Wild animal and plant trade and protection act 2019 annual report: chapter 2

2. Management of wild animals and plants in trade

The effective implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) depends on international cooperation to regulate cross-border movement of listed species through a global system of permits that are verified at international borders.

2.1 Permitting overview

In Canada, CITES permits are issued pursuant to Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA); Schedule I of Wild Animal and Plant Trade Regulations (WAPTR) includes all CITES-listed species.

2.1.1 Requirements

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

There are different permit requirements depending on the CITES appendix in which a species is listed.

• Appendix I species require both an import and export permit
• Appendix II species require an export permit
• Appendix III species require an export permit or certificate of origin

Table 1 describes the various types of permits and certificates that are issued in Canada under WAPPRIITA.

2.1.2 Exemptions

WAPPRIITA authorizes exemptions, in specific situations, for the import and export of CITES listed species without permits. WAPTR specifies four exemptions: tourist souvenirs, personal effects, household effects and certain hunting trophies. The hunting trophy exemption applies to fresh, frozen or salted trophies of Black Bear and Sandhill Crane for American hunters returning to the United States with their trophy harvested in Canada, or for Canadian hunters returning to Canada with their trophy harvested in the United States. Further information on exemptions is available online.

Canadian threatened or endangered species listed on Schedule III of the WAPTR are not included in these exemptions and require all necessary CITES permits.

2.1.3 Service Standards under WAPPRIITA

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has established service standards for WAPPRIITA permit decisions and the issuance of permits. ECCC’s goal is to provide permit decisions within a certain number of days depending on the permit and to meet these standards for at least 90% of all permit applications. The performance is tracked on a fiscal year basis.

ECCC nearly met the performance targets for all CITES permit categories (84% Hunting Trophy Exports, 86% Polar Bear Exports and 88% for all other permit types). New resources and new procedures with partners should allow ECCC to meet the performance targets next year. The Department’s performance against these standards is published online.

ECCC made 100% of the WAPTR injurious wildlife permit decisions within the standard of 70 calendar days. The Department’s performance against thi standard is published online.

2.2 Annual report to CITES

Every country that is Party to CITES is required to submit to the CITES Secretariat a detailed report of what was permitted by that country in a calendar year. This report is due on October 31st of the following year (for example, the 2018 annual report was due on October 31, 2019 and the 2019 annual report is due October 31, 2020).

Figures 1a and 1b show highlights of some of the most important exports or re-exports reported in the Canada 2018 CITES annual report. In 2018, Canada issued permits for 368 different CITES-listed species.

Figure 1a: High volume exports or re-exports listed in the Canada 2018 CITES annual report (Canadian species)

* Samples collected from 20 sharks of each species, by one group for a scientific research project.

Figure 1b: High volume exports or re-exports listed in the Canada 2018 CITES annual report (Non-indigenous species)

Additional high volume exports and re-exports include:

• African cherry – 9150 kilograms of medicine
• Macaques – biomedical samples (122,963 grams solid; 25,768 millilitres liquid; 21,373 other items)

2.3 CITES permits issued in 2019

ECCC issues all export permits and re-export certificates for non indigenous species. In collaboration with some of Canada’s provinces and territories, ECCC issues export permits and re-export certificates for specimens of indigenous species harvested in Canada. Fisheries and Oceans Canada issues the majority of the export permits for CITES-listed aquatic species.

ECCC issues all import permits and other specialized CITES certificates. In addition to CITES-listed species, ECCC issues all import permits for species that may pose a risk to Canadian ecosystems, which are listed on Schedule II of WAPTR.

2.3.1 Export permits and re-export certificates

Export permits are issued for specimens (animals, plants, their parts or derivatives) of CITES-listed species that originate in Canada and are being exported from Canada for the first time.

Re-export certificates are used to track trade in specimens that entered Canada under the authorization of permits issued by foreign states and were then re-exported from Canada.

Table 2 shows the number of export permits and re-export certificates issued in 2019 by Canadian CITES permitting offices, which totalled 7471.

The number of permits issued is not indicative of trade volumes, because there is not a one-to-one relationship between permits issued and specimens of species on the permit. Each export permit or re-export certificate can authorize the export of multiple specimens or species. On a permit each species and their parts or derivatives is listed. In the case of export of biomedical samples, for example, a permit could have hundreds of individual specimens listed (for example, blood, serum, microscope slides, paraffin blocks). In other cases, there may be few specimens listed on the permit, but large quantities for each specimen (for example, hundreds of Bobcat skins from a fur auction).

When a species is protected under CITES, a permit is required for all specimens of that species (unless some exemptions apply). A specimen can be the live species, parts or derivatives of the species, or finished products made from those species. There are over 35,000 species listed in CITES with approximately 29,000 of those species being plants (for example, orchids, cacti, rosewood). While there is a minimal number of species listed in CITES which are indigenous to Canada, many foreign species are imported into Canada and either re-exported as is, bred or propagated in Canada, or transformed into finished products in Canada.

In 2019, Canada issued export permits and re-export certificates for the following purposes using the transaction codes as defined in CITES Resolution 12.3^{Footnote 1}.

• hunting trophies
• personal use
• scientific research
• commercial purposes
• biomedical research
• breeding
• other

Figure 2 shows the percentage of distribution of export permits and re-export certificates, by purpose of transaction, issued in 2019.

Figure 2: Percentage of CITES export permits and re-export certificates issued in 2019, by purpose of transaction

Note: Purpose of transactions for export and re-export permits are relatively constant from year to year.

*Includes exhibitions (26), zoos (50), law enforcement (16) and reintroduction in the wild (16).

