CITES action

Seahorses are pioneers for marine fishes on CITES. Millions of seahorses are exported around the world each year. Our goal is regulated, legal and enduring trade. We have resources and information that can help CITES Parties implement Appendix II for seahorses.

CITES Conference of the Parties Meetings

CITES CoP 19

Panama City, Panama, 14 - 25 November 2022

Cop 19 Working documents

Agenda item 69. Seahorses (Hippocampus spp.), Fri, 18 Nov, 14:00-17:00
69.1. Report of the Standing Committee (CoP19 Doc. 69.1)
69.2. Next steps towards the successful implementation of the Appendix-II listing for seahorses (CoP19 Doc. 69.2)

Cop 19 Information documents

Making Non-Detriment Findings for Seahorses. (CoP19 Inf. 62)

Tracking Seahorse (Hippocampus spp.) Illegal Wildlife Trade Through Seizures Reported Online. (CoP19 Inf. 96)

SIDE-event: Seahorses on CITES: Next steps towards successful implementation

Seahorses are pioneers for marine fishes on CITES. This side event will provide context for CoP19 Doc. 69.2 and its draft Decisions. We will summarize changes to the live and dried seahorse trades since listing, explore progress in CITES implementation, and raise important issues such as the substantial illegal trade.

Join us on Mon, November 21, 12:15 - 14:00 in Salon 2. Lunch provided.

CITES CoP 18

CITES CoP 18, Geneva, Switzerland, 17-28 August 2019

Cop 18 Working documents

Seahorses (Hippocampus spp) on CITES – a roadmap to success. Working document (CoP18 Doc. 72) submitted by Maldives, Monaco, Sri Lanka and the United States of America.

Decisions of the Conference of the Parties to CITES in effect after its 18th meeting (see Decisions 18.228 - 18.233 for seahorses)

CITES CoP 17

The information below is from CITES CoP 17, Johannesburg, South Africa, 24 September-04 October 2016.

CITES CoP 17 Information Documents

The following four Information Documents are available in several languages, in pdf format.

Implementing Appendix II listings for marine fishes: important considerations when making non-detriment findings.
(English | French | Spanish)

Assisting Parties to meet their commitments: CITES Review of significant trade for Seahorses (Hippocampus spp.), a taxon traded in high volumes
(English | French | Spanish)  [Please note that the French and Spanish versions are translations of the official CoP17 Inf. 53 (Rev. 1)]

Implementation of CITES Appendix II listings for marine fishes.
(English | French | Spanish)

Simple is good: moving toward pragmatic and effective monitoring to support CITES implementation for marine fishes and invertebrates on Appendix II
(English | French | Spanish)

Resources

The role of CITES in the conservation of marine fishes subject to international trade

CITES and Marine Fishes Think Tank
Non-detriment findings (NDF) advice for marine fishes in general

• Fishes Working Group report at the International Workshop on CITES Non-Detriment Findings (Cancun, Mexico, 2008)

• Fishes Working Group Reports

• A risk assessment framework for fisheries species, and application of the framework to fished shark species

• NDF Guidelines for Aquatic Species by the Fisheries Agency of Japan: AC28 Inf. 10
  

NDF frameworks / tools for specific marine fish taxa

• European eel  (report)

• Humphead wrasse

• Seahorses

• Sharks

• Sturgeons

Toolkits

• iSeahorse Landings Toolkit

• iSeahorse Population Monitoring Toolkit

This CITES work was supported by