent of the proposal, despite what they said a few weeks ago) is trying to rope in red coral to the bluefin tuna consideration. The EU is actually a co-sponsor of the proposal to list 32 species of red and pink coral under Appendix II and the vast majority of EU countries are in support of trade regulation for these species, bar Italy. It's a clear indication of the politics that come into play when considering protection measures for wildlife when there are commercial interests at stake. I honestly can't wait for Doha. It's could be a game changer for marine species under CITES and that gets people like me (ie, wildlife trade nerds) VERY excited. For too long they've been relegated to the back benches. CITES, when properly implemented, can be a valuable instrument to help conserve wildlife (as this excellent paper by Dr. Phaedra Doukakis shows) and trade. The science is clear for sharks, coral and bluefin. What remains to be seen is if countries remember that once these issues once the voting begins.....

A few good reasons to protect red and pink coral

Here are just a few reasons why red and pink coral need international trade protection, straight from the mouths of some people who ought to know: Jewelry designer Temple St. Clair, ocean conservationist Céline Cousteau, coral scientist Andrew Baker, and Fernanda Kellogg, president of the Tiffany & Co. Foundation.

US supports bluefin ban!

There is some very exciting news to report today! The United States is supporting an international ban on bluefin tuna, which could be a 'game changer for the species', as Sue Lieberman of Pew Environment Group said. Bluefin is going to be a MAJOR focus in Doha....it will be interesting to see how countries' vote on bluefin - and how they vote on other marine species up for consideration, including red and pink coral.

So what is CITES, anyway?

CITES (those in the know pronounce it 'sigh-tees') is an international agreement (kind of like the Kyoto Protocol) between most countries in the world to manage/oversee/enforce regulations relating to the significant trade in wildlife products. The global wildlife trade is lucrative (worth billions of dollars annually; check out TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, for some stats) and LARGE - it includes fur, food (seafood, bushmeat, caviar, etc) herbs, timber, jewelry, curios, medicine (tiger bone wine, anyone?). As you can imagine, sometimes this has negative consequences for certain animals and plants that the global community just can't get enough of. CITES was created to ensure that this trade, useful and important to help sustain economies, particularly developing ones, does not threaten the very resource on which the trade depends. Something that you've probably all heard of that was a direct result of CITES was the 1989 international trade ban on ivory.

There are over 30,000 species of plants and around 5,000 animals listed under CITES. CITES has 3 appendixes and each one offers varying levels of trade protection from Appendix I (most restrictive, international trade is not allowed) to Appendix III (least restrictive, trade is allowed and species in question has to be identified to its country of origin). Most plants and animals are listed under Appendix II, which simply requires proof from a country that trade is not detrimental to the species in question. Species are proposed for listing under the Appendixes every 2-3 years at something called the Conference of Parties (this year it's CoP15, in Doha, Qatar). Confusingly, the Copenhagen meeting that happened in December was also the 15th CoP for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

CoPs are generally quite controversial, with clear lines being drawn amongst groups and countries, and everyone falling into roughly 3 categories: pro-trade (any trade, doesn't matter how endangered the species is!) against trade (no matter what) and somewhere in between. CoP15 will be equally exciting, without a doubt. Controversial marine (we're SeaWeb, after all) proposals up for consideration include bluefin tuna, eight species of sharks, and 32 species of red and pink coral (scientific name Coralliidae). We're in favor of all of these, but are ESPECIALLY interested in red and pink coral - we've been working on it for years, after all! After the fiasco of CoP14 in 2007 (more on that later; have to keep you coming back for more), it is high time red and pink coral receive some help from the international community.

SeaWeb blogging live from Doha

SeaWeb's very own Julia Roberson and Kristian Teleki will be blogging live from Doha, Qatar, at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting. The meeting kicks off in T-minus 10 days. This is a major meeting for marine species up for international trade protection - sharks, bluefin tuna, and red and pink coral, oh my. For more information, check out SeaWeb's dedicated CITES page.