7775

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7775
• Author: Carlson, C. A. and R. T. Muth.
• Title: Inland Fisheries Management in North America, Chapter 15
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: Endangered Species Management.
• Copyright Material: YES

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CHAPTER 15

species programs are linked with nongame wildlife programs. State fish and game
agencies have become the front-line protectors of federally listed and other rare
species in their purviews.

15.2.4 Canadian and Mexican Endangered Species Programs

Canada has no legislative equivalent of the ESA; it has a national committee
that evaluates and assigns status to species at risk. The Committee on the Status
of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), established in 1977, includes
representatives of federal, provincial, and territorial governments and national
conservation organizations such as the Canadian Nature Federation, Canadian
Wildlife Federation, and World Wildlife Fund Canada (Cook and Muir 1984).
Scientific subcommittees, corresponding to major taxonomic categories, arrange
for and approve status reports on species that are candidates for a national list of
species regarded as extinct, extirpated, endangered, threatened, rare, or not in
any category (Cook and Muir 1984). Approved status reports are copied for
limited distribution, and printed summary sheets are widely distributed to the
public. Committee decisions (lists) have been reported in the Canadian Field-
Naturalist. Animal species assigned threatened or endangered status are pub-
lished in the Canada Gazette to provide official notice of such action. The
committee has no legislative or management role but has close connections to the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora (CITES).
Mexico is the only North American country that has not developed an official
list of organisms in danger of extinction (Contreras Balderas 1987). Development
of a Mexican list has been prevented by lack of biological information and specific
legislation. Contreras Balderas (1991) described legislation to protect the environ-
ment and ecological equilibrium which indirectly affords protection to freshwater
habitats and fishes.

15.2.5 International Treaties

Laws and treaties that restrict shipments of wildlife between countries are not
a recent phenomenon. The Lacey Act of 1900 was the first U.S. law applied to
control of wildlife imports, and the 1940 Convention on Nature Protection and
Wildlife Preservation in the Western Hemisphere was the first international treaty
that protected all animals and plants. As international trade in wildlife and wildlife
products increased in the 1960s and early 1970s, broader and more effective
controls were needed (Ehrlich and Ehrlich 1981). In 1975 CITES was imple-
mented to regulate international trade in endangered, rare, and protected species
among signatory nations. Appendix I of CITES lists species or other taxa that are
in danger of extinction. Trade in these species is restricted: an export permit from
the country of origin and an import permit from the destination country must be
approved by management and scientific authorities in both countries. One
hundred and seven nations were members of CITES in 1990.
Trade in endangered wildlife has flourished in spite of CITES. Countries vary
significantly in their ability to enforce the convention, and only signatories are
bound by it. However, the United States forbids imports of endangered species
without regard to their country of origin.