Review of Oceanian species/country combinations subject to long-standing import suspensions (Version edited for public release) Prepared for the European Commission Directorate General Environment ENV.E.2. – Environmental Agreements and Trade by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre May, 2011 UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre PREPARED FOR 219 Huntingdon Road Cambridge The European Commission, Brussels, Belgium CB3 0DL United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1223 277314 DISCLAIMER Fax: +44 (0) 1223 277136 The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect Email: [email protected] the views or policies of UNEP or contributory Website: www.unep-wcmc.org organisations. The designations employed and the ABOUT UNEP-WORLD CONSERVATION presentations do not imply the expressions of any MONITORING CENTRE opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP, the European Commission or contributory The UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre organisations concerning the legal status of any (UNEP-WCMC), based in Cambridge, UK, is the country, territory, city or area or its authority, or specialist biodiversity information and assessment concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or centre of the United Nations Environment boundaries. Programme (UNEP), run cooperatively with WCMC, a UK charity. The Centre's mission is to evaluate and highlight the many values of © Copyright: 2011, European Commission biodiversity and put authoritative biodiversity knowledge at the centre of decision-making. Through the analysis and synthesis of global biodiversity knowledge the Centre provides authoritative, strategic and timely information for conventions, countries and organisations to use in the development and implementation of their policies and decisions. The UNEP-WCMC provides objective and scientifically rigorous procedures and services. These include ecosystem assessments, support for the implementation of environmental agreements, global and regional biodiversity information, research on threats and impacts, and the development of future scenarios. CITATION UNEP-WCMC. 2011. Review of Oceanian species/country combinations subject to long-standing import suspensions. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge. 2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................4 2. Species reviews........................................................................................................................4 Overview of the Status, Management and Trade of Tridacnidae (Giant Clams) in the Pacific Region.....................................................................................................................................4 Tridacna derasa..................................................................................................................................13 Tridacna gigas ...................................................................................................................................19 Tridacna squamosa ............................................................................................................................33 ANNEX. Key to Purpose and Source Codes.............................................................................38 3 Overview 1. Introduction This is the last in a series of reports, which have reviewed species/country combinations subject to Article 4.6(b) import suspensions put in place since 2001 or earlier, and considers species with long- standing import suspensions from Oceania. 2. Species reviews Overview of the status, management and trade of Tridacnidae (Giant Clams) in the Pacific Region Much of the information for Tridacna species was reported at the genus or family level, including some trade data. This information is presented as an overview prior to the individual species reviews. TRADE PATTERNS: An analysis of direct trade from the range States under review 2000-2009 revealed that some trade in Tridacna species is still being reported at the family or genus levels (including many reported seizures), making it difficult to analyse trade patterns at the species level. Raymakers et al. (2003) also suggested that it was important to standardize the way of reporting quantities in trade, to record both kilograms and number of clams traded. Direct trade of Tridacna spp. and Tridacnidae spp. to the EU-27 2000-2009, mainly consisted of live, wild-sourced individuals from Vanuatu, live, captive-bred and captive-born individuals from Tonga and Palau and pre-Convention shells from Vanuatu (Table 1). The confiscation/seizure of shells from Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga was also reported. There was no direct trade reported at the family or genus level