Fishes and Shellfishes

Only in French.

The 15th conference of the parties of CITES has just ended in Doha. The porbeagle shark was put back on the table following the intervention of Singapore, which believed that there had been technical problems with the first vote. The debates were evaded by a procedural trick and the proposal passed directly to vote. The proposal was rejected by three votes. Iceland, candidate to join the European Union, and Japan, which will host the Conference for Biodiversity next October, in showing the best intentions in the world, warmly hugged each other in the middle of the conference room to congratulate themselves on this failure of Europe and the protectors of sharks. Associations such as the Japan Fisheries Association quickly left to celebrate the result of intense lobbying. Installed to protect endangered species of wild fauna and flora from the excesses of international trade, CITES has progressively become a convention of the protection of trade. The delegate from Guinea summarized yesterday in plenary an analysis of a lot of the participants: “My comment is very bitter; I notice after having carefully listened to the debates that economic considerations dominate the environmental vision.” Decisions on marine species confirmed that the sea is considered by the international community as a reservoir for food, healing and decoration, but when it is time to protect it, it’s almost deserted, just like around Doha.

Only 86 species of fish appear among some 34,000 species listed in Appendices 1 and 2 of CITES. After the bluefin tuna debacle last week, predictions were pessimistic about the fate of the 4 proposals to list sharks in Appendix 2. The porbeagle shark is the only to achieve this protection, which it made by only one vote. CITES doesn’t really have its sea legs. When it comes to addressing international trade in marine species, it delays taking responsibility, and using its toolbox to clean up the market. Japan is opposed to all of the proposals for listing sharks, even reconsidering the principle of control of international trade: “Appendix 2 stimulates the black market and creates a demand for a rare species.”

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
CITES 2010 – Doha
Press release n°5

Bluefin tuna will not be listed in the CITES appendices, not in appendix 1, not in appendix 2, not in anything at all. Monaco’s proposal was sunk in less than 3 hours following a flurry of objections and the agitated speech of Libya, which asked for the premature closure to the debates while waving a threatening finger at the assembly. The amendments that Spain, on behalf of the member countries of the European Community, had the time to present will not suffice, perhaps even to the contrary. Raising procedural questions, the amendments have had the ability since several days ago to put a number of parties on edge, by highlighting that the European Union is ill-placed to pose as a protector of tuna, when it was so late in promoting serious measures within the specialized convention, ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas). Several speakers argued that while rich countries could compensate their fishermen and pay for exit plans for their fleets, this was not the case for developing countries.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
CITES 2010 – Doha
Press release n°2

News in brief:

For a French ecologist who is accustomed to hydrocarbon and Volatile Organic Compounds odours, depending on Doha weather conditions, resembles both Fos-sur-Mer and Le Havre. The city is often covered by a smog of Arabian light oil and from the CITES conference centre, super-tankers can be seen crossing dhows made out of mangrove forest wood. The Israeli delegates are protected under tight security measures. That CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) in spite of diplomatic embargos permits for Israeli scientists and Arab countries to try to insure the survival of the ornate spiny-tailed lizard by listing it under appendix I is to the credit of the convention. Its range state residual intersects Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen and Israel. In Doha, WWF and the Union European are global warming sceptics; they refuse the inclusion of the Polar Bear to appendix I.

Only in French.

 The environmental, sanitary, and social catastrophe due to PCB is propagated to the point that it now affects the sea and international waters. The sardines move, are eaten by carnivorous fish, and enter into the composition of fish meal. PCB accumulates and becomes concentrated in the higher levels of the food chain.

Robin des Bois publishes the map of interior and maritime waters struck by bans on fishing, consuming, or transporting all or particular species of fish. This map is comparable to an inventory of land sites polluted by PCB, regularly updated by Robin des Bois, and of which the newest version will be released at the end of next week.

Within the framework of adapting the fishing fleet to the European policy, hundreds of boats will be demolished in France from now until the end of the year. Each owner receives a substantial compensation bonus from the European Union and the French State which could reach up to 600,000 €. The bonus is calculated taking into account the age of the vessel, its size, the type of fishing and the related catch quota and finally the engine’s power. The paying of this bonus is triggered by a proof of destruction or of the incapacity to navigate.

Only in French.

Only in French.