The Banggai story

Download: The Banggai story (.pdf file)
There’s no doubt that the US paper represented a comprehensive proposal that made what appeared, at first sight, to be a reasonable case for listing the species. It stated, for instance, that some 700 000-900 000 specimens of Banggai cardinalfish are collected and exported every year, out of a total population estimated to be around 2.4 mio. All originate from a restricted geographical area consisting of 27 Western Central Pacific islands in the Banggai Archipelago, and Luwuk Harbour in Central Sulawesi. At least three established populations arising from introduced specimens are also known to exist in Lambeth Strait in North Sulawesi. Owing to the intense parental care exhibited by the species (the males brood the eggs and young in their mouths), the young are relatively well developed once they are released by their fathers. Nevertheless, it is thought that, in the wild, juveniles suffer high mortality during the first few days following release as a result of predation and even cannibalism.P. kauderni is a shallow-water species that is found in close association with bottom-dwelling invertebrates, such as long-spined sea urchins like Diadema, and since it is not a fast-swimming fish, it is easy to collect. Added to habitat degradation and destruction, the US proposal singled out harvesting for the trade as a major threat to the species’ survival, especially since the current estimated annual harvest is thought to represent about one third of the total population.Another perceived threat was believed to arise from the fact that this species does not possess a planktonic larval phase. Once the young are released, they are well developed and remain close to the spot where they are released. The result is that P. kauderni cannot disperse to new locations anywhere as easily as species with planktonic larvae can – and do.FAO counter-proposalWhile everyone’s attention was focused on the US proposal in the lead-up to the CoP, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) was working on its own document. Its Ad Hoc Expert Advisory Panel concluded in its Assessment Report that the species “did not meet the biological criteria for Appendix II listing”. It stated that “the information provided in the proposal to support inclusion (of the Banggai cardinal) did not demonstrate a decline to criterion levels for population size.” In order for a species to be listed, its population size must meet certain criteria laid down…