from the Marshall Islands or the Federated States of Micronesia. Direct trade of Tridacna spp. and Tridacnidae spp. to countries other than the EU-27 2000-2009, mainly consisted of wild-sourced meat from Vanuatu, wild-sourced shells from Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu, and the confiscation/seizure of meat and shells from all range States (particularly Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu) (Table 2). CONSERVATION STATUS Tridacnidae (Giant clams) are the largest marine bivalves found in the coastal waters of the Pacific Region (Teitelbaum and Friedman, 2008; Kinch and Teitelbaum, 2010). They all host symbiotic photosynthetic algae in their mantles, hence are found in relatively shallow and clear waters (Sutton and Hoegh-Guldberg, 1990; Teitelbaum and Friedman, 2008; Othman et al., 2010). All Tridacnidae are hermaphrodite – each clam shedding sperm and eggs as separate events during spawning (Lucas, 2003). Their lifecycle is typical of bivalves: eggs hatch into free swimming larvae when fertilised, which then show progressive development to reach maturity and continued growth (Lucas, 2003; Teitelbaum and Friedman, 2008; Kinch and Teitelbaum, 2010). Growth rates were reported to be slow, with reproduction occurring at around 5-7 years of age (Kinch and Teitelbaum, 2010). Threats/uses: Tridacnidae were reported to be a highly-prized food source, with exports to Asian markets and subsistence harvesting reported to have been responsible for stock depletion across much of the Pacific (Wells, 1997; Lucas, 2003; Teitelbaum and Friedman, 2008; Othman et al., 2010; Kinch and Teitelbaum, 2010). The adductor muscle, gonads and mantle were all reported to be used as food (Othman et al., 2010). Tridacnidae were also reported to be harvested for their shells and for live export for the global aquarium trade (Wells, 1997; Lucas, 2003; Teitelbaum and Friedman, 2008; Othman et al., 2010; Kinch and Teitelbaum, 2010). Over the 1960s-1980s, Tridacnidae stocks in the Pacific were reported to have been heavily depleted by illegal fishing vessels (mainly from Taiwan, Republic of China), whereas the main threat to Tridacnidae stocks in the 21st Century were reported to be from subsistence and semi-commercial fishers (Wells, 1997; Teitelbaum and Friedman, 2008; Kinch and Teitelbaum, 2010). Stress-induced bleaching (Leggat et al., 2003; Othman et al., 2010) and habitat destruction (Othman et al., 2010) were also considered threats, and cases of mass mortality from unexplained causes were also reported (Wells, 1997). However, IUCN et al. (1996) considered ecological threats such as sedimentation as “minor in comparison with that posed by harvest for trade.” 4 Overview Table 1. Summary of direct exports of Tridacna spp. and Tridacnidae spp. live individuals, shells and meat from Fiji, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu to the EU-27 2000-2009. (A small quantity of scientific specimens was also reported in trade but has been excluded from the table). Exporter Term Units Source Reported by 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Total Fiji shells - I Importer 1 18 19 Exporter W Importer 3 3 Exporter 20 20 Palau live - C Importer 50 50 Exporter Papua New Guinea shells - I Importer 3 0.5 3.5 Exporter W & Importer unspecified Exporter 8 7 7 3 3 28 Tonga live - C Importer 74 74 Exporter shells - I Importer 1 1 Exporter W & U Importer 5 5 Exporter Vanuatu live - W Importer 9941 9941 Exporter 5 200 205 shells - O Importer Exporter 19 5 38 8 4 3 77 W & Importer 3 3 unspecified Exporter 8 20 5 4 18 55 5 Overview Table 2. Summary of direct exports of Tridacna spp. and Tridacnidae spp. live individuals, shells and meat from Fiji, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu to countries other than the EU-27 2000-2009. (Small quantities of bodies, carvings, derivatives, raw corals, small leather products and scientific specimens were also reported in trade but have been excluded from the table). Exporter Term Units Source Reported by 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total Fiji live kg W Importer 13 13 Exporter - W Importer 75 3 45 123 Exporter meat kg I Importer 11.3 6 17.3 Exporter W Importer Exporter 110 110 - I Importer 15 103 16 10 10 25 12 191 Exporter W Importer 17 5 1 23 Exporter shells kg I Importer 0.39 0.39 Exporter - I Importer 751 1332 1393 1091 870 126 3 13 5579 Exporter W & Importer 5 8 22 1 11 190 unspecified Exporter 229 12 9 30 280 Marshall Islands live - C Importer 121 121 Exporter meat kg I Importer 5 2.5 4 11.5 Exporter shells kg I Importer 10 <0.1 10.0 Exporter - C Importer 9 9 Exporter I Importer 58 83 2 29 20 50 117 359 Exporter 6 Overview Exporter Term Units Source Reported by 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Total Micronesia live - W Importer 2 1 3