Authorities in Zanzibar reported the seizure of 1041 ivory tusks August 2011. Police in Zanzibar have seized 1,041 elephant tusks hidden in a shipment heading for Malaysia, according to media reports. The consignment was reported to have been offloaded at Zanzibar two weeks previously, where it arrived from Dar Es Salaam, and had been stored near Stone Town. Two local transport agents are being held by police for further questioning.
The ivory was hidden in a container of anchovies, where the strong smell would have discouraged an investigation of its contents. A similar modus operandi was used last year, when authorities in Hong Kong seized 384 elephant tusks in September, packed into two containers shipped from Zanzibar and labelled as dried fish.
Zanzibar Port
Following that seizure, in discussions with the Tanzanian government, TRAFFIC called for better law enforcement focus on the port of Zanzibar.
"TRAFFIC applauds the Tanzanian officials for apprehending this latest seizure and we are delighted they are zeroing in on the port of Zanzibar as a major conduit for contraband wildlife products," said Tom Milliken, TRAFFIC's Elephant & Rhino Programme Co-ordinator.
Milliken manages the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), the illegal ivory trade monitoring system that TRAFFIC runs on behalf of Parties to CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). ETIS holds the details of nearly 17,000 reported ivory and other elephant product seizures that have taken place anywhere in the world since 1989.
Tanzania a major link on ivory smuggling chain
According to the ETIS data, Tanzania has been implicated in more large flows of ivory than any other country-a total of 21 of the 83 largest (>800 kg) ivory seizures to date. This is the first large-scale seizure that Tanzania has made itself since 2007 and only the second large seizure since 2002, although many smaller seizures have been made during this period.
Between 1989 and 2002, Tanzania made 10 large seizures (some 18.7 tonnes of ivory) before they were illegally exported, and no other large seizures were made elsewhere in the world during this period that implicated Tanzania, indicating a very good law enforcement record for the country.
But from 2003 through 2010, 10 further large seizures originating from Tanzania (totalling 28.6 tonnes) were made in Asia (Hong Kong, Philippines, Taiwan and Viet Nam), and only one large seizure (890 kg) was made inside Tanzania.
"The authorities in Tanzania appear to be making a welcome return to the pro-active law enforcement record they established throughout the 1990s," said Milliken. "As the country with the second largest elephant population in Africa, it's vitally important that Tanzania demonstrates good law enforcement, not only in terms of interdiction, but also subsequent investigation, arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the crime.
At least 500 elephants killed
Milliken added "The seizure represents a minimum of 500 dead elephants so it's essential to find out who was behind the killings and how come the ivory got as far as it did."
Overall, illegal trade in elephant ivory has been increasing in Africa since 2004.
A report tabled at last week's CITES Standing Committee noted: "the eastern Africa sub-region has consolidated its position as the primary exit point for illicit ivory leaving the African continent, with Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania as prominent countries of origin or export in the trade, despite significant seizures being made in Kenya in recent times."
Malaysia a key player in ivory trade
The role of Malaysia in illicit ivory flows has also been identified through analysis of ETIS data. According to the most recent full analysis, published in 2009: "Malaysia has progressively gained prominence in successive ETIS analyses as a transit country for African ivory."
http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/tanzania-ivory.html
Showing posts with label ivory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ivory. Show all posts
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Boost ivory trade monitoring and enforcement before allowing one-off sales: UBC researcher
11-Mar-2010
Recent petitions from several African nations to 'downlist' the conservation status of elephants should be denied because no adequate monitoring of the impact of ivory sales or enforcement of the ivory trade exists, according to recommendations published today by an international group of researchers including UBC zoologist Rene Beyers.
In 2008, a one-off sale of stockpiled ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe was brokered by the European Union in exchange for a nine-year moratorium on future sales from those nations. Tanzania and Zambia are currently petitioning the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to downlist the conservation status of their elephants, which would enable the two nations to sell existing stockpiles generated by the legal culling of herds.
"The immediate fear is that down-listing elephants or allowing one-off sales in any African nation will stimulate the market for illegal ivory everywhere, particularly in those countries where law enforcement is inadequate," says Beyers, a post doctoral fellow with the department of Zoology.
"We've seen a huge increase in poaching in Central Africa in recent years. In large areas, including many national parks, elephants have become scarce or disappeared altogether. We're concerned that as elephant populations become depleted in one region, poaching will spread to areas where populations are still healthy."
