Posted on October, 29 2002

Gland, Switzerland - The 160 governments who will meet in Santiago, Chile from 3-15 November for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) have a unique opportunity to help save some of the world's most precious marine species, including sharks, whales, toothfish and seahorses, WWF, the conservation organization said today. According to a ground-breaking e-leaflet 'Conservation for a Blue Planet' being published online today by WWF, marine species are particularly threatened by unregulated international trade and pirate fishing. The e-leaflet highlights that nearly half of the Patagonian toothfish traded internationally in 2001 had been illegally caught - as a result of which, toothfish stocks have been devastated in the Southern Oceans. Sharks too are under increasing pressure. Their slow growth, low birth rate, and late sexual maturity make them particularly susceptible to over-exploitation, and they are increasingly suffering from high levels of unreported by-catch and growing markets for fins, meat, cartilage, and oil. WWF is also concerned at the fate of seahorses - nearly 16 million of which were consumed annually in Asia alone in the early 1990s. With a low birth rate and short life span seahorses are also in need of much higher levels of protection. “From tiny seahorses to the gigantic whale shark, this meeting of CITES may determine whether the oceans can survive the most voracious marine predator of all - humans," said Dr. Susan Lieberman, Director of WWF's Species Programme. "CITES has only been in effect for 27 years - a little more than half the life-span of a toothfish or a minke whale, and about one quarter of that of a whale shark. These species can not recover overnight, and governments have a duty to future generations to help protect them from the threat of illegal and unregulated international trade." Arguably the world's most important and effective wildlife agreement, CITES is the only global treaty that regulates international trade in animals and plants. But as the world’s oceans face continued over-fishing and other pressures, WWF argues that CITES must develop an important new role in regulating international trade in species that are often regarded as commodities rather than wildlife. WWF also believes that CITES should provide a standardised, global process for tracking international trade in designated marine species. Proposals to add toothfish and two sharks (basking and whale sharks) to CITES Appendix II would prove an important milestone in the evolution of CITES, bringing these commercially valuable marine fisheries under the Convention’s umbrella for the first time. "The precedent involved in listing a species subject to deep-ocean commercial fisheries in the high seas would help signal the “coming of age” of CITES as an international conservation instrument," Dr. Lieberman added. For further information: Matthew Davis, Species Programme, tel: +44 1483 412 572, email: mdavis@wwf.org.uk Kyla Evans, Head of Press, tel: +41 22 364 9550, email: kevans@wwfint.org