- Title: QATAR: Animals lose out to trade at CITES conference
- Date: 26th March 2010
- Summary: DOHA, QATAR (MARCH 25, 2010) (REUTERS) SCENIC VIEW OF DOHA EXTERIOR OF CITES CONFERENCE VENUE DELEGATES ENTERING INTERIOR OF CONFERENCE HALL VARIOUS OF JAPANESE DELEGATION (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) HEAD OF JAPANESE DELEGATE MASANORI MIYAHARA SAYING: "We clearly said this during the actual meeting, but Japan is committed to making the utmost effort to maintain and improve stocks of fish and treat fish and especially tuna as a sustainable resource within the ICATT guidelines. We have never said that we will not cooperate in efforts to maintain these resources." MEMBER OF JAPANESE DELEGATION SEEN ON TV MONITOR SPEAKING TO CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) HEAD OF JAPANESE DELEGATE MASANORI MIYAHARA SAYING: "Japan's belief is that determining a sustainable amount of fish to be caught is something that should be determined by the marine industries involved. We plan to do everything possible to allow the next generation to enjoy fish as well." ANNE SHROEER, ECONOMIST FOR THE OCEANA ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURE GROUP (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANNE SHROEER, ECONOMIST FOR THE OCEANA ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURE GROUP, SAYING: "What I saw here is Japan standing up asking for management measures in fisheries management organisations. You have to keep in mind that it is exactly Japan who is opposing those management measures for sharks. I don't know if they will ever learn a lesson. These are completely unmanaged fisheries, species are going extinct, they make big money with shark fins, well I don't know if they'll learn lessons." CITES SECRETARY GENERAL WILLEM WIJNSTEKERS (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) WILLEM WIJNSTEKERS, CITES SECRETARY GENERAL, SAYING: "There are other questions, such as who is responsible for what. For tuna and other fish species there are other organisations that are co-responsible. The question is who has to do what." CLOSEUP OF CITES BADGE ON LAPEL (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) WILLEM WIJNSTEKERS, CITES SECRETARY GENERAL, SAYING: "I think that everybody cares about wildlife. It is not true that those who are now against the proposals for tuna and shark, that they want to eradicate those species in a short time. It's all about who is responsible for what and I think after all the media attention on the bluefin tuna, that ICAT, the organisation that sets the quotas, has to review whether the quota programme is sustainable."
- Embargoed: 10th April 2010 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Qatar
- Country: Qatar
- Topics: Environment / Natural World
- Reuters ID: LVA5QX7U1KP28VUMUV4XIBM28HOE
- Story Text: United Nations conference on wildlife fails to bring back protection for many threatened species.
Trade interests trumped conservation at a U.N. wildlife conference on Thursday (March 25) where proposals to step up protection for polar bears, bluefin tuna, coral and sharks all fell flat, delegates said.
Short-term economic concerns hampered efforts to restrict trade in several lucrative marine species at the 175-nation Convention on International trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which wrapped up a two-week meeting in Doha, Qatar.
Resistance from Asian countries, particularly Japan, to ban trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna received most attention. The fish is prized as sushi but stocks have plunged more than 80 percent since 1970, according to CITES.
Japan imports about 80 percent of the catch, mostly from the European Union. Delegates rejected the proposed ban after Tokyo argued that lax regulation of catches is the main problem.
After a conference that denied protection for many marine species, delegates on the final day even overturned a decision to step up trade restrictions for Porbeagle sharks, hit by overfishing in the Atlantic and Mediterranean.
Calls to step up trade curbs on seven other types of shark, including hammerheads caught as ingredients in shark fin soup in Asia, had already failed earlier in the talks.
Japanese delegates put their case against trade bans to the conference and their attitude left pressure groups unimpressed.
Anne Shroeer, economist for the OCEANA environmental pressure group, said: "What I saw here is Japan standing up asking for management measures in fisheries management organisations. You have to keep in mind that it is exactly Japan who is opposing those management measures for sharks. I don't know if they will ever learn a lesson. These are completely unmanaged fisheries, species are going extinct, they make big money with shark fins, well I don't know if they'll learn lessons."
CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers said conservation was not just the responsibility of one organisation.
"There are other questions, such as who is responsible for what. For tuna and other fish species there are other organisations that are co-responsible. I think that everybody cares about wildlife," he said.
"It is not true that those who are now against the proposals for tuna and shark, that they want to eradicate those species in a short time. It's all about who is responsible for what and I think after all the media attention on the bluefin tuna, that ICAT, the organisation that sets the quotas, has to review whether the quota programme is sustainable," he added.
Steven Broad, executive director of the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network said Japan and other Asian countries were not demanding over-fishing.
"I think what we are hearing from Japan and a number of other Asian countries is not so much saying that over fishing is okay but they don't agree that this conference is the right place to deal with it and they are arguing that there are other places to deal with it."
Amid the disappointments for conservation advocates, there were some successes. Kenya scored a victory with its proposal to combat the escalation of rhino poaching by placing the animals on a protective list.
Rhinos in countries such as India, South Africa, Nepal and Zimbabwe are killed by organised crime groups that control the smuggling of rhino horns to the far east of Asia, where they are sold on the black market for thousands of dollars, CITES says.
Calls by Zambia and Tanzania to relax a trade ban on elephant ivory were rejected. But a U.S. proposal to protect polar bears, which thrust the issue of climate change onto the agenda of the conference for the first time, was defeated. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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