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Review of Species Subject to Long-Standing Positive Opinions: Species Other Than Corals and Butterflies from Asia and Oceania

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Review of Species Subject to Long-Standing Positive Opinions: Species Other Than Corals and Butterflies from Asia and Oceania Review of species subject to long-standing positive opinions: species other than corals and butterflies from Asia and Oceania (Version edited for public release) Prepared for the European Commission Directorate General E - Environment ENV.E.2. – Development and Environment by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre August, 2012 UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre PREPARED FOR 219 Huntingdon Road The European Commission, Brussels, Belgium Cambridge 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 presentations do not imply the expressions of any The United Nations Environment Programme opinion whatsoever on the part of UNEP, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP- European Commission or contributory WCMC) is the specialist biodiversity assessment organisations concerning the legal status of any centre of the United Nations Environment country, territory, city or area or its authority, or Programme (UNEP), the world’s foremost concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or intergovernmental environmental organisation. boundaries. The Centre has been in operation for over 30 years, combining scientific research with practical policy advice. The Centre's mission is to evaluate and © Copyright: 2012, European Commission highlight the many values of 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. 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. 2012. Review of species subject to long- standing positive opinions: species other than corals and butterflies from Asia and Oceania. UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge. Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 SPECIES: Capra falconeri .......................................................................................................................... 2 SPECIES: Chalcopsitta cardinalis ............................................................................................................ 10 SPECIES: Candoia carinata ..................................................................................................................... 14 SPECIES: Ptyas mucosus ......................................................................................................................... 19 SPECIES: Hirudo medicinalis .................................................................................................................. 27 Overview of the status, management and trade of Hippopus hippopus, Tridacna spp. and Tridacnidae spp. in Asia and Oceania ............................................................................................ 31 SPECIES: Hippopus hippopus .................................................................................................................. 39 SPECIES: Tridacna crocea ........................................................................................................................ 44 SPECIES: Tridacna derasa ....................................................................................................................... 50 SPECIES: Tridacna gigas ......................................................................................................................... 55 SPECIES: Tridacna maxima ..................................................................................................................... 58 SPECIES: Tridacna squamosa .................................................................................................................. 68 SPECIES: Dicksonia antarctica ................................................................................................................ 80 SPECIES: Dendrobium chrysotoxum ....................................................................................................... 82 SPECIES: Dendrobium delacourii ............................................................................................................ 85 ANNEX. Key to Purpose and Source Codes ............................................................................... 87 Introduction Introduction The Scientific Review Group may form ‘positive opinions’ for species/country combinations, indicating to Member States that, given current and anticipated levels of trade, introduction into the European Union would not be considered to 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 (Council Regulation EC No. 338/97). Positive opinions for some species/country combinations have been in place for a relatively long time. For example, in May 2011, 300 positive opinions had been in place since 2001 or earlier (representing 1923 species/country combinations), and these had not been updated or replaced by any subsequent opinions or EU suspensions (SRG 58 document). At SRG 58, there was agreement to remove long- standing positive opinions for 1701 species/country combinations for which there was no or virtually no trade in wild or ranched individuals either globally or to the EU-27. Furthermore, for species-country combinations for which trade in wild or ranched specimens may be anticipated in future, there was agreement to produce in-depth species reviews, in order to determine whether the current longstanding positive opinions may still be warranted. This review of species other than corals and butterflies from Asia and Oceania is the third in a series of reports providing material to inform SRG decision-making on long-standing positive opinions. Trade data for this report were extracted on 28th May 2012 for the ten year period 2001-2010; furthermore, information from 2011 EU annual reports was included where available. 1 Capra falconeri REVIEW OF SPECIES SUBJECT TO LONG-STANDING POSITIVE OPINIONS: SPECIES OTHER THAN CORALS AND BUTTERFLIES FROM ASIA AND OCEANIA MAMMALIA BOVIDAE SPECIES: Capra falconeri SYNONYMS: Capra falconeri cashmiriensis, C. falconeri chitralensis, C. falconeri gilgitensis, C. falconeri cashmiriensis, C. falconeri jerdoni. COMMON NAMES: Markhor eller skrueged (Danish), Schroefhoorngeit (Dutch), Markhor (English), Kierteissarvikauris (Finnish), Markhor (French), Schraubenziege (German), Capra di Falconer (Italian), Markor (Italian), Markhor (Spanish), Markhor (Swedish), Skruvget (Swedish), Skruvhornsget (Swedish) RANGE STATES: Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan RANGE STATE UNDER REVIEW: Pakistan IUCN RED LIST: Endangered PREVIOUS EC OPINIONS: Current positive opinion for Pakistan formed on 11/11/1997. Current 4.6(a) import suspension for hunting trophies from Uzbekistan first applied on 01/10/2007 and last confirmed on 07/09/2011. Previous negative opinion for hunting trophies from Uzbekistan formed on 12/06/2006. TRADE PATTERNS: Annual export quotas for Capra falconeri hunting trophies from Pakistan have been established since 1998. Quotas appear to have been exceeded in 2006 and 2008, according to the importers (Table 1). It is plausible that this could occur through imports in one year relating to permits issued in the previous year, or where items from one ‘trophy’ (i.e. skin, skull and horns from a single individual) are traded on different permits. An analysis of available permit numbers indicated that two imports by Germany and one import by France in 2006 were from export permits issued by Pakistan in 2005, and that two imports by Mexico and one import by the United States in 2008 were from export permits issued by Pakistan in 2007. In addition, whereas Pakistan recorded all its exports as ‘trophies’, there were examples in most years (including 2006 and 2008) where importers recorded the same shipment as ‘1 skull and 1 skin’ or ‘2 horns and 1 skin’, hence importer-reported data may overestimate the actual number of individuals in trade. 2 Capra falconeri Table 1. CITES export quotas for Capra falconeri hunting trophies from Pakistan and global exports, reported by importers and by the exporter. (Hunting trophies include all trade reported under the terms ‘trophy’, ‘skull’, ‘skin’ and ‘horn’. (Pakistan’s 2009 and 2010 annual reports have not yet been received). 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Quota 6 6 6 6 6 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 Reported by the importers 6 5 6 5 6 9 9 14 11 15 12 6 Reported by Pakistan 3 4 6 2 5 10 8 8 12 6 Imports of Capra falconeri (including trade reported as the subspecies C. falconeri jerdoni1) to the EU-27 directly from Pakistan over the period 2001-2010 consisted primarily of wild-sourced hunting trophies (Table 2). The main importers were Spain, Demark and Germany. There were no reported indirect imports in the EU-27 of C. falconeri
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