Ornamental fish under cites regulation

A brief history of CITES

Fish species have been listed on the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species for more than 40 years. However, the Convention has mainly covered species that are of very limited commercial interest in the ornamental fish trade. With the exception of the Asian arowana (that was listed on appendix I in 1975), sturgeons (appendices I and II in 1998) and seahorses (appendix II in 2004), cites has had very little practical impact on the trade in ornamental fish for home aquariums until now. The imSouth American countries are testing out the practicalities and benefits of listing indigenous fish species on the cites appendix III. Many new species have come under cites regulation, which is intended to protect them in the wild.Aplications have been considerably greater for the trade in invertebrates (not least corals for marine aquariums), amphibians, reptiles and birds, such as parrots. This might be about to change, as Colombia and Brazil have recently listed several new species on cites appendix III. 

What is appendix III?

This rarely used appendix covers species that are protected in at least one country that has requested the assistance of other cites member countries to control the trade. Since the strictest trade demands (i.e. export permits) only apply to the country that has listed the species, listing on appendix III can be done unilaterally by any country without the need for debating and voting, which are demanded for appendices I and II.

In a notification issued on 5 October 2016, the cites secretariat announced that Brazil and Colombia had requested it to include several indigenous species of freshwater fish in cites Appendix III. The listing took effect on 3 January 2017. For the very first time, commercially important ornamental fish species are now regulated under cites appendix III.

These are the species

The species that now have come under cites regulation are:

From Brazil: 

• Hypancistrus zebra (Loricariidae; Siluriformes), zebra pleco / L46
• Potamotrygon spp. (Potamotrygonidae; Myliobatiformes), freshwater stingrays – all Brazilian populations

From Colombia:

• Potamotrygon constellate 
• P. magdalenae 
• P. motoro 
• P. orbignyi 
• P. schroederi
• P. scobina
• P. yepezi 
• Paratrygon aiereba

All eight species are freshwater stingrays (Potamotrygonidae; Myliobatiformes).

The consequences

Brazil and Colombia are using this listing in an attempt to curb illegal cross-border trade. Furthermore, the listing is expected to provide significantly better international trade data in general. This is justifiable and in accordance with several previous recommendations from various cites bodies and international workshops. 

As of this year, no international trade in these species is allowed without proper and relevant cites documents. For any trade from Brazil and Colombia, this document must be an export permit (as is used for appendix II species). For export from all other countries – either wild specimens from range countries in South America or captive bred specimens from anywhere in the world – a certificate of origin issued by the relevant national cites management authority will be required. 

For the country importing the listed species, no documentation other than the above-mentioned export papers should normally be required. The EU places all appendix II species in its annex B, requiring import permits as well, but normal procedure for appendix III is to list them in annex C, where no import permits are needed. However, it is of the utmost importance that the proper cites export documents follow the shipments.

Now listed

The zebra pleco (photo above), also known as L46, is a popular ornamental fish species that is captive bred in many countries nowadays. As of this year, all cross-border trade must be accompanied by cites certificates of origin. It is unlikely that this species will be exported from Brazil, but if this does happen, the fish must be accompanied by a cites export permit. All the most popular freshwater stingrays (photo p26) for home aquariums are now listed on cites appendix III. All exports from Brazil and Colombia must have CITES export permits, while wild and captive bred specimens from all other countries need CITES certificates of origin.

Traders beware!

Any exporter or importer of the above species must make sure that they have their cites export permits and/or certificates of origin in order before shipping across borders. Even if you know that the fish come from captive breeding over generations, trade is now under CITES-regulation and fish without a certificate of origin will be confiscated. Breeders should contact their national cites management authorities as soon as possible to ascertain that their legally acquired breeding stock is registered.