FWS Suspends Trade in CITES-Listed Species With Mexico

The Fish and Wildlife Service is suspending all commercial trade in endangered and threatened species with Mexico, implementing a recommendation from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species that came as a result of Mexico’s failure to develop an acceptable plan to protect the vaquita porpoise, the FWS said in a notice dated March 27.

“Effective immediately, all shipments containing CITES specimens traded for commercial purposes under an import permit, export permit, or re-export certificate issued by Mexico for the species, are subject to enforcement action,” the FWS said.

CITES had recommended the suspension earlier the same day. The international body had in November requested that Mexico develop a “compliance action plan” by Feb. 28 outlining steps to “effectively prevent illegal fishers and unauthorized vessels from entering the vaquita refuge and zero-tolerance areas and maintain them as gillnet net-free zones,” including a timeline of implementation and milestones to enable assessment.

Though Mexico submitted a plan, it lacked “clear timeframes for implementation and achievement of the different steps in the plan, with corresponding milestones,” and was deemed inadequate by CITES.

The recommendation from CITES to suspend trade with Mexico will remain in effect until CITES leadership “has assessed a revised compliance action plan as adequate and issued a Notification in this regard,” the notice said.