New curbs proposed on trade in endangered species

GENEVA, Mar 1 (Reuters) Europeans may soon find some of their favourite fish dishes are off the menu while lovers of coral jewellery and consumers of Asian medicines may have to change their ways, the United Nations indicated.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) yesterday said proposals on the agenda for a key conference in June would, if approved, impose tighter rules on trade in a range of endangered species -- animals and trees as well as riches of the sea.

The European Union, UNEP said, wanted to see controls on the sale of the spiny dogfish, a small shark often called ''rock salmon'' and especially popular as a fish-and-chips dish in Britain and eaten with horseradish in Germany.

The United States is seeking restrictions on trade in pink coral, the most precious variety of the tiny marine polyp, while Kenya and Mali want a 20-year ban on sales of raw or worked ivory to protect elephants.

The proposals will be discussed at the three-yearly gathering of signatory states to the UN's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), to be held in The Hague from June 3 to 15.

CITES, whose secretariat works with UNEP, was adopted by more than 100 countries in 1973 and now has 169 signatories.

Among other species for which greater protection is on the agenda for the June gathering are the tiny, wide-eyed Asian slow loris primate, European eels, sawfish, Caribbean lobsters and Latin American cedar and rosewood trees.

Cambodia, which is seeking a full CITES ban on trade in the loris, argues that the animal -- popular as a pet in Asia but threatened mainly because its bones are used in Asian traditional medicines -- could soon die out.

Countries calling for restrictions on trade in eels, sawfish and lobsters say their numbers are declining rapidly because they are grossly over-fished, while the defenders of tropical trees say they are being logged to extinction.

The proposal for a total ban on ivory trade is likely to be fiercely contested by countries from southern Africa, which argue they have been successful in limiting illegal killing of elephants, which CITES experts say has yet to be proved.

Botswana and Namibia want an easing of CITES rules on one-off ivory sales, and Botswana itself is to ask the conference for approval to sell 40 tonnes from its existing stocks and an annual export quota of eight tonnes.

Kenya and Mali -- which also have elephant populations and have waged a bitter struggle against illegal killing to harvest the animals' tusks -- say any easing of the CITES rules would encourage poachers.

Another proposal experts say is likely to cause controversy is one from Uganda to end a total ban on the export of leopard parts and replace it with less onerous restrictions which would allow a limited trade in skins as hunting trophies.

REUTERS BDP RK0850