CITES Calendar

Meeting summary

The Australian and New Zealand Governments hosted and organized a joint workshop with two non -government organizations, TRAFFIC and ANCORS, to progress implementation of the listing of shark species. The workshop was held with a participation of 9 Oceania States and territories, three of which are not Party to CITES (Australia, Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Tonga and Kiribati). A CITES Secretariat staff was present in order to facilitate the event.

It was a meaningful gathering in which common challenges and necessary procedures regarding shark listings were discussed. In an enthusiastic atmosphere, the event was well organized with a series of lectures on Shark identification tools, IFS, NDFs, etc. followed by rich and detailed debate. A practical exercise was provided in order to enhance participants’ understanding on relevance of IFS provisions to CITES operation. A CITES Secretariat staff gave presentation on general context of the shark listings and NDFs.

In line with Decision 16.52 we need to develop user friendly capacity-building tools related to IFS issues. In general, we expect our involvement could make a positive difference for fisheries management of sharks in Oceania region through collaborating with various regional instruments such as the Secretariat of the Pacific Community(SPC) in relation to commercially-exploited aquatic species.

Useful documents to note

Effective management of sea cucumber fisheries and the bêche-de-mer trade in Melanesia: bringing the industry under rational control. Nautilus Consultants on behalf of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (http://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/Doc/FAME/Reports/Carleton_13_BDM_Management.pdf)

An introduction FROM THE SEA by Wendy Jackson (ppt)

An introduction to LEGAL ACQUISITION FINDINGS by Wendy Jackson (ppt)