Review of species selected on the basis of new or increased CITES export quotas in 2013: kaufmanni from Uzbekistan & Update to the 2013 quota analysis

(Version edited for public release)

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European Commission Directorate General Environment Directorate E - Global & Regional Challenges, LIFE ENV.E.2. – Global Sustainability, Trade & Multilateral Agreements

by the

United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre

August, 2013

UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre

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CITATION

UNEP-WCMC. 2013. Review of species selected on the basis of new or increased CITES export quotas in 2013: Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni from Uzbekistan & update to the 2013 quota analysis. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge.

Introduction This report presents an update of new and increased 2013 CITES export quotas published since the production of the Analysis of 2013 CITES export quotas and a review of Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni from Uzbekistan, which was selected on the basis of the quota analysis. Export quotas are usually established by each Party to CITES unilaterally on a voluntary basis, but they can also be set by the Conference of the Parties or result from recommendations of the and Plants Committees. For species, quotas should be established and communicated to the CITES Secretariat for meat and caviar from stocks shared between different Range States [Resolution Conf. 12.7 (Rev. CoP14)]. Guidance on the use of export quotas is available through Resolution Conf. 14.7 (Rev. CoP15) on the Management of nationally established export quotas. To ensure that national quotas are effectively communicated, countries should inform the CITES Secretariat when they establish national export quotas for CITES species (Resolution Conf. 12.3 [Rev. CoP15]). In turn, the Secretariat informs the Parties. Early each year, the Secretariat publishes a Notification to the Parties containing a list of national export quotas of which it has been informed. Quotas generally relate to a calendar year (1 January to 31 December); however, since 2008 quotas have related to a quota year (1 March to last day of February).

In 2013, quotas were published on the CITES website (www.cites.org) on 11/04/2013 and were updated on 28/06/2013, 02/07/2013, 12/07/2013, 30/07/2012 and 06/08/2013

Based on the quotas that were available on 09/05/2013, UNEP-WCMC analysed the 2013 CITES export quotas to identify: a) Quotas that were newly established in 2013 (i.e. 2013 quotas for particular species/country/term/source combinations which have not previously been subject to a quota, or have not been subject to a quota for at least the last 5 years); b) Quotas that increased or decreased in 2013 compared with 2012 quotas (or compared with 2011 quotas if no quota was published in 2012).

This analysis was discussed at SRG 64 on 28/05/2013. One species/country combination (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni from Uzbekistan) was selected for review as Uzbekistan published a new quota of 20 live, wild-taken individuals for this Critically Endangered species and the SRG agreed that further consideration might be necessary to determine whether the trade would have a harmful effect on the conservation status of the species or on the extent of the territory occupied by the relevant population of the species. This review is presented below. Trade data included in this report were downloaded from the CITES Trade Database on 29/06/2013.

Update since Analysis of 2013 CITES export quotas Since publication of the Analysis of 2013 CITES export quotas, additional CITES export quotas have been published on the CITES website. Of these, the following relate to new or increased quotas of note: An increase in quotas for various wild-taken coral taxa from Indonesia, namely: 21 000 live Caulastraea spp. pieces in 2013 (increased from 12 000 pieces in 2012); 7000 live Favia spp. pieces in 2013 (increased from 2 000 pieces in 2012); 24 500 live Fungia spp. pieces in 2013 (increased from 4 000 pieces in 2012); 2900 live Goniastrea spp. pieces in 2013 (increased from 1 900 pieces in 2012); 7500 live Montastrea spp. pieces in 2013 (increased from 500 pieces in 2012); 2 700 live Symphyllia spp. pieces in 2013 (increased from 1200 pieces in 2012); and 13500 live Favites abdita (NT) pieces (increased from 5 500 pieces in 2012). The following new quotas were published: 3000 live individuals for Agalychnis spurrelli (LC) from Ecuador; 400 live Oophaga sylvatica (NT) from Ecuador; 2 500 live wild-taken Pectinia spp. pieces, 4000 live wild-taken Cycloseris spp. pieces, 3 000 live wild-taken Euphyllia paraancora (VU) pieces, and 2500 live wild-taken Euphyllia paradivisa (VU) pieces from Indonesia; 60 000 live captive-bred Hirudo

medicinalis from Romania, and a zero quota for live Geoemyda japonica specimens for commercial purposes from Japan. Of the taxa for which new or increased quotas have been published in 2013 at the species level, Favites abdita from Indonesia and Agalychnis spurrelli and Oophaga sylvatica from Ecuador have not been reviewed in detail by the SRG previously and the first two are categorised as Near Threatened. Euphyllia paraancora and Euphyllia paradivisa from Indonesia are currently subject to Art. 4.6(b) import suspensions.

