CITES & Commercial Marine Species
by Eugene Lapointe

10 April 2000: Competition is good for athletic endeavors and business. In matters of global conservation of wildlife and wild habitat, cooperation is the more desirable quality.

The hallmark of the United Nations, of CITES and of any successful international relationship promoting the welfare of a diversity of cultures, traditions, and resources is respect. That respect includes respect for each state’s sovereignty, each culture’s right to coexist on the earth, each species’ ability to survive and thrive.

CITES is not a better or worse forum for matters of international conservation of species than can be achieved by organizations such as the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) or regional commissions or even the aggregate actions of individual states. It is, however, an important component in the worldwide effort to preserve this planet and all its precious resources for present and future generations.

The adage of avoiding efforts "to recreate the wheel" certainly applies to the proposals that would inject CITES oversight of commercially fished marine species such as sharks. CITES does not operate in a regulatory, administrative, or scientific vacuum. For that reason, the admonition to have CITES cooperate with and encourage FAO efforts to conserve such species should be stressed.

Under the FAO International Plan of Action (IPOA) for Sharks, each nation is strongly urged to "develop, implement, and monitor national plans of action" addressing the needs of shark use and conservation. Within the context of implementing its Shark IPOA as part of its Code of Responsible Fisheries, FAO is on the correct course.

More and more the future not only of resource conservation but also of successful resource-based trade will depend upon the economic benefit brought to people, cultures and nations; the promotion of social justice; and its compatibility with environmental care and sustainability.

Achieving this goal will depend upon cooperation, not controversy; upon science-based management schemes, not emotional media manipulation campaigns. Anything less will bring incalculable harm to CITES and to the species of wild fauna and flora it has pledged to protect.