Marine Trade Reform Sought
Scientists unhappy with a lack of international action to regulate trade in coral reef wildlife are calling on the United States to spearhead reforms in a paper published in the June issue of Marine Policy.
A growing collectors market is decimating coral reefs, concludes the report, written by 18 experts, including Washington State University marine ecologist Brian Tissot.
Their concerns grew after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species did not take action on key groups of corals in March.
Based on data from the United Nations’ conservation monitoring program, the authors say trade in coral and coral reef species removes 30 million fish and 1.5 million live stony corals a year.
As a result, some species have gone “virtually extinct,” said Tissot, lead author and professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at WSU Vancouver.
The United States should take the lead in reducing the trade’s environmental effects because U.S. buyers account for more than half the trade in live coral, reef fish and invertebrates, the report says. “The [United States] should assume its role as an international leader in coral reef conservation and take steps to reform the international trade it drives.”
The paper calls for laws to protect a wider variety of species, better enforcement that includes tracking a product’s chain of custody, and reforms in source countries. It also recommends changes in marketing to promote sales of species certified as humane and sustainable.
The paper grew out of a meeting of more than 40 scientists and policy experts during the 2009 International Marine Conservation Congress. [September 2010 PET AGE]
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