Illegal Traffic in Abalone Meat and Trade.

[Caitlin]

I got this from the CONCHL list I subscribe to.





Dear ConchLers,

Yesterday I received the latest issue of "Traffic Bulletin" (vol. 21, no. 3, January 2008), the journal that disseminates information on the trade in wild animals and plant resources.
It contains two items dealing with molluscs.

-Markus Buergener reports in a two-page article (pp. 93-94) on the complete ban of the harvest and trade in Haliotis midae, a species endemic to South Africa. The latter is now placed by the South Africa authorities on the CITES list Appendix III.

-On p. 122 a small report is given on the seizure of a shipment of 4.3 ton of meat of Chilean "Abalone" Concholepas concholepas. How many specimens you need to collect in order to obtain such an amount of shell meat? The shipment had as destination Taiwan.

The full text of this issue is downloadable from: www.traffic.org (http://www.traffic.org/)
Issues are available in English, Russian, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese.

Best regards,

Henk K. Mienis

[Caitlin]

Here is one of Slraep favorite ideas- also from Traffic. Scroll through the pages. It is both heartening and disheartening

http://www.traffic.org/storage/thumbnails/1467551-1372276-thumbnail.jpg (http://www.traffic.org/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=%2Fstorage%2Fimages%2Ftraffic-india-poster-3.jpg&imageTitle=1467551-1372276-thumbnail.jpg)
Shawl of Shame: end consumers are as much partners in wildlife crime as those who deal in or hunt protected species of wildlife. Click image to enlarge
(http://www.traffic.org/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=%2Fstorage%2Fimages%2Ftraffic-india-poster-3.jpg&imageTitle=1467551-1372276-thumbnail.jpg)

[Caitlin]

I hope I am not abusing their copyright too much, but this mag is very interesting, I want people here to become familiar with it.


CITES backs red, pink and other corals (http://www.traffic.org/home/2007/6/13/cites-backs-red-pink-and-other-corals.html)
http://www.traffic.org/storage/thumbnails/1467551-1195147-thumbnail.jpg (http://www.traffic.org/display/ShowImage?imageUrl=%2Fstorage%2Fimages%2FCoral-Necklace-Crawford-allan-traffic.jpg&imageTitle=1467551-1195147-thumbnail.jpg)
Red corals are widely used for the manufacture of jewellery © Crawford Allen / TRAFFIC Click to enlargeThe Hague, The Netherlands 13 June 2007—Red, pink and other coral species in the genus Corallium will be better protected from over-exploitation after CITES today adopted a proposal from the US to list Corallium in Appendix II of the Convention. Appendix II allows trade in a species under strict conditions.

(http://www.traffic.org/home/2007/6/13/cites-backs-red-pink-and-other-corals.html)</H2>

[smetzler]

…seizure of a shipment of 4.3 ton of meat of Chilean "Abalone" Concholepas concholepas. How many specimens you need to collect in order to obtain such an amount of shell meat? The shipment had as destination Taiwan.

On top of that, they undoubtedly didn't bother to sift through for pearls. US Fish & Wildlife has it correct: Special import permit is required for the shells only, as pearls are not the culprit.