The recommendations were published today in the journal Science. Spearheaded by Samuel Wasser at the University of Washington, the paper includes researchers from the United States, Norway, Kenya, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, Tanzania and Canada.
"None of the countries involved in this petition are adequately controlling their country's illegal ivory trade," says Wasser, lead author of the paper and director of the the University of Washington's Centre for Conservation Biology. "Allowing these sales to occur sets the wrong precedent at the risk of irreparable harm to Africa's ecosystems."
The 2008 sale was in part contingent on strengthening the systems that track poaching and seizures of illegal ivory across the continent.
"A program was put in place to monitor the impact of legal ivory sales on the illegal killing of elephants, but hasn't yet been able to do so, due to major logistical and scientific challenges and a lack of adequate funding," says Beyers. "But recent analysis of elephant deaths attributed to illegal killing has demonstrated an increase in poached elephants in several countries in Central Africa, but also in Zambia and parts of Tanzania."
Also noted by the paper's authors is DNA-based research that indicates that Tanzania and Zambia, the two countries petitioning to downlist their elephants, are among the most significant sources of, and conduits for, illegal ivory in Africa.
The authors estimate proceeds from the sale of stockpiles of ivory held by Tanzania and Zambia would total less that $20 million--approximately one per cent of those nations' tourism revenue. China and Japan are among the largest importers of illegal ivory.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/uobc-bit031110.php
Recent petitions from several African nations to 'downlist' the conservation status of elephants should be denied because no adequate monitoring of the impact of ivory sales or enforcement of the ivory trade exists, according to recommendations published today by an international group of researchers including UBC zoologist Rene Beyers.
In 2008, a one-off sale of stockpiled ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe was brokered by the European Union in exchange for a nine-year moratorium on future sales from those nations. Tanzania and Zambia are currently petitioning the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to downlist the conservation status of their elephants, which would enable the two nations to sell existing stockpiles generated by the legal culling of herds.
"The immediate fear is that down-listing elephants or allowing one-off sales in any African nation will stimulate the market for illegal ivory everywhere, particularly in those countries where law enforcement is inadequate," says Beyers, a post doctoral fellow with the department of Zoology.
"We've seen a huge increase in poaching in Central Africa in recent years. In large areas, including many national parks, elephants have become scarce or disappeared altogether. We're concerned that as elephant populations become depleted in one region, poaching will spread to areas where populations are still healthy."
The recommendations were published today in the journal Science. Spearheaded by Samuel Wasser at the University of Washington, the paper includes researchers from the United States, Norway, Kenya, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, Tanzania and Canada.
"None of the countries involved in this petition are adequately controlling their country's illegal ivory trade," says Wasser, lead author of the paper and director of the the University of Washington's Centre for Conservation Biology. "Allowing these sales to occur sets the wrong precedent at the risk of irreparable harm to Africa's ecosystems."
The 2008 sale was in part contingent on strengthening the systems that track poaching and seizures of illegal ivory across the continent.
"A program was put in place to monitor the impact of legal ivory sales on the illegal killing of elephants, but hasn't yet been able to do so, due to major logistical and scientific challenges and a lack of adequate funding," says Beyers. "But recent analysis of elephant deaths attributed to illegal killing has demonstrated an increase in poached elephants in several countries in Central Africa, but also in Zambia and parts of Tanzania."
Also noted by the paper's authors is DNA-based research that indicates that Tanzania and Zambia, the two countries petitioning to downlist their elephants, are among the most significant sources of, and conduits for, illegal ivory in Africa.
The authors estimate proceeds from the sale of stockpiles of ivory held by Tanzania and Zambia would total less that $20 million--approximately one per cent of those nations' tourism revenue. China and Japan are among the largest importers of illegal ivory.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/uobc-bit031110.php
Monday, January 4, 2010
Ivory Power
A forensic zoologist has devised a smart way to limit the world trade in illegal ivory. Under EU law, only antique ivory from before 1947 can be traded legally but there was no accurate way to date ivory... until now.
Dr Ross McEwing from Edinbugh Zoo has devised a technique to test for levels of the carbon 14 isotope in bones and tusks. The higher the level, the more likely it is to originate for the post-1947 era. Testing begins this summer.
Metro, 4 January 2010, p9.
Dr Ross McEwing from Edinbugh Zoo has devised a technique to test for levels of the carbon 14 isotope in bones and tusks. The higher the level, the more likely it is to originate for the post-1947 era. Testing begins this summer.
Metro, 4 January 2010, p9.
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