APPENDIXES

Appendix A Agenda

1. Opening of the Expert Consultation

2. Welcome by Mr Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director-General, FAO Fisheries Department

3. Introduction of participants and nomination of Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the meeting

4. Adoption of the Agenda

5. Review of the draft structure for the report of the Consultation; discussion and decision on the structure of the report

6. Constitution of the working groups, allocation of duties and designation of chairperson/moderator and rapporteur for each working group

7. Split into working groups. Drafting of sections of report in those working groups

8. Drafting of the report

9. Working groups present progress reports and discussion

10. Working group finalize sections of the report

11. Secretariat consolidates draft report

12. Adoption of the report

Appendix B List of Participants

Appendix C Welcome by Mr Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director-General, FAO Fisheries Department

Distinguished experts,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this Expert Consultation on “Implementation Issues Associated with Listing Commercially-exploited Aquatic Species on CITES Appendices”.

Many of you here have worked closely with CITES in the past and I will not attempt to give you any background on that Organization which you know so well. You may not, however, be as familiar with the work that FAO has been undertaking in relation to CITES and commercially-exploited aquatic species. FAO has been working on this topic since shortly after the tenth session of the CITES Conference of Parties in 1997 in Harare, Zimbabwe. At that meeting a proposal was tabled for the creation of a CITES working group for marine fisheries. The proposal was motivated by concerns that some commercially-exploited fish species might qualify to be listed on the CITES Appendices.

Some FAO Members were concerned that the CITES criteria and evaluation process might not be appropriate to deal with exploited and managed fishery resources and brought the matter to the next meeting of FAO Members. That was the COFI Sub-Committee on Fish Trade in Bremen, Germany, in June 1998. There it was proposed that FAO should consider the suitability of the CITES listing criteria for commercially-exploited aquatic species and the need for amendments to or appropriate interpretation of the CITES criteria in relation to such species. This marked the start of an intense and fruitful, but often difficult, engagement by FAO with CITES.

Most of the work that FAO has been undertaking up until now has been on the listing criteria and the Organization has proposed some significant improvements to the listing criteria for application to commercially-exploited aquatic species. Those recommendations have, so far, been well-accepted by CITES and included in their draft revised criteria for consideration by the thirteenth Conference of the Parties in October. In the same field, in July this year, FAO will, for the first time, undertake a formal scientific evaluation of listing proposals for four taxa of marine fish and invertebrates that have been submitted for consideration by CoP-13. Again, that contribution from FAO is being encouraged by CITES.

This Expert Consultation marks a new direction in FAO work on CITES and is the first major activity by FAO that goes beyond the criteria and listing process and focuses instead on what happens if and when a commercially-exploited aquatic species is listed on one of the three Appendices. Regulation of trade in many commercially-exploited aquatic species will present particular problems that need to be considered and many fisheries agencies are still unfamiliar with the role and mechanisms of CITES. This Consultation is intended to address both of these problems.

The particular issues identified by COFI for consideration at this Consultation include:

· the implications of the “look-alike” clause and spilt-listing;

· aquaculture and the implementation of a CITES listing;

· the administrative and monitoring implications of listing and down-listing, including the implications of Annex 4 of Res. Conf. 9.24, dealing with the precautionary approach; and

· the socio-economic implications of a CITES listing.

You have been selected, as a personal capacity and not as a representative of the organization you belong to, on the basis of your particular expertise in one or more of these topics and FAO is looking to you to help us to advise and inform Members on the issues, the problems that they are likely to encounter, and means to minimize any negative implications and difficulties in implementation. The report from this meeting will, I am sure, be received with considerable interest by the twenty-sixth session of COFI early next year. Finally, I would like to thank you all for giving up your time to help us in this important task. I would also like to thank the Governments of Norway, Japan and the United States of America for their budgetary contribution in which made the convening of this important consultation possible. We look forward to receiving the results of your deliberations.

I wish you a fruitful and enjoyable meeting.