OATA joined fellow pet trade association colleagues from around the world at the Animals Committee of CITE, held in Geneva in July 2024. We would like to thank the European Pet Organization for enabling us to attend as its representative.

This forum discusses issues around the sustainable trade in animals (it followed on from a week looking at plants). So it’s an important meeting to attend because the Committee makes recommendations to the Conference of the Party gatherings, which happen every few years, where final decisions are made on how certain species can be traded.

OATA (representing the European Pet Organization) and OFI both made representations on a number of issues relevant to ornamental aquatic animals. These centred on three main themes:

  • Highlighting questions around the CITES approach to captive breeding
  • Seeking to amend Stony Coral resolutions to make it easier for both traders and law enforcement to enact CITES rules
  • Ensuring a process went forward to effectively assess some of the marine ornamental species identified by the workshop in Brisbane (see more on this here).

Captive breeding

Colleagues from OFI highlighted concerns on the first day of Animals Committee. Our issues are around marking requirements, which call for CITES-listed species to be microchipped which is unachievable for most pet fish, and proving legal acquisition of founder stock, which could prove extremely problematic for species captive reared for a long time that subsequently become listed. These rules will be discussed further at Standing Committee and at the next COP. We will seek to further discuss these positions with Parties before these events.

Stony Corals

The stony coral resolution in CITES has been in need of amendment for a long time to bring it in line with the way people currently trade corals. In particular, we highlighted concerns around definitions used to describe elements of trade, such as substrate and artificial live rock. Without clarity on what these mean it will be difficult to enforce because of the potential for confusion for both traders and law enforcement. It was agreed that UNEP-WCMC would do some research on new reporting terms for coral to make it easier to monitor changes in trade and easier for traders to report live corals on permits. We will continue to feed into this process with representations to relevant Governments.

Marine Ornamental fishes

After the technical workshop in Brisbane (find more on that here), OATA (as EPO rep) and OFI came to the Animals Committee with the aim of establishing a scientific process within CITES to ensure that marine fish species were properly assessed for population data and trade numbers before any management decisions/recommendations could be made. Unfortunately, this was something the workshop failed to manage in the time given.

When this topic came up for discussion, the UK Government proposed wording which would allow the Animals Committee to pursue future work on this topic – it wasn’t as strongly worded as we had hoped but certainly something we could live with. During discussions, Israel also proposed amendments that urged Parties to both improve recording of data at species level on import but also that Parties should go ahead and start to consider listing proposals for species identified as “in trade” by the workshop. However, without a proper assessments for most marine fish species in trade, how can these listings be proposed with no clear evidence to suggest they are threatened? The Brisbane workshop was clear that more research was needed on species before imposing management measures (such as a CITES listing or other local management measures).

Fortunately, there was not sufficient support in the room for this amendment to be fully adopted, with the Chair proposing compromise wording that called for further research on species to be conducted by Parties. However, this gives us a strong indication that inappropriate listing proposals could arise from certain Parties at the next COP. We have already gathered lots of information to rebut any proposals if they arise and are well placed to feed into further discussions to ensure good evidence informs decision making, not ideology.

Conclusion

Both OATA/EPO and OFI were able to make on-the-record interventions during the Committee, but it is often the work that happens outside the Committee that is of real value – in the working groups that are set up to iron out issues that are stopping a consensus. Attending these working groups and meeting delegates from different Parties to explain ramifications of what is being proposed for our industry is where much of the time is spent. So, overall, we believe this week should be considered a success for the pet trade. While we did not get the exact outcomes we wanted, worst outcomes were avoided. We were able to achieve this through effective networking with Parties open to evidence-based decision-making and the effective collaboration between attending pet trade organisations. Challenges remain, but with the right people on the ground the pet sector is well-placed to respond to them.

CITES

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.

Parties

CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organisations (eg the EU) adhere to voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention (‘joined’ CITES) are known as Parties. The UK therefore is a Party to the Convention.

Animals Committee

This committee, which is attended by Parties and where external organisations are allowed to make short, limited representations, provide technical support to decision making by the Convention of the Parties.

Standing Committee

The Standing Committee coordinates and oversees the work of other CITES committees and working groups; carries out tasks given to it by the Conference of the Parties; and drafts resolutions for consideration by the Conference of the Parties

Convention of the Parties (COP)

The Parties to CITES are collectively referred to as the Conference of the Parties. Every two to three years, the Conference of the Parties meets to review the implementation of the Convention. These meetings last for about two weeks and are usually hosted by one of the Parties.