Legal or unenforceable? Violations of trade regulations and the case of the Philippine Sailfin Lizard Hydrosaurus pustulatus (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae)
Main Article Content
Abstract
The Philippine Sailfin Lizard (Agamidae: Hydrosaurus pustulatus) is a nationally protected Philippine endemic species. It is threatened by habitat destruction, pollution and overexploitation for the domestic pet trade, yet less is known about the international component of the trade. Here we investigate the international trade in Hydrosaurus spp. (H. weberi, H. amboinensis, and H. pustulatus) with an emphasis on H. pustulatus. We analysed international seizures combined with international online sales and trade data for the United States of America (USA). The export of H. pustulatus from the Philippines has been prohibited since 1991, except under special circumstances, yet they continue to be traded internationally, and we found evidence for trade in Asia, Europe, and North America. Most of these animals, however, were declared to be captive-bred. While imports to and exports from the US consisted mostly of other species of Hydrosaurus, H. pustulatus was by far the most coveted species online, with prices significantly higher for H. pustulatus than any of the other species. While not many seizures have occurred outside the Philippines, even wild-caught individuals were found to be ‘legally’ imported to the USA – in apparent violation of the Lacey Act. We recommend H. pustulatus to be listed in CITES Appendix III, in order for countries other than the USA to have a legal basis to seize wild-caught animals trafficked from the Philippines and to monitor trade in captive-bred specimens. Further, we suggest the use of automated cross-referencing between imported species and the national protection status of the species’ native range states to ensure that legislation violations are detected at the point of import.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
References
Altherr, S. (2014). Stolen Wildlife – Why the EU needs to tackle smuggling of nationally protected species. Report by Pro Wildlife (ed.), Munich, Germany, 32pp.
Altherr, S. & K. Lameter (2020). Stolen Wildlife III: The EU is a main hub and destination for illegally caught exotic pets. Report by Pro Wildlife (ed.), Munich, Germany, 40pp.
Auliya, M., S. Altherr, D. Ariano-Sanchez, E.H. Baard, C. Brown, R.M. Brown, J.-C. Cantu, G. Gentile, P. Gildenhuys, E. Henningheim, J. Hintzmann, K. Kanari, M. Krvavac, M. Lettink, J. Lippert, L. Luiselli, G. Nilson, T.Q. Nguyen, V. Nijman, J.F. Parham, S.A Pasachnik, M. Pedrono, A. Rauhaus, D.R. Córdova, M.-E. Sanchez, U. Schepp, M. van Schingen, N. Schneeweiss, G.H. Segniagbeto, R. Somaweera, E.Y. Sy, O. Türkozan, S. Vinke, T. Vinke, R. Vyas, S. Williamson & T. Ziegler (2016). Trade in live reptiles, its impact on wild populations, and the role of the European market. Biological Conservation 204(Part A): 103–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.05.017
Denzer, W., P.D. Campbell, U. Manthey, A. Glässer-Trobisch & A. Koch (2020). Dragons in neglect: Taxonomic revision of the Sulawesi sailfin lizards of the genus Hydrosaurus Kaup, 1828 (Squamata, Agamidae). Zootaxa 4747(2): 275–301. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4747.2.3
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (2020). Philippine Red List of threatened wild fauna - Part I Vertebrates. Biodiversity Conservation Society of the Philippines (Ed.).
Fischer, O. (2020a). Faszination Segelechsen – Haltung und Vergleich verschiedener Arten der Gattung Hydrosaurus. Reptilia 25(3): 18–31.
Fischer, O. (2020b). Wasserdrachen. Reptilia 25(3): 10–17.
Gábriš, J. (2003). Zur Haltung von Philippinischen Segelechsen (Hydrosaurus pustulatus). Draco 4(2): 24–33.
Gonzales, R. (1974). Behavioral notes on captive sail-tailed lizards (Hydrosaurus pustulosus: Agamidae). Silliman Journal 21: 129–138.
Heinrich, S., B.T.C. Leupen, S. Bruslund, A. Owen & C.R. Shepherd (2021). A case for better international protection of the Sumatran Laughingthrush (Garrulax bicolor). Global Ecology and Conservation 25: e01414. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e01414
Herrel, A. & A. van der Meijden (2014). An analysis of the live reptile and amphibian trade in the USA compared to the global trade in endangered species. The Herpetological Journal 24(2): 103–110.
