FAO Fisheries Report No. 748

FIRM/R748 (En)

Report of the

FAO AD HOC EXPERT ADVISORY PANEL FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF PROPOSALS TO AMEND APPENDICES I AND II OF CITES CONCERNING COMMERCIALLY-EXPLOITED AQUATIC SPECIES

Rome, 13-16 July 2004

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome, 2004

Table of Contents

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

FAO.
Report of the FAO Ad Hoc Expert Advisory Panel for the Assessment of Proposals to Amend Appendices I and II of CITES Concerning Commercially-exploited Aquatic Species. Rome, 13-16 July 2004.

FAO Fisheries Report. No. 748. Rome, FAO. 2004. 51 p.

ABSTRACT

The FAO Ad Hoc Expert Advisory Panel for the Assessment of Proposals to Amend Appendices I and II of CITES Concerning Commercially-exploited Aquatic Species was held at FAO headquarters from 13 to 16 July 2004. It was convened in response to the agreement by the twenty-fifth session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) on the terms of reference for an ad hoc expert advisory panel for assessment of proposals to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the agreement at the ninth Session of the COFI Sub-Committee on Fish Trade (Bremen, Germany, February 2004) that FAO should convene such a panel to review any proposals to the thirteenth Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP-13) for listing or delisting commercially-exploited species in time to be considered at that meeting of the Conference of the Parties.

The task of the Panel was to:

- assess each proposal from a scientific perspective in accordance with the CITES biological listing criteria, taking account of the recommendations on the criteria made to CITES by FAO;

- comment, as appropriate, on technical aspects of the proposal in relation to biology, ecology, trade and management issues, as well as, to the extent possible, the likely effectiveness for conservation.

The Panel considered the following four proposals

• CoP13 Prop. 32. Proposal to include Carcharodon carcharias (white shark) on CITES Appendix II, including an annotation that states that a zero annual export quota is established for this species.
• CoP13 Prop. 33. Proposal to include Cheilinus undulatus (humphead wrasse) in Appendix II in accordance with Article II, paragraph 2(a) of the Convention.
• CoP13 Prop. 35. Proposal to include Lithophaga lithophaga (Mediterranean date mussel) in Appendix II
• CoP13 Prop. 36. Proposal for an amendment of the annotation for Helioporidae spp., Tubiporidae spp., Scleractinia spp., Milleporidae spp. and Stylasteridae spp.

The Panel's assessment of each of the four proposals is provided.