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The Week in Germany: Business, Technology, and the Environment

June 22, 2007

Efforts to Gain Stricter Protection for Sharks Fail, But Species Protection Conference Still Overall Success

A European Union proposal for stricter protection for sharks failed to be adopted at a recent species protection conference in The Hague.

Jochen Flasbarth, the head of the German delegation, expressed his disappointment in the outcome: "A majority of fishing nations established a link between the shark proposals and the discussions on the whaling moratorium in the International Whaling Commission (IWC). We were within reach of a solution on the cape shark, but this was wrecked in the last minute by the bloc of fishing nations, after the EU stood by its position on the whaling moratorium."

Flasbarth, who also represented the German EU Presidency in The Hague, nevertheless considered the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) a great success overall: "important measures were adopted, especially for marine species and the protection of forests. The breakthrough in elephant protection with the nine-year moratorium on ivory trade will also help future meetings of the COP to focus on strategically important issues of global species protection."

The Parties to CITES also adopted strict trade regulations for the European eel. Germany's proposal on behalf of the EU met with broad agreement.

The June 3-15 conference in The Hague also improved protection of other endangered marine animals such as the sawfish, with strict controls on trade.

On the initiative of the German EU Presidency, the conference agreed on a binding action plan for trade with three South American wood species, including the frequently traded tropical cedar wood. Strict regulations for trading with the Brazilian timber "Brazilwood", used to make high quality bows for string instruments, were also adopted.

Under the heading "Strategic Vision 2008-2013" the Conference also adopted a new political direction in the new millennium, in order to more closely link the objectives of other international agreements with the goals of CITES. (Federal Environment Ministry/BMU)

Links:

CITES

Efforts to Gain Stricter Protection for Sharks Fail (full BMU press release)

Species Protection Conference Decides on 9-Year Moratorium on Ivory Trade (BMU press release)

Fish, whales, tropical wood: the conference in The Hague focuses on the conservation of endangered species (BMU press release)

The Shark Alliance

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