TRAFFIC 1 BULLETIN ABALONE TRADE IN HONG KONG SUSTAINABLE USE OF NON-WOOD FOREST PRODUCTS INDONESIA’S EXPORTS OF FROGS’ LEGS INTERNATIONAL STANDARD FOR SUSTAINABLE COLLECTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS JULY 2006 VOL. 2006 21 NO.JULY 1 The journal of the TRAFFIC network disseminates information on the trade in wild animal and plant resources The TRAFFIC Bulletin is a publication of TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, which works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. TRAFFIC TRAFFIC is a joint programme of B U L L E T I N The TRAFFIC Bulletin publishes information and original papers on the subject of trade in wild VOL. 21 NO. 1 animals and plants, and strives to be a source of accurate and objective information. The TRAFFIC Bulletin is available free of charge. Quotation of information appearing in the news 13 Editorial 1 sections is welcomed without permission, but citation Stephanie von Meibom must be given. Reproduction of all other material appearing in the TRAFFIC Bulletin requires written permission from the publisher. News 2-12 Managing Editor Steven Broad Editor and Compiler Kim Lochen Indonesia’s Exports of Frogs’ Legs 13-24 Subscriptions Susan Vivian Mirza D. Kusrini and Ross A. Alford E-mail: [email protected] 25 The designations of geographical entities in this A Study on the Trade in Dried Abalones 25-34 publication, and the presentation of the material, do not in Hong Kong imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the Allen W.L. To, Billy C.H. Hau and Samuel K.H. Lee part of TRAFFIC or its supporting organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation Seizures and Prosecutions 35-40 of its frontiers or boundaries. Any opinions expressed are those of the writers and do Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and 41-45 not necessarily reflect those of TRAFFIC, WWF or Aromatic Plants: The Need for an IUCN-The World Conservation Union. 41 International Standard Britta Pätzold, Danna Leaman Published by TRAFFIC International, and Susanne Honnef 219a Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, Cambs. CB3 0DL, UK. © TRAFFIC International 2006 Index Vol. 20 i-iv ISSN 0267-4297 UK Registered Charity No. 1076722 Cover illustration: Cork oak harvesting in Coruche, Ribatejo region, Portugal (WWF-Canon / Sebastian Rich) This page, from top: Fejervarya cancrivora (Jeet Sukumaran) Dried abalone Haliotis (Allen To) Arnica Arnica montana (Anton Vorauer, WWF Tirol) Funding for the printing and distribution of this issue of the TRAFFIC Bulletin is generously provided by The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation. Printed on recycled paper by Thanet Press Ltd, Union Crescent, Margate, Kent, CT9 1NU, UK. July 2006 E D I T O R I A L AVIAR - just the very word evokes images of luxu- agreed to by all CITES Parties. It also brought increased ry and opulence. Yet the source of this luxury food, awareness to the significant levels of illegal caviar that is Cthe sturgeon, is becoming increasingly rare in the being traded internationally and nationally. It is estimated wild due to a variety of threats, from poaching and illegal that the illegal trade exceeds legal trade by several times trade, to habitat loss, pollution and the damming of rivers. and is likely to be the primary cause for the drastic popula- Since 1997, all species of sturgeon and paddlefish tion declines that several sturgeon stocks have encountered Acipenseriformes have been listed in the Appendices of in recent years. These high levels of illegal trade undermine CITES. This was to halt the decline of some sturgeon the efforts to halt the population declines and to facilitate a stocks due to unsustainable - and often unregulated - har- trade in sturgeon products that is legal and sustainable. vest and trade, and stem the high levels of illegal trade. The They also demonstrated the need for caviar exporting and ultimate aim was to facilitate a trade that was both legal and importing countries alike to step up efforts significantly in sustainable. order to crack down on these illegal activities - many with Since then, CITES has attempted to use every tool at its strong linkages to organized crime networks. disposal in order to make its provisions work for sturgeons. Two important and encouraging developments address- This has included a Review of Significant Trade, new ing this illegal trade have occurred this year. One of these CITES Resolutions and Decisions, regional agreements, has been the adoption of a universal caviar labelling system annual export quotas, trade restrictions, various missions to by the European Union (EU) - the world’s largest consumer range States and numerous notifications to CITES Parties. market for caviar, accounting for almost 50% of all caviar The issue has been discussed at almost every meeting of the reported in legal trade in recent years. In May 2006, the EU Animals Committee, the