Book Description

In recent years, an increasing number of commercially exploited and managed aquatic species, including sharks and rays, have been listed in the Appendices to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The listing of some species in CITES Appendix II has necessitated attention from the fisheries sector of States on how listing would impact on the management of the relevant fisheries. This sourcebook and the research process involved in its development highlighted the opportunity to implement CITES through national fisheries legal frameworks. Indeed, in certain cases, doing so can prove to be vital in giving practical effect to CITES while simultaneously enhancing fisheries management regimes and ensuring that all activities along the fisheries value chain, especially the international trade in CITES-listed aquatic species, are legal, traceable and sustainable. The study recognizes that communities operating within the CITES regime and in the fisheries sectors have their own particular areas of work. However, they should cooperate and coordinate their work where they share the common high-level objectives of ensuring responsible, legal and sustainable utilization of resources, including species, biodiversity and ecosystems, and implementing the relevant Sustainable Development Goals. This sourcebook was first published in 2020, designated as a "super year" for nature and biodiversity. The second edition of this sourcebook was developed to take into account and reflect the outcomes of the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, in 2022. The sourcebook is a timely and useful contribution to fisheries management as it seeks to provide support in: (i) raising awareness of CITES; (ii) enhancing comprehension of the CITES regime and its relationship with the fisheries sector; and (iii) where a deliberate decision is made by a country to implement CITES through its national fisheries legal frameworks, providing guidance on what to do and how to do it.