International trade can drive unsustainable fishing, particularly for high demand or high priced species that are not well managed. For example, bluefin tuna, sharks and corals are being overfished to the point of endangerment to meet demand for sushi, shark fin soup, and jewellery. Many fish species are widely traded, providing markets for developed and developing country fisheries.
This trade often makes an important contribution to income, health, and employment, but there are significant environmental and economic downsides. Global fishery management is largely inadequate to ensure the sustainability of marine stocks, with overexploitation threatening the livelihoods of millions of people and coastal economies around the world.
Efforts have been made to use market measures to break this cycle through consumer education, trade sanctions against illegal fishing vessels and countries, and limitations on subsidies that drive overfishing. The most powerful market intervention for species threatened with extinction is a ban on trade under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). For species that could support trade at sustainable levels, but would be at risk of extinction if trade were not controlled, CITES listing under Appendix II requires exporting countries to certify that their trade in the species is “not detrimental” to the species survival. Current proposals to list Atlantic bluefin tuna on Appendix I, and eight shark species and 31 species of pink and red corals on Appendix II, are an acknowledgement of the complete failure of national and international fisheries management to prevent the overexploitation of these resources. Many fisheries stocks around the world are depleted and many more are not monitored. This suggests that if fisheries management continues to be absent or weak, additional marine species will surely be candidates for CITES listing.
Read the complete story at The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.