ACTINOPTERYGII ACIPENSERIDAE

SPECIES: Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni

SYNONYMS: kaufmanni

COMMON NAMES: Amu Darya (English), Amu Darya Sturgeon (English), Big Amu-Darya Shovelnose (English), False Shovelnose Sturgeon (English), Large Amu-Dar Shovelnose Sturgeon (English), Shovelfish (English), Großer Pseudoschaufelstör (German), Wielki lopatonos (Polish), Amu Darya-stör (Swedish), Falsk skovelnosstör (Swedish)

RANGE STATES: Afghanistan (ex?), Tajikistan (ex?), Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

RANGE STATE UNDER REVIEW: Uzbekistan

IUCN RED LIST: Critically Endangered

TRADE PATTERNS: Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan published an export quota of 20 wild-sourced live specimens of Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni in 2013 for the first time. There were no reported direct or indirect imports to the EU-28 of P. kaufmanni originating in Uzbekistan 2002-2011. Direct trade in P. kaufmanni from Uzbekistan to countries other than the EU-28 over the period 2002- 2011 consisted of two wild-sourced live specimens traded for zoological purposes, imported by the Russian Federation in 2010, as reported by Uzbekistan only. CONSERVATION STATUS in range states Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni is a sturgeon species, endemic to the Amu Darya River and its tributaries (Central Asia) (Birstein, 1997). There are two main populations: in the Vakhsh River, and in the middle reaches of the Amu Darya River (Birstein, 1997; Mugue, 2010). Males become mature at 5-7 years and females at 6-8 years, with intervals between spawning periods possibly lasting 4-5 years (Birstein, 1997). The species migrates into the middle and upper reaches of the river for spawning (Hochleithner & Gessner, 1999).

P. kaufmanni was assessed in 2009 for the IUCN Red List and categorised as Critically Endangered based on the justification that while there are no current population estimates, in the 1970s the species was abundant and now there are only reports of single specimens and there has been a drastic decline in the species range over the last 30 years (Mugue, 2010). Overall, it is suspected that there has been a population decline of more than 80% in the past three generations (30 years) and the species is thought to occur in two locations in less than 500 km of river, with levels of poaching thought to be increasing (Mugue, 2010). Hochleithner & Gessner ( 1999) considered the species to be “very rare”.

Reported to be of little economic significance because of their small size, but important to local fisheries and caught with set-nets and baited hooklines (Hochleithner & Gessner, 1999).

