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Conf. 12.7

Conservation of and trade in sturgeons and paddlefish

RECALLING Resolution Conf. 10.12 (Rev.), adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its 10th meeting (Harare, 1997) and amended at its 11th meeting (Gigiri, 2000), and Resolution Conf. 11.13, adopted by the Conference of the Parties at its 11th meeting;

AWARE that sturgeons and paddlefish of the Order Acipenseriformes represent a valuable renewable biological and economic resource that in recent years has been affected by such negative factors as illegal fishing and illegal trade, regulation of water flow and decrease in natural spawning sites;

NOTING the need for further research and the importance of scientific monitoring of the status of stocks and an understanding of their genetic structure as the basis for sustainable fisheries management;

CONSIDERING that Eurasian range States of Acipenseriformes species are in need of funds and technical assistance in order to develop regional management and monitoring programmes for conservation, habitat protection, and the combating of illegal fishing and trade;

RECALLING that Article VI, paragraph 7, of the Convention provides that specimens of species listed in the Appendices may be marked to assist in identifying them;

CONSIDERING that the labelling of all caviar in trade would be a fundamental step towards the effective regulation of trade in specimens of sturgeons and paddlefish;

NOTING that, in order to assist the Parties in identifying legal caviar in trade, marking should be standardized and that particular specifications for the design of labels are fundamental, should be generally applied and should also take into account marking systems currently in place and anticipated technological advances in marking systems;

THE CONFERENCE OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONVENTION

URGES the range States of species in the Order Acipenseriformes to:

a) encourage scientific research and ensure adequate monitoring of the status of stocks1 to promote the sustainability of sturgeon and paddlefish fisheries through appropriate management programmes;

b) curtail the illegal fishing of and trade in sturgeon and paddlefish specimens by improving the provisions in and enforcement of existing laws regulating fisheries and export, in close collaboration with the CITES Secretariat, ICPO-Interpol and the World Customs Organization;

c) explore ways of enhancing the participation of representatives of all agencies responsible for sturgeon and paddlefish fisheries in conservation and sustainable-use programmes for these species; and

d) promote regional agreements between range States of sturgeon and paddlefish species aiming at proper management and sustainable utilization of these species;

RECOMMENDS:

a) that range States license legal exporters of specimens of sturgeon and paddlefish species and maintain a register of such persons or companies and provide this register to the Secretariat upon request;

b) that importing countries be particularly vigilant in controlling all aspects of the trade in specimens of sturgeon and paddlefish species, including the unloading of sturgeon specimens, transit, re-packaging, re-labelling and re-exports;

c) that Parties monitor the storage, processing and re-packaging of specimens of sturgeon and paddlefish species in Customs free zones and free ports, and for airline and cruise line catering;

d) that Parties ensure that all their relevant agencies cooperate in establishing the necessary administrative, management,scientific and control mechanisms needed to implement the provisions of the Convention with respect to sturgeon and paddlefish species; and

e) that Parties consider the harmonization of their national legislation related to personal exemptions for caviar, to allow for the personal effects exemption under Article VII, paragraph 3, and consider limiting this exemption to no more than 250 grams of caviar per person;

RECOMMENDS further, with regards to catch and export quotas, that:

a) Parties not accept the import of specimen of Acipenseriformes species from stocks shared between different range States2 unless:

i) export quotas for that year have been established by the range States3 concerned and have been communicated by the Secretariat to the Parties;

ii) the export quotas referred to in subparagraph i) have been derived from catch quotas agreed amongst States that provide habitat for the same stock of an Acipenseriformes species;

iii) catch quotas are based on an appropriate regional conservation strategy and monitoring regime for the species concerned; and

iv) the Secretariat is satisfied that catch and export quotas are agreed by all relevant range States, on the basis of information provided to it on the status of stocks of the species concerned; and

b) if a range State of a shared stock of a species of Acipenseriformes decides to reduce its quota established in accordance with this Resolution under stricter domestic measures, this shall not affect the quotas of the other range States of this stock;

URGES Parties to implement without delay the labelling of caviar in accordance with Annexes 1 and 2;

CALLS UPON range States, importing countries and other appropriate experts and organizations such as the IUCN/SSC Sturgeon Specialist Group, in consultation with the Secretariat and the Animals Committee, to explore the development of a uniform DNA-based identification system for parts and derivatives and aquaculture stocks of Acipenseriformes species to assist in the subsequent identification of the origin of specimens in trade;

DIRECTS the Secretariat:

a) in collaboration with range States and international organizations from both industry and the conservation community, to assist with the development of a strategy including action plans for the conservation of Acipenseriformes; and

b) to provide assistance with securing financial resources from Parties, international organizations, United Nations specialized agencies, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and industry; and

REPEALS the Resolutions listed hereunder:

a) Resolution Conf. 10.12 (Rev.) (Harare, 1997, as amended at Gigiri, 2000) – Conservation of sturgeon; and

b) Resolution Conf. 11.13 (Gigiri, 2000) – Universal labelling system for the identification of caviar.

