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66 Results for: Trade

Preservation causes shrinkage in seahorses: implications for biological studies and for managing sustainable trade with minimum size limits

Nadeau, J.L., Curtis, J.M., & S.A. Lourie

The implications of shrinkage associated with desiccation and ethanol preservation for seahorses (genus Hippocampus) were investigated using Hippocampus guttulatus (European long-snouted seahorse) as a model. Specifically, this research addressed the implications of preservation for taxonomy and life history studies and the application of minimum size limits (MSL) for managing seahorse trade. In 2004, the Convention …

Use of Population Viability Analysis to evaluate CITES trade-management options for threatened marine fishes

Curtis, J.M.R. & A.C.J. Vincent

Achieving multiple conservation objectives can be challenging, particularly under high uncertainty. Having agreed to limit seahorse (Hippocampus) exports to sustainable levels, signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) were offered the option of a single 10-cm minimum size limit (MSL) as an interim management measure for …

Souvenirs from the sea: an investigation into the curio trade of echinoderms in Mexico.

Lunn, K.E., Villanueva Noriega M.J. & A.C.J. Vincent

Marine curosities are collected from seas around the world, often with little understanding of the ecological impacts of such harvesting. As Latin America’s top destination for foreign tourists, Mexico was chosen for the first case study of the curio trade in echinoderms (any of a variety of invertebrate marine animals belonging to the phylum Echinodermata, …

Exploitation and trade of Australian seahorses, pipehorses, sea dragons and pipefishes (Family Syngnathidae)

Martin-Smith, K. M. & A.C.J. Vincent

Seahorses and their syngnathid relatives have provided a focus for efforts to ensure sustainable use of marine resources, with new international trade controls (CITES Appendix II) implemented in May 2004. We demonstrate how a study of international trade can be used to assess relative levels of threat and set domestic research and conservation priorities. Australia …

Scale and sustainability of marine bioprospecting for pharmaceuticals

Hunt, B. & A.C.J. Vincent

Collecting marine organisms for the discovery and development of pharmaceuticals has been perceived variously as sustaining and threatening conservation. Our initial expectations that marine bioprospecting might pose conservation challenges were largely not confirmed. Thousands of marine species have been collected for initial assessment, but usually only in very small amounts. Very few compounds are sufficiently …

The catch and trade of seahorses in Vietnam

Giles B.G., Ky T.S., Do Hoang, H. & A.C.J. Vincent

Catch monitoring and surveys were used to assess the seahorse trade in Vietnam. Despite low daily catch rates, potentially 6.5 t of dried seahorses (∼2.2 million seahorses) were taken annually as bycatch by trawlers operating out of five coastal provinces of Vietnam. Individual seahorse catches were collated by a few local buyers, who supplied wholesalers …

Enhancing sustainability of the international trade in seahorses with a single minimum size limit

Foster, S.J. & A.C.J. Vincent

Management tools are needed to help regulate the international trade in seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora. Given the limited understanding of seahorse population dynamics and fishing mortality, a single minimum size limit for all seahorse species appears to be a useful initial …

Magnitude and inferred impacts of the seahorse trade in Latin America

Baum, J.K. & A.C.J. Vincent

Seahorses (genus Hippocampus) are traded globally for use in traditional medicines, souvenirs and as aquarium fishes. Indications that the trade was expanding geographically in response to increasing demand in consuming nations prompted this first study of the seahorse trade in Latin America. In 2000, over 400 people related to the seahorse trade in Mexico, Central …

Magnitude and trends of marine fish curio imports to the USA

Grey, M., Blais, A.M. & A.C.J. Vincent

The curio trade in marine fishes has not previously been quantitatively analysed. As a contribution towards understanding the scale and conservation impact of such trade we summarize import and export data from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service for 1997–2001. At least 32 fish species were involved in the USA’s international trade in curios, …