Uzbekistan: Historically, P. kaufmanni was distributed all along the Amu Darya River, from the upper reaches to the estuary (Anon, 2003; Mugue, 2010). P. kaufmanni was still numerous in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya River in the 1970s but drastic declines in numbers have occurred since then, due to changes in the hydrological regime of the river caused by the removal of water for irrigation, which prevented their migration, in addition to high levels of pollution from fertilisers and pesticides (Zholdasova, 1997). According to Mugue (2010), the most recent recorded occurrence of P. kaufmanni in Uzbekistan was in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya in the early 1990s by Zholdasova (1997). It was noted that three young P. kaufmanni were caught in the Ordybai Channel of the Amu Darya River delta and one individual was caught near the town of Nukus in the Kattyagar irrigation channel (Zholdasova, 1997). The species was also reported as present in the Zarafshan River Basin, following the connection of the Zarafshan River with the Amu Darya through an irrigation canal (Kamilov & Urchinov, 1995; Urchinov, 1995). In addition, Kamilov & Urchinov (1995) described P. kaufmanni as a “local economic species” in the Syr-Darya River and in the Talimardzhan Reservoir of the Kashka-Darya River. In the Republic of Uzbekistan Red Data Book of 2003, the species was shown as being present in the upper and middle reaches of the Amu Darya River and was described as “within Khoresm, Bukhara and Surkhandarya regions”, which are located in the lower, middle and upper reaches of the Amu Darya River, respectively (Anon, 2003). The status of P. kaufmanni in Uzbekistan has been described as “extremely rare – some fishermen believe the species still exists” (Karimov et al., 2009) and Mugue (2010) noted that there are no current estimates of population size and that there was a critical need to survey this species in Uzbekistan as more information is needed. P. kaufmanni was included in the Republic of Uzbekistan Red Data Book 2003 where it was classified as Critically Endangered (Anon, 2003). While fishing is permitted within the reservoirs and lakes of the Amu Darya and other rivers, the ‘Hunting and Fish Catching Regulations in the Territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan’ state that commercial fishing is prohibited during the entire year on the Amu Darya River and that “physical and juridical persons are prohibited from capturing fish listed in the Red Book of Uzbekistan. When caught by fishing gear, such fish should be released alive back into the waterbody”(Karimov et al., 2009). However, poaching was reported to be widespread and increasing (Mugue, 2010; Pavlovskaya, 1995). Fisheries management in Uzbekistan was reported to be “very poor” due to the relatively small fish capture harvest which is more or less important only at a local scale and the fact that fish resources are controlled by irrigation management requirements rather than fishery potential (FAO, 2013). There are no fisheries management plans in place although a “Policy and Strategy of Aquaculture and Capture Fisheries of Uzbekistan 2008-2016” was developed with the assistance of the FAO and is now under consideration for official acceptance (FAO, 2013). Attempts to breed P. kaufmanni in captivity have not been successful; in experiments during the 1980s all embryos died at 10-12 days after hatching (Goncharov et al., 1991 in Zholdasova, 1997). However some reproductive characteristics of this species such as the long periods between spawning have been changed in captivity, with P. kaufmanni maintained in captivity becoming sexually mature every year following hormonal stimulation and female fertility also increasing during maintenance in captivity (Goncharov et al,. 1991 in Birstein, 1993).

REFERENCES:

Anon. (2003). The Red Book of the Republic of Uzbekistan. (Z. A. Azimov, Ed.) (p. 237). Tashkent. (In Russian): Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences.

Birstein, V. J. (1993). and : Threatened Fishes in Need of Conservation. Conservation Biology, 7(4), 773–787. doi:10.1046/j.1523-1739.1993.740773.x

Birstein, V. J. (1997). Threatened fishes of the world: Pseudoscaphirhynchus spp. (Acipenseridae). Environmental Biology of Fishes, 48(1-4), 381–384.

FAO. (2013). Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profiles: Uzbekistan. FAO. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/fishery/facp/UZB/en

Hochleithner, M., & Gessner, J. (1999). The sturgeons and paddlefishes of the world. Kitzbuehel, Austria: AquaTech Publications.

Kamilov, G., & Urchinov, Z. U. (1995). Fish and fisheries in Uzbekistan under the impact of irrigated agriculture. In T. Petr (Ed.), Inland fisheries under the impact of irrigated agriculture: Central Asia. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 894. Rome: FAO. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/V9529E/V9529E00.htm

Karimov, B., Kamilov, B., Upare, M., van Anrooy, R., Bueno, P., & Shokhimardonov, D. (2009). Inland capture fisheries and aquaculture in the Republic of Uzbekistan: current status and planning. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1030/1 (Vol. 1, p. 124). Rome: FAO.

Mugue, N. (2010). Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni. Retrieved from www.redlist.org

Pavlovskaya, L. P. (1995). Fishery in the lower Amu-Darya under the impact of irrigated agriculture. In T. Petr (Ed.), Inland fisheries under the impact of irrigated agriculture: Central Asia. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 894. Rome: FAO. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/V9529E/V9529E00.htm

Urchinov, Z. U. (1995). Fisheries in the Zarafshan river basin (Uzbekistan). In T. Petr (Ed.), Inland fisheries under the impact of irrigated agriculture: Central Asia. FAO Fisheries Circular No. 894. Rome: FAO. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/docrep/V9529E/V9529E00.htm

Zholdasova, I. (1997). Sturgeons and the ecological catastrophe. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 48(1-4), 373–380.