CITES Calendar

The 31st session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI-31) was held in Rome, Italy from 9 to 13 June 2014. The session was held against the backdrop of publication of the 2014 version of FAO’s flagship report “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture”.  The annual global catch of elasmobranchs in 2012 remained stable at was around 520,000 tonnes of sharks and 240,000 tonnes of rays.. The report also contained a special section on the continuing challenges for the conservation and management of sharks referring to the cooperation between FAO and CITES over shark issues.

The CITES Secretariat was represented by the Secretary-General, Chief of Scientific Services and (present throughout the meeting) a consultant working for the EU-CITES sharks project. Of particular interest was the agenda item on Decisions and recommendations of the Fourteenth Session of the COFI Sub-Committee on Fish Trade, Bergen, Norway, 24-28 February 2014, which included a section Update on the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) related activities. Thirty-nine states and territories spoke in the debate on this agenda item, fourteen of whom mentioned CITES-related activities. Much of the discussion on the agenda item focused on the proposal for an expert consultation on catch documentation schemes and the ToR for such work.

CITES Secretariat had an information booth in the FAO atrium during the meeting and held a side-event about the cooperation with FAO over sharks and rays. The side event was received positively, and generated questions and supportive discussions afterwards.

The Secretariat will maintain close cooperation with FAO through attending and addressing COFI-FT15 and COFI-32 in 2016 and engaging with the FAO expert consultation on catch documentation schemes.

See also:

• FAO’s report “State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture” (PDF)
• FAO COFI page