CITES has rejected a proposal to protect the Banggai cardinal, a species believed to be under threat from aquarium fish collectors.
The United States of America presented a formal proposal to the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) at the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in The Hague last month, which asked for the Banggai cardinal to be afforded protection under Appendix II of CITES.
CITES rejected the proposal and claimed that recent evidence had showed that the trade in the species appeared to be sustainable, and that with proper management and exploitation the species could be a valuable resource for which listing under a CITES Appendix would not be necessary.
Collecting pressures
The US proposal claimed that regulation in the trade of Banggai cardinals was required in order to ensure that the collection of wild fish was not reducing the size of the wild population to a point at which its survival might be threatened through over-collecting or other pressures.
The species is endemic to a group of islands in the Banggai Archipelago in Eastern Indonesia and part of Sulawesi, and first became a target for aquarium trade collectors in 1995.
Since then, the number of fish harvested has risen to 700,000-900,000 specimens per year.
But unlike most other marine aquarium fish, Pterapogon kauderni is a paternal mouthbrooder, and produces small broods of 50-90 eggs, rather than releasing thousands of eggs into the plankton.
The proposal's authors claim that this low fecundity - and the estimated population size of just 2.4 million - means that the species is at risk.
Rejection
The IWMC (International Wildlife Management Consortium) World Conservation Trust recommended to the CITES Conference of the Parties that the proposal be rejected because it believed the species was not threatened by the trade and because Indonesia did not support the move:
"Properly managed it may be sustainably exploited without the need of a listing in CITES Appendix II.
"From information not presented in the proposal, it appears that management measures for this species have been adopted by the Government of Indonesia, in cooperation with NGOs and local communities.
"The trade level has been significantly reduced and is not threatening the survival of the species."
The IWMC said that in addition to protective measures introduced to ban destructive fishing methods, such as dynamite and cyanide, and fishing by non-local people, management methods had been introduced by the Indonesia government, NGOs and the local community.
Captive-breeding
The IWMC said that captive-breeding was being experimented with in some places which helped to complement wild harvest, and that protecting the species from international trade could cause more harm than good.
"It appears that a listing in Appendix II is not necessary and, on the contrary, could be counterproductive as favouring illegal activities.
Therefore, IWMC does not support a proposal that would have appeared more convincing when submitted by the only range State."
Sources present at the hearing told Practical Fishkeeping that research methodology used in the proposal came in for criticism and questions were raised over its rigour, which led to the proposal for protecting the species being dropped.
The species is now unprotected under both CITES Appendices and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.
Despite being one of the easiest marine fish species to breed, the vast majority of specimens are still taken from the wild.
The United States of America presented a formal proposal to the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) at the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties in The Hague last month, which asked for the Banggai cardinal to be afforded protection under Appendix II of CITES.
CITES rejected the proposal and claimed that recent evidence had showed that the trade in the species appeared to be sustainable, and that with proper management and exploitation the species could be a valuable resource for which listing under a CITES Appendix would not be necessary.
Collecting pressures
The US proposal claimed that regulation in the trade of Banggai cardinals was required in order to ensure that the collection of wild fish was not reducing the size of the wild population to a point at which its survival might be threatened through over-collecting or other pressures.
The species is endemic to a group of islands in the Banggai Archipelago in Eastern Indonesia and part of Sulawesi, and first became a target for aquarium trade collectors in 1995.
Since then, the number of fish harvested has risen to 700,000-900,000 specimens per year.
But unlike most other marine aquarium fish, Pterapogon kauderni is a paternal mouthbrooder, and produces small broods of 50-90 eggs, rather than releasing thousands of eggs into the plankton.
The proposal's authors claim that this low fecundity - and the estimated population size of just 2.4 million - means that the species is at risk.
Rejection
The IWMC (International Wildlife Management Consortium) World Conservation Trust recommended to the CITES Conference of the Parties that the proposal be rejected because it believed the species was not threatened by the trade and because Indonesia did not support the move:
"Properly managed it may be sustainably exploited without the need of a listing in CITES Appendix II.
"From information not presented in the proposal, it appears that management measures for this species have been adopted by the Government of Indonesia, in cooperation with NGOs and local communities.
"The trade level has been significantly reduced and is not threatening the survival of the species."
The IWMC said that in addition to protective measures introduced to ban destructive fishing methods, such as dynamite and cyanide, and fishing by non-local people, management methods had been introduced by the Indonesia government, NGOs and the local community.
Captive-breeding
The IWMC said that captive-breeding was being experimented with in some places which helped to complement wild harvest, and that protecting the species from international trade could cause more harm than good.
"It appears that a listing in Appendix II is not necessary and, on the contrary, could be counterproductive as favouring illegal activities.
Therefore, IWMC does not support a proposal that would have appeared more convincing when submitted by the only range State."
Sources present at the hearing told Practical Fishkeeping that research methodology used in the proposal came in for criticism and questions were raised over its rigour, which led to the proposal for protecting the species being dropped.
The species is now unprotected under both CITES Appendices and the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals.
Despite being one of the easiest marine fish species to breed, the vast majority of specimens are still taken from the wild.