Figure 3 shows the percentage of distribution, by purpose of transaction, of export permits and re-export certificates issued between 2010 and 2019.

Figure 3: Percentages of CITES export permits and re-export certificates issued in previous years, by purpose of transaction (some numbers have been rounded)

* 2019 “Other” data includes breeding, as well as exhibitions, zoos, law enforcement, and reintroduction in the wild. Previous years “Other” data includes exhibitions, zoos, law enforcement, botanical gardens and reintroduction in the wild.

Table 3 indicates the number of export permits issued in each of the past six calendar years for Polar Bears harvested in Canada. An analysis is provided of the year of harvest of the Polar bear being exported in a particular calendar year. The permits may include any polar bear specimen – for example, skin, skull, claws, baculum, etc. Permits for scientific samples of polar bears are not included in this analysis, since they are not related to polar bear harvest.

Note: It is important to note that even if a permit for a specific Polar Bear is issued in a calendar year, the actual export may not take place for various reasons (for example, permit expired before shipment could take place, cancelled shipment, changes from rug to full mount, etc.). A permit could be reissued in the same calendar year or subsequent years for a specific Polar Bear, which was never actually exported under a previously issued permit.

^a Harvest season is counted from July to June of following year. For example, harvest season 2018-2019 started on July 1, 2018, and finished on June 30, 2019.

^b Number of Polar Bears by harvest season.

2.3.2 Permits for multiple shipments

An export permit or re-export certificate may authorize multiple shipments of specimens that have been approved by the permitting office. The permit or certificate holder is responsible for identifying the destination, specific specimens and quantities that make up each shipment. This provides a simplified procedure for permit holders who trade in specimens with very little or no impact to the conservation of species. Of the 7471 export permits and re-export certificates listed in Table 2, there were 1399 for multiple shipments, authorizing 69,970 shipments. By far, the largest share of multiple shipment permits was issued to growers and distributors of American Ginseng.

In Canada, the export of a small quantity of artificially propagated American Ginseng for personal use (up to 4.5 kg) is authorized through a simplified permitting procedure using ginseng stickers. A permit sticker identifying the permit number under which the multiple shipments are authorized accompanies each shipment. Individual stickers accounted for 86% (60,472 of the 69,970) of the multiple shipment permits authorized in 2019.

2.3.3 Imports into Canada

Figure 4 indicates the distribution of 162 CITES import permits, by purpose as indicated by the CITES transaction code, issued in 2019.

Figure 4: Percentage of CITES import permits issued in 2019, by purpose of transaction

Note: The imports for commercial purposes consists mainly of artificially propagated plants, pre-Convention specimens ((for example, antiques containing ivory) and captive-bred animals (for example, falcons, parrots).

*Includes breeding (21) and law enforcement (1).

Figure 5 indicates the percentage of overall CITES import permits issued between 2010 and 2019, by purpose of transaction.

Figure 5: Percentage of CITES import permits issued from 2010 to 2019, by purpose of transaction

* Includes breeding, law enforcement, reintroduction to the wild and biomedical research.

2.3.4 Specialized CITES certificates

As indicated in Table 1, there are many types of permits and certificates issued in Canada under WAPPRIITA. The specialized CITES certificate allows movement of CITES-listed specimens in specialized scenarios. There are three types of specialized certificates:

• Certificate of Ownership – allows owners of CITES-listed pets to travel with their pets across international borders.
• Temporary Movement Certificate – allows travel outside of Canada with items made from CITES-listed species, such as musicians and their instruments (for example, bagpipes with ivory) or exhibits from museums and art galleries.
• Scientific Certificate – used by Canadian CITES-registered institutions to exchange specimens with CITES-registered institutions in another country. This facilitates the movement of scientific samples for research and cataloguing.

While these specialized certificates represent a modest number of permits issued each year, they serve a very important function by facilitating the movement of specimens of CITES-listed species in low-risk situations.

Table 4 shows the number of certificates issued by type from 2010 to 2019.

2.4 Permits specifc to WAPTR

Canada requires import permits for certain species that may pose a risk to Canadian ecosystems, but do not necessarily appear in the CITES appendices (referred to as injurious wildlife permits). These species are listed in Schedule II of WAPTR and include Raccoon Dogs, Mongooses, Starlings, Mynas and Oxpeckers. Schedule II of WAPTR was amended in May 2018 to include all species under the order Caudata, which includes salamanders, newts and mudpuppies. This amendment was to continue the protection initiated in May 2017 to protect Canadian Salamanders and ecosystems from a devastating fungal disease.

Injurious wildlife permits are typically issued in two scenarios: import of live Salamanders for zoos and scientific institutions; and import of fur products or garments made of Raccoon Dogs. A disease-causing fungus called Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), has been devastating salamander populations in Europe. It is suspected that the fungus spread from Asia via the pet trade. Wild Salamanders play a vital role in Canada's ecosystems as part of the food web and in nutrient and carbon cycling. If the fungus enters Canadian ecosystems, the impacts on our native Salamanders will likely be severe. Canada prohibits the import of all species of the order Caudata unless accompanied by a permit. This import restriction includes living or dead specimens (or any other parts or derivatives of species of the order Caudata) as well as any of their eggs, sperm, tissue culture or embryos.

Table 5 shows the number of other permits issued from 2017 to 2019.

2.5 Canada’s trading partners

Canada’s major trading partners under CITES, particularly for exports, continue to be the United States, the member countries of the European Union, and the countries of East and Southeast Asia. Exports to the United States and the European Union cover a wide-range of specimens and species. In the case of Asia, particularly East and Southeast Asia, the species most commonly exported from Canada was cultivated American Ginseng, with these regions accounting for the majority of Canada’s foreign market for this species.