June 1, 2007

Sawfish and European eel may become protected species

In a bid to protect wildstocks, the FAO has announced that it would support trade restrictions on sawfish and the European eel.

The proposals have been submitted to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

If the listing is approved by CITES, trade in the two species can be banned completely or permitted only if exporters can certify that the species was legally harvested and that trading does not affect its wild population, the agency said in a news release.

The Convention was established to conserve species directly impacted by trade..

CITES members will be ruling when they gather in The Hague next week.

Catching of sawfish has already been banned in the US and Australia.

Since the 1970s, the numbers of eels reaching Europe is thought to have declined by around 90 percent (possibly even 98 percent).