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August 22, 2002


Hawksbill shell trade

Cuba withdraws hawksbill shell trade proposal

Environment News Service, August 22, 2002.

GENEVA, Switzerland, August 21, 2002 (ENS) - Faced with international opposition from environmental groups and marine turtle experts, Cuba has withdrawn its proposal for a legal trade in its stockpile of shells of the critically endangered hawksbill turtle.

Cuba had proposed that at the upcoming meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in November it be permitted to transfer hawksbill turtles in its waters from a CITES Appendix I listing to a lesser protected Appendix II listing.

This would have allowed Cuba to sell a stockpile of hawksbill turtle shells to Japan, where the material is known as bekko and is made into trinkets and jewelry.

Cuba's move was criticized by other range states of the hawksbill turtle, which argued that as these turtles migrate through the Caribbean, Cuba could not claim it has a unique Cuban population.

Cuba argued that in accordance with CITES regulations, the population for which a transfer is requested is defined as "that segment of the regional Caribbean population bounded by the geographic limits of Cuban waters, which is under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Cuba, and is the exclusive area from which the shell was derived."

Critics also argued that allowing the sale of Cuba's stockpile of tortoise shell would be like approving an annual harvest of hawksbill turtles for the purpose of international trade, as the accumulation of shell for another sale would also be encouraged.

"These stockpile sales - whether turtle shells or elephant ivory - are nothing less than the first steps towards the open, international trade in these threatened species," said Fred O'Regan, president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

"These so-called 'one-off' stockpile sales, are not necessarily 'one-off' at all," he said. "They can open the door to illegal trade, promote stockpile accumulation, and in the end risk the survival of some of the world's most unique species."

The Species Survival Network, a global coalition of 65 conservation, environmental and animal protection organizations, including Humane Society International, has praised Cuba for withdrawing its proposal to reopen the hawksbill shell trade.

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