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  PlanetArk 12 Jun 07
Eels, Sawfish Get Trade Protection From UN
Story by Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

Yahoo News 11 Jun 07
CITES bans trade of endangered sawfish
By Mike Corder, Associated Press

Yahoo News 11 Jun 07
Sawtooth sharks off the hook with trade ban

Wildlife officials Monday banned international trade in spectacular sawtooth sharks, hunted almost to the edge of extinction for their fins and distinctive saw-like snouts.

Prized for their fins by Chinese gourmets and for their distinctive saw-like snouts by trophy hunters, all but one of seven sawfish species were granted the highest level of protection possible under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The 171-nation body approved a request from Australia that the seventh species be included in the less restrictive Appendix II, allowing trade in live animals to public aquaria for conservation purposes only.

While current population levels in the wild are not known, the extreme rarity of sightings has led conservationists to conclude that the species in critically endangered.

"The sawfish have disappeared from waters stretching from the east coast of the United States to Southeast Asia," said Susan Lieberman, Director of the World Wildlife Fund's global species programme.

She said the decision Monday was a positive step, but added: "It is a pity that the CITES parties are only able to throw a lifeline to shark species when they are on the brink of extinction".

China, Qatar and Indonesia were among the countries that voted against the measure.

A proposal to protect two other ocean predators similarly decimated by over-exploitation, the porbeagle shark and the spiny dogfish, was rejected in a tight vote on Friday.

Some 100 million sharks are caught in commercial and sports fishing every year, and several species have declined by more than 80 percent in the past decade alone, according the the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

More than 800 animals and plants threatened with extinction -- including elephants, tigers, whales and pandas -- are protected by total or near-total commercial bans under CITES' Appendix I.

The international trade in another 33,000 endangered fauna and flora is permitted under strict regulations requiring certification and permits.

PlanetArk 12 Jun 07
Eels, Sawfish Get Trade Protection From UN
Story by Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

NETHERLANDS: June 12, 2007 THE HAGUE - A UN wildlife forum imposed trade restrictions on European eels on Monday and outlawed trade in shark-like sawfish, famed for a long toothed snout, to prevent a slip towards extinction.

"The stock (of eels) is dangerously close to collapse," said Stellan Hamrin, a Swedish official, making a rare European Union proposal to curb a commercial European species.

Eel prices have sometimes exceeded those of caviar after decades of overfishing.

The UN Conference on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) voted 93-9 at the June 3-15 meeting for a system of permits to regulate international trade in European eels, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Eels spawn in the Atlantic and grow to maturity in rivers and lakes across Europe and North Africa before swimming back to sea, making them vulnerable to threats including pollution, dams, a warming of the oceans and excessive catches.

"Overfishing is the single most important factor" in a precipitious decline of more than 95 percent in many areas, Hamlin said. Baby eels, or glass eels, fetch the highest prices when exported to the Far East where they are then farmed.

Delegates also voted 67-30 to ban trade in sawfish, a type of ray related to sharks which brandish a toothed snout, of up to almost two metres, to attack and slice up smaller fish.

Sawfish stocks are down 90 percent after decades of overfishing. CITES, one arm in a fight to slow a decline in species worldwide because of threats such as destruction of habitats and climate change, made an exemption to let Australia export one of seven species of the fish to aquariums abroad.

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED

Australia exports up to 10 live sawfish every year.

Both the European eel and sawfish are rated "critically endangered" on a Red List of species compiled by experts of the World Conservation Union.

"Artisanal fisherman could retire after catching one sawfish," said Dorothy Nyingi, a Kenyan delegate who proposed the trade ban with the United States. She said the fins could fetch US$443 a kg (2.2 lbs) and that the toothy saws, which the fish use to attack and slice up smaller fish, could cost US$1,450 each.

The saws were often exported to Japan, South Korea, Spain and Italy, she said.

Australia won an exemption by arguing that its exports of live sawfish to aquariums would raise awareness of the fish abroad and contribute overall to conservation. Australia is the only country to export live sawfish.

"Sawfish in public aquaria help raise public awareness about a rare and iconic species found primarily in remote locations that are inaccessible to most," Australian delegate Kerry Smith told the conference.

Yahoo News 11 Jun 07
CITES bans trade of endangered sawfish
By Mike Corder, Associated Press

An international conference on endangered species banned almost all trade Monday in sawfish — large shark-like rays whose long snouts bristling with teeth are in high demand among collectors.

All seven species of sawfish are listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union due mainly to overfishing. They are highly valued for their fins, meat and snouts known as rostra which can be up to 6 1/2 feet long. They also are caught and traded as live animals for aquaria and parts of their bodies are used in traditional Asian medicines.

Local Kenyan fishermen "could retire after catching one sawfish due to the high value of sawfish fins" — $200 a pound for export, said Dorothy Nyingi of Kenya told the triennial meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. She said the rostra fetch up to $650 a pound.

Delegates at a committee meeting in The Hague supported a proposal to ban all commercial trade in six of the species and to allow sales of one sawfish species found in Australian waters.

The decision is expected to be formally accepted by the full conference before it ends Friday.

Compounding the problem of hunting and trade, sawfish are slow to mature and produce few young. They also often are caught in nets intended for other fish, conservationists say.

"We are relieved that international trade pressure will be lifted for these critically endangered species," said Steven Broad, director of TRAFFIC, a group monitoring the trade in wildlife. "Trade, along with fishing pressure, was pushing them towards extinction."

Another species suffering from overfishing and a slow reproductive cycle, the European eel, also was given CITES protection Monday.

The meeting agreed to a European Union proposal to regulate, but not ban, trade in the eel. CITES lists more than 7,000 animals and 32,000 plants whose trade is regulated, including about 800 highly threatened species that are banned from commercial trade without special licenses.
links
CITES: Brighter future for the European eel WWF website

CITES: Trade restrictions approved for endangered rays WWF website

Sharks defeated at U.N. wildlife trade talks
By Anna Mudeva Yahoo News 8 Jun 07

Related articles on Shark's fins
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