Standing Committee and the meet- adopted a new regulation that made the caviar labelling ings of the Conference of the Parties to CITES that took requirements agreed to by CITES Parties in 2003, and place since the CITES listing in Appendix II. described in CITES Resolution Conf. 12.7, legally binding in all 25 EU Member States. The new regu- lation requires that all caviar tins in trade in the EU bear a label that contains informa- EDITORIAL tion such as the year of harvest or re-pack- aging, the registration number of the pro- cessing or repackaging plant and the country Yet eight years later, in May 2005, an international sym- of origin of the caviar. In addition, all caviar importing, posium that brought together more than 500 sturgeon experts exporting, re-packing or producing companies have to be and scientists from around the globe concluded that the state registered and maintain records of all caviar traded. of sturgeon stocks worldwide continues to decline. Many These new rules will help to combat the forces driving sturgeon populations are now highly threatened, with some illegal trade in caviar as it will not only enable authorities to facing the risk of extinction. Based on the revised IUCN Red identify the source and origin of the caviar but also allow List of Threatened Species published in 2006, 23 of the consumers to distinguish between legal and illegal caviar world’s 27 species of sturgeon and paddlefish are now threat- products. However, the effectiveness of these new labelling ened with extinction, of which six are considered as rules will be dependent upon how effectively they are Vulnerable, eleven as Endangered (including the most-sought implemented and enforced across all of the 25 EU Member after species Russian Sturgeon Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, States. International co-operation beyond just the EU is Persian Sturgeon A. persicus and Beluga Huso huso), and six also essential in ensuring that these measures stem an inter- are categorized as Critically Endangered. national illegal trade that is driving sturgeon species to the Concern over the plight of the sturgeon was clearly brink of extinction. In June 2006, the European demonstrated when, in early 2006, the CITES Secretariat Commission hosted an international workshop attended by postponed the approval of the annual export quotas for 120 law enforcement officials from 34 key trading countries caviar and other sturgeon products originating from shared and organizations worldwide to discuss ways to combat basins such as the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea-Danube illegal trade in caviar. The meeting concluded with agree- River and the Amur-Heilong River. The information pro- ment on a set of rigorous measures to improve the exchange vided by the range States indicated that many of the stur- of intelligence and co-ordination, undertake joint interna- geon species in these shared fishing grounds were suffering tional investigations and to implement the universal serious population declines and the quotas proposed did not labelling system for caviar. appear to reflect fully the reductions in stocks or make suf- These are all clearly significant steps in the right direc- ficient allowance for illegal fishing. By April, the CITES tion but, with the status of wild populations of sturgeon Secretariat finalized its assessment of the export quotas and species so perilous, it is also clear that much more needs to only authorized an export quota of 44 tonnes of caviar from be done. All existing initiatives - from scientific research the Persian Sturgeon from Iran, and 1.4 t of beluga caviar and fisheries management to trade monitoring and law from the Black Sea-Danube River basin, with no export enforcement - should operate in concert in order for these quotas for caviar from other sturgeon species published. In actions to be consolidated. Only with a unified drive by all practice, this means that no exports of wild harvested caviar involved - fishers, businesses, governments and consumers of these sturgeon stocks should take place in 2006. - can we ensure a sustainable future for both the species and Though often incorrectly referred to as a “ban” in the the caviar trade. media, this decision has certainly sent a strong signal to caviar-producing countries and traders, emphasizing the Stephanie von Meibom Acting Director, TRAFFIC Europe need to comply with the provisions and requirements E-mail: [email protected] TRAFFIC Bulletin Vol. 21 No. 1 (2006) 1 N E W S A TRAFFIC office will be re-established in India in August 2006. TRAFFIC RECEIVES AWARD The office will eventually form part of a regional programme for South Asia, but for now will be supervised direct from TRAFFIC has been TRAFFIC International. Recruitment of an office head is under awarded the UK way and the team will also include Rahul Dutta, who was part PAW (The Partner- of the earlier TRAFFIC team in India.