CITES - so far so good!

Source.

Great.

The Mako and Rhino Ray listings have been approved.

Now everything will need to get formally ratified in the plenary session, and I got little doubt that it will. So well done everybody - and well done El Diego and Debbie for continuing to shed a light on the trade!

And what about Fiji?

As always, we are working on something - and should it eventuate, it will be good news.

Keep watching this space! 

PS - all have been adopted, and some endangered Sea Cucumbers, too!
 

CITES Cop 18 - it's Complicatedl!

So here we go.

The postponed CITES Cop is upon us.

"Our" people are advocating the listing of the two Makos, plus the Wedge- and Giant Guitarfishes - great guide here. For what it is worth, I've said what I wanted to say about the Makos here, and I fully support the listing of those poor highly targeted and now critically endangered Rays.

But that's not why I'm posting this.

Whilst searching for background info, I've stumbled about this post but above all, this in-depth position paper by the WWF. It's great stuff and should you be interested in the topic, I warmly recommend that you read it.

It is also bloody complicated.

Like always, achieving lasting wildlife conservation = halting extinction and limiting long-term mortality to below sustainable levels -which if we're honest is really the only thing that ultimately counts- is way more complex, detailed and comprehensive, and also way more challenging than commonly thought, see e.g. the reflections about hunting quotas, or the ongoing nightmare of trying to get a handle on the ivory trade (also read this!), or those dreadful tiger farms, or the often difficult coexistence between rural communities and wildlife to cite but a few, some of which requiring compromises that may greatly challenge one's ethical sensibilities.

Anyway.

When I read about representatives of  183 countries, 56 new proposals and about 550 species being affected, it promises to get interesting to say the least!

So best of luck everybody.

And to you all out there, beware of pied pipers and simple solutions!

Let's go Shark diving - sustainably!
 

Fiji: Shark Fin Ban!

Click for detail!

Well well.

Read this.

Obviously it's a good thing - albeit with caveats, i.e.

• My gut tells me that this is less about conservation and more about CITES as from a practical point of view, a blanket ban eliminates the need for cumbersome species identifications and NDFs.


• The way I see it, this should merely be considered a stop-gap measure pending the establishment of sustainable management much like in the case of those Shark Sanctuaries


• Where I come from, the saying is that The Good is the Enemy of the Better = is this for Shark fins only, or have they also included the Rays, or at least the increasingly endangered Wedge- and Guitarfishes, see at top?


• What about whole, or even partial Sharks, see this?
  Detail detail!


• With Fiji being a pioneer in Coral planting - here's to there being an exemption for certified sustainable mariculture!

And this self congratulatory piece of horse manure?

No, Fiji did not join, and this got nothing whatsoever to do with those folks, zero = for the record and lest anybody forgets, THIS is their legacy in Fiji! 

Seriously, what a fucking disgrace!

Anyway.

Let's go Shark diving - sustainably!

PS - q.e.d. = Giant Guitarfishes and Wedgefishes, collectively called Rhino Rays, are now the world’s most threatened marine fish!