Import bans

[Animal Mother]

This might effect some current sources of cephalopods. I noticed Haiti among the list, as well as Tonga.

April 30, 2008


Subject: Competent Management and Scientific Authorities for CITES Documents

Background: The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) requires each CITES Party country to designate a Management Authority and a Scientific Authority for, among other things, issuance of CITES documents. The treaty also requires each non-Party country to have competent authorities that can issue comparable CITES documentation. U.S. CITES regulations that went into effect on September 24, 2007 require the Party or non-Party issuing CITES documents to have designated a Management Authority and a Scientific Authority and communicated such designations to the CITES Secretariat. Such authorities must be competent to make the required legal and biological findings in order to issue valid CITES documents.

As of April 30, 2008, the following countries had not provided information to the CITES Secretariat on their designated Management Authority and/or Scientific Authority:

Afghanistan, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Bahrain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde, Cook Islands, Eritrea, Haiti, Holy See, Kiribati, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Montenegro, Nauru, Niue, Oman, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan and Tuvalu.

Action: The United States will not allow the import of CITES-listed specimens from countries that have not designated a competent Management Authority and Scientific Authority and communicated such designations to the CITES Secretariat. Any such shipments will be subject to seizure and forfeiture because of invalid CITES documents. The trade can check for updated information on these designations at: http://www.cites.org/common/directy/e_directy.html.


Contact:
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Office of Law Enforcement
703-358-1949; 703-358-2271 (fax)
[email protected] (e-mail)

 

[DWhatley]

Action: The United States will not allow the import of CITES-listed specimens from countries that have not designated a competent Management Authority and Scientific Authority and communicated such designations to the CITES Secretariat. Any such shipments will be subject to seizure and forfeiture because of invalid CITES documents.

AM, As I understand it, no octos and I believe no cephs are CITIES listed

 

[Animal Mother]

Well okay then! I had assumed that would impact more than just live rock, fish and coral from those areas. I imagine the parties involved will be quick to rectify the issue since marine ornamental trade is a large part of their income.

 

[DWhatley]

I doubt there is a rush. There are not many things on the lists (I assume this news info is about the creatures on Appendix II since Animals on Appendix I are not commercially traded among CITES countries) that would effect marine collectors. I scanned the list and did notice that Tridacnidae clams, seahorses in general and several corals are listed in the appendix requiring management statements before imports will be accepted (Appendix II).

Here is a link to the appendices:

Appendices | CITES

The Humane Society has some info as well as wonderful Wickpedia. I included a short paragraph from the former ( http://www.hsus.org/about_us/humane...e_in_endangered_species/faqs_about_cites.html
) for some of our newer members.

"The treaty contains three Appendices on which species are placed. When a species is placed on Appendix I, the Parties agree to ban all international commercial trade in that species. When a species is placed on Appendix II, the Parties agree to allow trade in that species only if certain conditions are met. (For instance, before a Party is allowed to export a member of an Appendix II species, it must prove that the export will not be detrimental to wild populations of that species.) A species on Appendix III is one that is protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade."