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Sea horses given protected status by UN body
By Louise Egan
SANTIAGO, Chile (REUTERS NEWS SERVICE)
The tiny sea horse briefly stole the spotlight at a U.N. meeting in Chile on Wednesday when delegates agreed to protect all 32 species of the sea creature from a lucrative global trade that threatens to drive them to extinction.
The decision by the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) does not ban the sea horse trade, but instead forces countries to better monitor and control cross-border business to ensure that it does not pose a risk to their sea horse populations.
Each country, with help from CITES and other international organizations, must take steps to certify that all sea horse catches and sales are legal.
Seventy-five member nations voted for the measure, proposed by the United States, while 24 opposed it. The U.N. body had no immediate comment.
During debate, CITES delegates said scientific evidence demonstrated the sea horse trade threatened the future survival of the species. There is high global demand for the marine animals and the population has started to decline.
Sea horses, which range from fingernail-sized to one foot (30 cm) long, are sold mainly as aquarium pets or dried and used in traditional Asian medicine. People have been fascinated by the quirky creatures throughout the ages.
HIGH PRICE
"They reach values that are much, much higher than the price of silver, approaching the price of gold per kilo," said Amanda C.J. Vincent, a marine scientist and director of Project Seahorse, a backer of the proposal.
"The parties must now ensure their trade is not detrimental to wild populations ... This is a very big issue and is going to raise enormous challenges for the parties," Vincent said.
About 105 countries have sea horses in their waters and 69 are involved in trade. Asian trade alone in sea horses was about 70 tons in 2000, up from 40 tons five years earlier, according to research led by Vincent.
The biggest live sea horse exporters are Indonesia, the Philippines and increasingly Brazil. The United States and Western Europe are top importers of live sea horses for the aquarium industry.
The United States says it supports only limiting the commerce in sea horses -- and not banning it outright -- because fishing communities in poor "range states" where the creatures are found often depend on the trade.
"Developing countries are range states for these species and it's pretty important to them," John Field, a U.S. delegate to CITES and fishery specialist, told Reuters.
Dried sea horses -- used to treat ailments such as asthma and sexual impotence -- are supplied mainly by Thailand, India, the Philippines, Vietnam and Mexico. China and Hong Kong are the biggest markets.
"Traditional Chinese medicine industry considers it one of their mainstays, having a role perhaps similar to that of aspirin," Vincent said.
Conservationists stressed the need to support the many fishing communities in the developing world, especially in the Philippines, that have grown dependent on the tiny animals for their livelihood as other resources are depleted.
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