Annex 1

CITES guidelines for a universal labelling system
for the trade in and identification of caviar

a) The uniform labelling system applies to all caviar produced for commercial and non-commercial purposes, for either domestic or international trade, and is based on the application of a non-reusable label on each primary container.

b) The following definitions apply in relation to trade in caviar:

– Caviar: processed roe of Acipenseriformes species.

– Lot identification number: a number that corresponds to information related to the caviar tracking system used by the processing or repackaging plant.

– Non-reusable label: any label or mark that cannot be removed undamaged or transferred to another container.

– Pressed caviar: caviar composed of the roe of one or more sturgeon or paddlefish species, remaining after the processing and preparation of higher quality caviar.

– Primary container: tin, jar or other receptacle that is in direct contact with the caviar.

– Processing plant: facility in the country of origin responsible for the first packaging of caviar into a primary container.

– Repackaging plant: facility responsible for receiving and repackaging caviar into new primary containers.

– Secondary container: receptacle into which primary containers are placed.

– Source code: letter corresponding to the source of the caviar, as defined by the relevant CITES resolutions (e.g. ‘W’ for wild or ‘C’ for captive bred).

c) In the country of origin, the non-reusable label should be affixed by the processing plant to any primary container. This label must include, as a minimum: a standard species code as provided in Annex 2;the source code of the caviar; the ISO two-letter code for the country of origin; the year of harvest; the official registration code of the processing plant (e.g. xxxx); and the lot identification number for the caviar (e.g. yyyy), for instance:

HUS/W/RU/2000/xxxx/yyyy

d) When no repackaging takes place, the non-reusable label referred to in paragraph c) above should be maintained on the primary container and be considered sufficient, including for re-export.

e) A non-reusable label should be affixed by the repackaging plant to any primary container in which caviar is repackaged. This label must include, as a minimum: a standard species code as provided in the Annex; the source code of the specimen; the ISO two-letter code of the country of origin; the year of repackaging; the official registration code of the repackaging plant, which incorporates the ISO two-letter code of the country of repackaging if different from the country of origin (e.g. IT-wwww); and the lot identification number, or CITES export permit or re-export certificate number (e.g., zzzz), for instance:

PER/W/IR/2001/IT-wwww/zzzz

f) When caviar is exported or re-exported, the exact quantity of caviar must be indicated on any secondary container in addition to the description of the content in accordance with international Customs regulations.

g) The same information that is on the label affixed to the container must be given on the export permit or re-export certificate, or in an annex attached to the CITES permit or certificate.

h) In the event of inconsistencies between information on a label and a permit or certificate, the Management Authority of the importing Party should contact its counterpart in the exporting or re-exporting Party as soon as possible to establish whether this was a genuine error arising from the complexity of information required by these guidelines.If this is the case, every effort should be made to avoid penalizing those involved in such transactions.

i) Each importing, exporting and re-exporting Party should establish, where consistent with national law, a registration system for processing and repackaging plants in its territory and provide to the Secretariat the list of these facilities and their official registration codes. The list should be updated as needed.

j) Parties should accept shipments of caviar only if they are accompanied by appropriate documents containing the information referred to in paragraph c), d) or e).

Annex 2

Codes for identification of Acipenseriformes species, hybrids and mixed species

Species

Code

Acipenser baerii

BAE

Acipenser baerii baicalensis

BAI

Acipenser brevirostrum

BVI

Acipenser dabryanus

DAB

Acipenser fulvescens

FUL

Acipenser gueldenstaedtii

GUE

Acipenser medirostris

MED

Acipenser mikadoi

MIK

Acipenser naccarii

NAC

Acipenser nudiventris

NUD

Acipenser oxyrhynchus

OXY

Acipenser oxyrhynchus desotoi

DES

Acipenser persicus

PER

Acipenser ruthenus

RUT

Acipenser schrencki

SCH

Acipenser sinensis

SIN

Acipenser stellatus

STE

Acipenser sturio

STU

Acipenser transmontanus

TRA

Huso dauricus

DAU

Huso huso

HUS

Polyodon spathula

SPA

Psephurus gladius

GLA

Pseudoscaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi

FED

Pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni

HER

Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni

KAU

Scaphirhynchus platorynchus

PLA

Scaphirhynchus albus

ALB

Scaphirhynchus suttkusi

SUS

Mixed species (for ‘pressed’ caviar exclusively)

MIX

Hybrid specimens: code for the species of the male x code for the species of the female

YYYxXXX

 

1 The term 'stock' is regarded, for the purposes of this Resolution, to be synonymous with 'population'.

2 Quotas do not have to be established for specimens from endemic stocks, i.e. stocks not shared with other countries, and captive breeding or aquaculture operations. Quotas communicated for such specimens are voluntary quotas.

3 For States that do not have legislation to establish export quotas at the national level, export quotas communicated to the Parties are considered to be export quotas for the purposes of this Resolution only.