Hi all,
I thought I'd share this information here as Ocean Geographic Society thought this matter was only as important as 1 insignificant sentence in an article that has my name on it but it so heavily edited one hardly recognizes the original submission (might post it here later on).
"Good" news, well the Banggai Cardinalfish is finally on the IUCN Red list.....
To quote Dr. Vagelli: "I think most of you are already aware of the good news: the Banggai cardinalfish has been included the IUCN red list of threatened species under the “Endangered†category (There is only one worst listing -except extinct-, of course)."
SHAME it had to come this far !!
Below is the full (and unedited 
) version of my text.
Do you have blind faith? Don’t !
A look behind the scenes of CITES.
We all raise the alarm when yet another species has gone extinct. But why wait until it’s too late? As you and I cannot protect each living species on the planet on our own we need experts and organisations to do it for us. Unless we have faith in them the latter nor the former have a reason to exist.
A short introduction of who’s who in this story:
-Alejandro Vagelli is the Director of Science & Conservation of the New Jersey Academy for Aquatic Sciences). Over the years he has done extensive research on the Banggai Cardinalfish and it can easily be said that this man is a world expert on this little fish loved by the aquarium community.
-Banggai Cardinalfish (BC)(Pterapogon kauderni):
Most of us probably only know this fish because we’ve seen it in Lembeh Strait. Few of us have actually seen it in its orginal habitat, the larger islands of the Banggai Archipelago, off Central-eastern Sulawesi. Since its “rediscovery†in 1994, the BC has become a popular aquarium fish and has been heavily collected from the wild. Due to its extremely limited distribution, low fecundity and heavy exploitation by aquarium fish collectors, this species is currently being evaluated and most likely will be listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List by the end of 2007. The local Indonesian government authorised Dr. Vagelli to create two small conservation areas on April 10, 2004, but no funding so far has been secured and no actions have been taken to develop a management plan or to exclude fishermen from these areas. Increased captive breeding by commercial dealers will also help to reduce the demand for wild-caught fish.
-CITES: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. CITES works by subjecting international trade in specimens of selected species to certain controls. All import, export, re-export and introduction from the sea of species covered by the Convention has to be authorized through a licensing system. Each Party to the Convention must designate one or more Management Authorities in charge of administering that licensing system and one or more Scientific Authorities to advise them on the effects of trade on the status of the species.
-Appendix II: Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.
-FAO (Indonesia): Food and Agriculture Organisation, presenting local Indonesian interests.
After his latest fieldtrip in March 2007 Dr. Vagelli went to meet the CITES officials in Indonesia to try and get the Banggai Cardinalfish on the Appendix II in order to prevent this species going extinct by the unregulated and unmonitored harvesting and trade. Read his answer to my question on how things went:
Hi Bart,
In a few words, the proposal was defeated. Indonesia changed its position and three days into the meeting we received the news about their opposition to the listing. Very disappointing as you imagine.
After my fieldwork in March, I travelled twice to Jakarta to meet the CITES Indonesian officials, to do presentations on the Banggai Cardinalfish (BC) situation, including latest data on its trade and habitat destruction. They promised to support the proposal, but with a request of two years for the implementation, to which the US agreed.
Unfortunately, Indonesia followed a very ill and misleading advice from various groups that were able to convince the political authorities about how much damage the listing would do to current conservation work being done in situ (an absolute lie), and how much the local people would be negatively affected by the listing (which would not have banned the collecting, just regulated it). Very depressing to see how a bunch of lies and politics can defeat the real data. In addition, European and US lobbyists for the aquarium fish trade did a lot of pushing to defeat the proposal.
I did not expected that CITES would be influenced so much by those economic interest groups and pay so little attention to the core issue, i.e., the species facing extinction because international trade.
Just to give you an idea, the entire economic impact of (if totally banned) the BC trade in the region is about US 300/year/fisher. There are only about 60-80 people actively involved in the BC trade. However, Indonesia was able to sell to other parties (including Australia ,Japan, New Zealand) the idea that getting the Banggai Cardinalfish in Appendix II, will greatly hurt the region’s livelihood and that there is no need for protection since the Indonesia has already a conservation management plan in place and conservation areas for the species!!!. Incredible!!! and very depressing to hear all these lies.
Finally, the "expert" from FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) who reviewed the proposal and recommended against it, considered the BC as a high productivity species that can take the current harvest. She would not believe that the fish only produces about 60 eggs!!!! It was some sort of surrealistic experience....
So, this is the bad news my friend.
All the best
Alex
For those of you who want to have a more in-depth understanding of why the proposal was defeated, please have look at this forum: http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=6182#6182
How is it possible that the expertise and data of a world expert are swept of the table just like that as if they’re completely irrelevant. How much can we still trust other Organisations that claim to have Conservation as their highest virtue? After this experience I would say the World is even more critically endangered than it already was.
Bart De Ridder, Belgium
bartus_deridder@yahoo.com
I would like to thank Dr. Vagelli for reviewing my text. For any further information on the Banggai Cardinalfish Dr. Vagelli can be contacted on avagelli@njaas.org .
For further reading on the Banggai Cardinalfish I highly recommend the following articles:
-Vagelli, A. 1999. The reproductive biology and early ontogeny of mouthbrooding Banggai cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni (Perciformes, Apogonidae). Env. Biol. Fish. 56: 79-72.
-Allen, G.R. 2000. Threatened fishes of the world: Pterapgon kauderni Koumans, 1933 (Apogonidae). Env. Biol. Fish 57: 142.
-Vagelli, A. & Erdmann, M.V. 2002. First comprehensive ecological survey of the Banggai cardinalfish, Pterapogon kauderni. Env. Biol. Fish. 63:1-8.
-Lunn, K.E. & Moreau, M.-A. 2004. Unmonitored trade in marine ornamental fishes: the case of the Indonesia’s Banggai Cardinalfish (Pteragonon kauderni). Coral Reefs 23: 344-351.
-Allen, G.R. & Werner, T.B. 2002. Coral reef fish assessment in the ‘coral triangle’ of southeastern Asia. Env. Biol. Fish 65: 209-214
-Erdmann, M.V. & Vagelli, A. 2001. Banggai cardinalfish invade Lembeh Strait. Coral Reefs 20: 252-253.
-Vagelli, A. 2002. Aquarium Science. Notes on the biology, geographic distribution, and conservation status of the Banggai cardinalfish Pteragonon kauderni Koumans 1933, with comments on captive breeding techniques. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Nov 2002: 84-88
-Bernardi, G. & Vagelli, A. 2004. Population structure in Banggai cardinalfish, Pteragonon kauderni, a coral reef species lacking a pelagic larval phase. Marine Biology 145: 803-810.
-CITES:
