China has slapped a ban on catching, consuming and trading
endangered, wild aquatic species, the Ministry of Agriculture said
Wednesday in Beijing.
"Except for scientific research, any illegal hunting, killing and
marketing of rare and endangered wild aquatic fauna will be
strictly prohibited," said Ma Weijun, an official with the
ministry's Fisheries Bureau.
The ministry, along with the public security, customs and commerce
departments, will also review the operations of firms that have
approval to raise, exhibit, process and use wild aquatic species
and their by-products.
Those engaged in the trade without government approval will be
severely penalized, Ma said.
Despite the country's persistent efforts to curb the illegal
capture and killing of wild aquatic fauna, Chinese sturgeon, giant
salamanders and other rare species have been increasingly targeted,
and pushed to the brink of extinction, experts said.
The trade in such species is largely driven by consumers' appetite
for exotic fare, Ma said.
Nearly 50 percent of Chinese restaurants and 42 percent of produce
markets have used or marketed aquatic wild animals, the latest
survey from the Ministry of Agriculture indicates.
However, people in China are eating less wildlife in the wake of
SARS, the virus which some researchers believe was initially
transmitted to people from the animals they ate.
The Ministry of Agriculture's ban on the trade in wild aquatic
fauna takes advantage of the changed mood and eating habits of
consumers, analysts said.
The nation's top legislative body will also play a role in
enforcing the 15-year-old Wildlife Protection Law early next month.
Legislators will check on progress in cleaning up markets where
banned species are on sale, sources from the National People's
Congress said.
Environmentalist Liang Congjie, who founded the non-governmental
Friends of Nature, suggested that legislators revise the country's
wildlife conservation law as soon as possible.
"It should protect not only rare and endangered wild animals. All
other wild fauna should also be spared from commercial capture or
use," he said.
(China Daily June 26, 2003)