Transcript
IAN CAMPBELL: Fiji became the first ever Pacific nation to lead on putting forward species for protection under CITES. Now CITES is 182 countries that look at putting restrictions, limitations on international trade of endangered species. That is everything from marine species through to birds to plants. Anything that is vulnerable to exploitation, CITES is the body that looks at regulating the trade.
DON WISEMAN: A critical concern for the Fiji group was these various shark species and some species of ray.
IC: That's right. Fiji lead the proposal for the Devil Rays. Now not many people know about the devil rays but these are a very close relative of the manta rays that divers love to see in tropical waters. These are very slow growing creatures, they don't give birth to many young and they are quite susceptible to over harvesting, to overfishing. They aggregate in large numbers and are easily caught. These are mainly traded for their gills which have some considerable value in Asian markets. And because of their life history they are quite susceptible to over harvesting. So Fiji led the calls for all countries around the world to list devil rays onto Appendix Two of this Convention. Now what it means is that if countries want to trade these species internationally they need to put in some really rigourous reviews to ensure the populations are sustainable.
DW: In terms of the sharks involved, thresher sharks, silky sharks - what was achieved there?
IC: So Fiji co-sponsored. The thresher sharks were led by Sri Lanka, the silky sharks by the Maldives Government but Fiji kind of co-proposed, co-sponsored these two and again were successful in convincing governments to list all 3 species of thresher sharks and the silky sharks onto the same appendix as the rays. So this now means that trade in fins, trade in the meat has to be carefully regulated and scientific analysis of these populations has to be rigourous before any country can export these or import these.
DW: And the nautilus. I have to confess I don't know very much about the nautilus. Maybe you can begin by telling us what a nautilus is.
IC: Yes you are not the only one. The nautilus is related to the squid and the octopus. It is one of these very ancient creatures that's been around for millions of years, predates many of the fish in the sea. You don't really see them a lot. They live very deep down, in very isolated areas and they are quite vulnerable to over harvest. They are not really used for food. They have a very colourful shell, they have a shell on the outside, a bit like a crab, but this shell is very very ornate, very colourful for some species. So they are used for jewellery making and in furniture making, furniture construction. So again this is not a species used for food and the United States they led the calls for putting the nautilus on to Appendix Two, and Fiji was co-sponsor with the US. You do find the odd shell washed up on the beaches of Fiji. They are not really fished in Fiji but the Fiji Government and the Department of Fisheries and the Department of Environment recognise that these need to be protected. We backed the calls for the US Government, worked in harmony and we were very very successful again - nautilus were included on the appendix, so all in all, all the marine species, it was a very successful meeting.
DW: So in terms of these species though, this listing on the CITES restriction, to what extent is it going to protect them?
IC: CITES is kind of the end of the pipe scenario. So that the reason these species get put on these protected lists is because their populations are not particularly well managed and are in decline. So the CITES listing will put an emergency break on the trade of parts of these species. For example the fin trade in these species will now have to be regulated, the shell trade in the nautilus will have to be regulated, but really this has to be coupled with proper management measures to rebuild the stock. So this is purely an emergency break on populations that are in decline. But there needs to be some hard work done by governments who fish these species to ensure that stocks rebuild. It is not the answer, CITES is not the answer that all of a sudden these populations are going to magically re-appear and be plentiful in the seas overnight. This is just the emergency brake that you need to apply because populations have declined.
DW: you mentioned 182 members of CITES, which leaves a few countries out. Is that problematic?
IC: No not really. The main countries that read the species are part of CITES. You have got as few countries, like Afghanistan, but they are not really big trading countries, especially for marine species and the fish and the sharks in particular. The countries that catch the species, the countries that buy them, the waters that they are found in, all of these are parties of CITES. So it really is an all encompassing agreement.
