VZCZCXRO6367
RR RUEHAST RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHSL RUEHTRO
DE RUEHQT #0061/01 0351716
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041716Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0923
INFO ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 000061 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV KSCA AORC UNEP EC
SUBJECT: Ecuador agrees to support U.S. CITES shark proposal and 
additional conservation efforts 
 
REF: STATE 6668 
 
¶1.      (Summary)  Ecuador's head delegate to the March CITES 
COP-15 in Doha, Qatar, told the Embassy January 29 that the GoE 
will support both U.S. CITES proposals on sharks and sent a letter 
confirming Ecuador's support.  In discussions January 27 the 
Vice-Minister of the Environment told emboffs that Ecuador had 
officially received only the CITES shark proposals and thus could 
not yet give a comment on Ecuador's probable stance on other U.S. 
CITES proposals, although he was supportive in principle. 
Discussions with representatives of Ecuador's fisheries authority 
and commercial fishing sector on January 25-26 helped convince the 
GoE to support the U.S. shark proposals.  The Ecuadorean delegation 
is headed by Mr. Manfred Altamirano.  A tentative date in early 
April, for a workshop on shark identification organized by OES/OMC, 
the Embassy, and the GoE, and funded by NOAA and Ecuador's 
Subsecretary for Fishing Resources, was agreed upon.  (End 
Summary). 
 
 
 
Ecuador Supports U.S. Shark Proposals for Upcoming COP-15 in Qatar 
 
 
 
¶2.      ESTHoff and Visiting OES/OMC Science Fellow met January 26 
with Ecuador's Vice-Minister of the Environment, Guido Mosquera 
Martinez, and the head of Ecuador's delegation at the upcoming 
CITES COP-15, Manfred Altimirano, Subsecretary of Marine Coastal 
Management in the Ministry of the Environment, to discuss Ecuador's 
position towards the U.S. proposals (reftel).  VM Mosquera told us 
that Ecuador was inclined to support the U.S. shark proposals and 
was awaiting input from Ecuadorian fisheries authorities.  He had 
not yet received the official text of the other CITES proposals and 
thus was unable to offer a substantive reply, although he did not 
sound negative on any particular issue.  On January 29, following 
an interagency meeting, the GoE confirmed that it would support the 
U.S. shark proposals and sent an official letter confirming its 
support. 
 
 
 
¶3.      On January 25-26 visiting OES/OMC Science Fellow Todd 
Capson met with officials from Ecuador's Subsecretary of Fishing 
Resources (SRP): Guillermo Moran (Director) and biologist Jimmy 
Martinez, as well as representatives from the commercial fisheries 
sector, Luigi Benincasa (Director of the Association of Tuna 
Fishermen of Ecuador) and Juan Benincasa (Manager of Mardex, S.A.) 
to determine their position on and request their support for the 
U.S. shark proposals.  The discussion addressed the impact of the 
proposals on Ecuador's shark fisheries, compliance issues 
associated with an Appendix II listing of the species in question 
(see Article IV, Regulation of Trade in Specimens Included in 
Appendix II) and USG-sponsored efforts to promote capacity building 
and regional cooperation for shark conservation and management in 
the Eastern  Pacific Ocean (EPO).  The fact that the scalloped 
hammerhead (Sphrnya lewini) is no longer caught in commercially 
significant numbers in Ecuadorian coastal shark fisheries 
strengthened arguments for its addition to CITES Appendix II. 
(Within the EPO, sightings of S. lewini have decreased by 71% over 
the period 1992-2004).  Of the species proposed for listing, only 
the smooth hammerhead (S. zygaena) is commercially significant in 
Ecuador. 
 
 
 
Ecuador Co-sponsoring Upcoming Shark Conservation Efforts 
 
 
 
¶4.      Capacity building efforts for shark conservation and 
management in the EPO will include a National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and SRP-sponsored workshop on 
shark species identification, tentatively scheduled for April 2010 
in Manta, Ecuador, and involve scientists from EPO countries, NOAA, 
and the SRP.  The workshop will employ the recently published Field 
Guide to the Identification of the Principal Sharks of the Eastern 
Pacific Ocean (Regional Guide), an outcome of two previous 
workshops on Regional Shark Conservation and Management in the EPO 
(July and December of 2008, respectively), all of which were 
supported with funds from the Fisheries Working Group of the Asia 
Pacific Economic Cooperation.  The Regional Guide, designed to 
facilitate the collection of species-specific data on shark 
fisheries in the EPO, was highly useful during discussions with 
Ecuadorian officials on the U.S. CITES shark proposals. 
 
QUITO 00000061  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶5.      The Ecuadorean delegation to the COP-15 in Qatar is headed 
by Manfred Altimirano, Subsecretary of Marine Coastal Management in 
the Ministry of the Environment, and will include Jimmy Martinez 
(whose travel support to the COP-15 was arranged in collaboration 
with Conservation International, Wild Aid, and the Pew Foundation), 
and two technical representatives. 
HODGES