IV 111th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1180 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 12, 2010 Mr. Hastings of Florida (for himself, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Faleomavaega, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the policy of the United States on wild animals at the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Whereas the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (the Convention) was concluded on March 3, 1973, with the United States as an original signatory nation; Whereas 175 nations are now party to the Convention; Whereas the aim of the Convention is to regulate international trade in endangered species to ensure that it does not threaten their survival; Whereas international wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars a year and to include hundreds of millions of live plants and animals and derived products such as food, leather, fur, and timber; Whereas high levels of exploitation of and trade in wild animals and plants, together with other factors such as habitat loss, are capable of bringing some species close to extinction; Whereas parties to the Convention have an international obligation and responsibility to protect endangered animals and plants worldwide; Whereas it has been accepted that adherence to protective measures adopted by the parties to the Convention has benefited the conservation of animals and plants; Whereas the species covered by the Convention are listed in 3 Appendices, according to the degree of protection they need; Whereas species listed on Appendix I of the Convention are threatened with extinction; Whereas international commercial trade in species and products made with species listed on Appendix I is permitted only in exceptional circumstances; Whereas Appendix II includes species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled; Whereas Appendix III is a list of species included at the request of a party that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation; Whereas the parties of the Convention meet every 2 to 3 years at the Conference of the Parties to review the status of species in danger of extinction and to establish trade restrictions with respect to endangered species; Whereas the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties will be held in March 2010; Whereas, as sea ice declines, polar bears (Ursus maritimus) will not be able to adapt to a terrestrial-based life resulting in increased mortality, reduced reproduction, increased human-bear conflicts, and overall drastic decline of populations; Whereas the United States has proposed to move the polar bear from Appendix II to Appendix I; Whereas the bobcat (Lynx rufus) is very similar in appearance to and difficultly distinguishable from other imperiled species including the Iberian and Eurasian lynx, and has been listed on Appendix II since 1977 for that reason; Whereas delisting the bobcat may result in more skins on the market, poaching incentives, illegal trade, and decline of other Lynx populations; Whereas the United States has proposed to remove the bobcat from Appendix II; Whereas the scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini), great hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran), smooth hammerhead (Sphyrna zygaena), sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus), dusky (Carcharhinus obscurus), and whitetip (Car­cha­rhi­nus longimanus) sharks are been severely depleted with declines as high as 99 percent in some areas as a result of the high demand for their fins; Whereas the United States and Palau have proposed to include these sharks in Appendix II; Whereas the over-exploitation of spiny dogfishes (Squalus acanthias) and porbeagle sharks (Lamna nasus) due to the continued demand for their meat have resulted in severe declines of up to 75 percent in some populations; Whereas Sweden and Palau have proposed to include these sharks in Appendix II; Whereas overfishing, both legal and illegal, increased consumer demand, and inadequate enforcement of infractions have led to historically low populations of northern and Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus); Whereas Monaco has proposed to include the bluefin tuna in Appendix I; Whereas between 1979 and 1989, more than 600,000 African elephants (Loxodonta africana) were killed for their ivory, cutting the continent’s population in half; Whereas the 14th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora permitted 3 years ago a one-time sale of stockpiled ivory from Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia to China and Japan in exchange of a 9-year moratorium on any proposals to relax international trade controls on African elephants; Whereas poaching has continued with an estimated 38,000 elephants killed annually and 23.2 tons of poached ivory seized since 2007; and Whereas Tanzania and Zambia have introduced proposals to downlist their elephant populations from Appendix I to Appendix II, while Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone have proposed to prohibit elephant downlisting and one-time ivory sale proposals for a 20-year period: Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that, at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, the United States delegation to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora should— (1)continue to support its proposal to move the polar bear from Appendix II to Appendix I; (2)withdraw its proposal to remove the bobcat from Appendix II; (3)continue to support its proposals to include the scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, sandbar, dusky, and whitetip sharks in Appendix II; (4)support Palau and Sweden’s proposals to include the spiny dogfishes and porbeagle sharks in Appendix II; (5)support Monaco’s proposal to include the bluefin tuna in Appendix I; and (6)support the protection of African elephants by opposing proposals to downlist them from Appendix I to Appendix II as well as one-time ivory sale proposals.