CITES seeks tougher limits on animals trade

UN wildlife trade regulator CITES said Wednesday that tougher limits should be imposed on trade of aquatic species such as corals, dolphins and sturgeons to protect them from extinction. After a week-long meeting in Geneva, experts of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora decided to recommend "cautious export quotas" for species including seahorses from Southeast Asia, sturgeons from the Caspian Sea and giant clams from the Pacific. Exports of dolphins from the Solomon Islands should be limited to 10 animals a year, they added. Signatory states to the convention would decide whether to pass the recommendations when they meet in Bangkok in 2013.