VZCZCXRO6983
RR RUEHAO RUEHGR
DE RUEHSJ #2834 3632342
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 292342Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO 1502
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6916
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0791
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 3846
RUEHBH/AMEMBASSY NASSAU 0252
RUEHWN/AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN 0747
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 0558
RUEHGE/AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN 0423
RUEHGR/AMEMBASSY GRENADA 0014
RUEHKG/AMEMBASSY KINGSTON 0767
RUEHPO/AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO 0330
RUEHSP/AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN 0456
RUEHAO/AMCONSUL CURACAO 0068
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA 0032

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 002834 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/PCI (LSPERLING) AND OES/OMC (WGIBBONS-FLY) STATE FOR 
OES/ETC (RWING) AND OES/ENV 
SANTO DOMINGO FOR CDAVY AND OPEREZ 
EL SALVADOR FOR GSCHADRACK AND AID (ADIX) 
NOAA FISHERIES FOR NDAVES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV EFIS PGOV DR
SUBJECT:  DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: MARINE RESOURCES VICE MINISTER FLAGS 
FISHERIES REFORM, HAWKESBILL SMUGGLING 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY.  While meeting with the Dominican Vice Minister for 
Coastal and Marine Resources Idalia Acevedo on November 17, NOAA 
officer Nancy Daves and REO discussed fisheries-related CAFTA-DR 
environmental capacity-building projects, fisheries law reform, and 
the illegal trade in hawksbill turtle shell products. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  On Friday, November 17, National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Officer Nancy Daves and REO met with 
the Environment Secretariat's Vice Minister for Coastal and Marine 
Resources Idalia Acevedo and newly appointed Fisheries Director 
Jeannette Mateo.  Daves briefed the Vice Minister on the four NOAA 
fisheries projects that will be undertaken in 2007 with Central 
America-Dominican Republic-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) 
environment capacity-building funds.  Although the Dominican 
Republic has no long-line fishing fleet, the Vice Minister hoped 
that Dominican fisheries officials would be able to participate in 
the training.  Mateo told Daves that she was particularly interested 
in a future opportunity to promote the use of vessel monitoring 
systems among the Dominican fishing fleet.  REO encouraged the 
Dominican officials to communicate any further project ideas to GODR 
CAFTA-DR points of contact as the planning for 2007 projects gets 
underway. 
 
¶3.  Although the Dominican Republic recently implemented a new 
fisheries law, further legislation is being contemplated to fix its 
flaws.  The Assembly amended the law to vest complete responsibility 
for science and fisheries management in an entity whose chief 
mandate is to promote fisheries production.  That entity and the 
Ministry of Environment successfully worked out a division of 
responsibilities that, they hope, will be enshrined in further 
legislation.  The Vice Minister lamented the lack of interest in 
fisheries enforcement by necessary partners like the Navy, Customs 
and Judiciary.  She hoped to find a suitable opportunity to bring 
together the range of partners needed to tighten law enforcement on 
issues beyond the drug trade.  REO suggested sounding out the 
Embassy on its degree of interest in using its convocational 
influence to convene such a meeting in conjunction with an 
appropriate event. 
 
¶4.  REO noted the dismay with which many members of the U.S. 
delegation to the November 13-17 CAFTA-DR environment 
capacity-building project presentations viewed the unexpected 
availability of CITES-listed carey (hawksbill sea turtles) jewelry 
and handicrafts to foreign tourists at the international airport and 
high-end and low-end souvenir stores.  Some of the vendors 
recognized that international trade in this substance is prohibited 
under CITES, but pointed out that it was easy to bring home the 
items undetected.  The Vice Minister said that efforts to enforce 
the law were undercut by the past failure to monitor grandfathered 
stocks of carey shells, which made it impossible to determine 
whether items were illegal or not.  She believed that the quantity 
of carey sold in the Dominican Republic greatly exceeded the amount 
that could be procured through fishing in Dominican waters.  With no 
approvals for its import being granted, she surmised that carey was 
being smuggled into the Dominican Republic through Haiti from an 
unknown source.  She nodded when REO responded by observing that 
Cuba claims to have a particularly healthy carey population. 
 
¶5.  Daves suggested that it might be possible for the U.S., GODR, 
cruise ship industry and environmental non-government organizations 
(NGOs) to collaborate on an outreach campaign to inform visiting 
tourists that the import of carey products into the United States is 
illegal.  Vice Minister Acevedo indicated interest in the proposal. 
Daves undertook to raise the issue with U.S. NGOs and will contact 
Post and USAID contacts with additional information as progress is 
made. 
 
LANGDALE