SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan – A panel of an international treaty regulating the trade of endangered species rejected a proposal on Thursday to impose export restrictions on all eels, amid calls from Japan, one of the world’s largest consumers of the fish, to oppose the measure.
The European Union and others submitted the proposal at the ongoing conference of the parties to the Washington Convention in Uzbekistan. In the panel’s vote, 100 countries opposed the initiative, far exceeding the 35 that voted in favor, with eight abstaining.
Takao Shinobu, a Fisheries Agency official who led the Japanese delegation, said after the vote that Japan’s position “gained the understanding of many countries.”
The EU had argued that European eels, which are already subject to restrictions under the pact, are being illegally distributed because they are indistinguishable from Japanese eels.
The bloc also said that the number of Japanese eels has been sharply declining, claiming that all eel species should be listed as endangered species under Appendix II to the Washington Convention, also known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
A listing on Appendix II means that the species may become extinct if trade is not closely regulated.
Japan’s government has argued that the proposal lacks a scientific basis, saying it has sufficient resources of Japanese eels, which are not at risk of extinction, due to international trade.
Japan has argued that the species can be distinguished through genetic screening and said the restriction would deal a severe blow to the economy by stalling trade.
China and the United States had also expressed their opposition in the panel.
The proposal is expected to be rejected formally at the conference’s plenary session on Dec. 5.
Had the proposal been adopted, export permits, issued by the exporting countries, would have been required for the eel trade, a measure that would have jacked up prices in Japan, which relies on imports from China and other countries for 70 percent of its domestic supply.
Since some juvenile eels — known as glass eels, which are necessary for aquaculture — are imported, trade regulations could also have affected eel farming in Japan.
AloJapan.com