Janssen, J. (in press). A primer to the global trade of reptiles: magnitude, key challenges, and implications for conservation. In: Underkoffler, S.C. & H.R. Adams (eds.). Wildlife Biodiversity Conservation. Springer Nature.
Janssen, J. & K. Krishnasamy (2018). Left hung out to dry: How inadequate international protection can fuel trade in endemic species – The case of the earless monitor. Global Ecology and Conservation 16: e00464. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2018.e00464
Janssen, J. & C.R. Shepherd (2018). Challenges in documenting trade in non CITES-listed species: A case study on crocodile skinks (Tribolonotus spp.). Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity 11(4): 476–481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2018.09.003
Janssen, J. & B.T.C. Leupen (2019). Traded under the radar: poor documentation of trade in nationally-protected non-CITES species can cause fraudulent trade to go undetected. Biodiversity and Conservation 28(11): 2797–2804. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01796-7
Janssen, J. & L. Gomez (2021). An examination of the import of live reptiles from Indonesia by the United States from 2000 to 2015. Journal for Nature Conservation 59: 125949. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2020.125949
Jensen, T.J., M. Auliya, N.D. Burgess, P.W. Aust, C. Pertoldi & J. Strand (2019). Exploring the international trade in African snakes not listed on CITES: highlighting the role of the internet and social media. Biodiversity and Conservation 28(1): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-018-1632-9
Krasula, K. (1988). Haltung und Zucht der Segelechse Hydrosaurus pustulatus. Herpetofauna 10(53):30-34.
Ledesma, M., R. Brown, E. Sy & E.L. Rico (2009). Hydrosaurus pustulatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. e.T10335A3194587. Downloaded on 09 October 2020. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009-2.RLTS.T10335A3194587.en
Lenth, R., H. Singmann, J. Love, P. Buerkner & M. Herve (2020). Emmeans: Estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means. R package version 1.4.8.
Marshall, B.M., C. Strine & A.C. Hughes (2020). Thousands of reptile species threatened by under-regulated global trade. Nature Communication 11(1): 4738. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18523-4
McMillan, S.E., C. Dingle, J.A. Allcock & T.C. Bonebrake (2020). Exotic animal cafes are increasingly home to threatened biodiversity. Conservation Letters 14: e12760. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12760
Meiri, S., L. Avila, A.M. Bauer, D.G. Chapple, I. Das, T.M. Doan, P. Doughty, R. Ellis, L. Grismer & F. Kraus (2020). The global diversity and distribution of lizard clutch sizes. Global Ecology and Biogeography 29(9): 1515–1530. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13124
Meyer, D., A. Zeileis & K. Hornik (2017). vcd: Visualizing Categorical Data. R package version 1.4-4.
Purcell, S.W., B.A. Polidoro, J.-F. Hamel, R.U. Gamboa & A. Mercier (2014). The cost of being valuable: predictors of extinction risk in marine invertebrates exploited as luxury seafood. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281(1781): 20133296. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.3296
R Core Team (2020). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Vienna, Austria.
Rosser, A.M. & S.A. Mainka (2002). Overexploitation and Species Extinctions. Conservation Biology 16(3): 584–586. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01635.x
Shiau, T.-W., P.-C. Hou, S.-H. Wu & M.-C. Tu (2006). A survey on alien pet reptiles in Taiwan. Taiwania 51(2): 71–80.
Siler, C.D., A. Lira-Noriega & R.M. Brown (2014). Conservation genetics of Australasian sailfin lizards: Flagship species threatened by coastal development and insufficient protected area coverage. Biological Conservation 169: 100–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2013.10.014
Siriwat, P. & V. Nijman (2020). Wildlife trade shifts from brick-and-mortar markets to virtual marketplaces: A case study of birds of prey trade in Thailand. Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity 13(3): 454–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japb.2020.03.012
Stringham, O.C., A. Toomes, A.M. Kanishka, L. Mitchell, S. Heinrich, J.V. Ross & P. Cassey (2020). A guide to using the Internet to monitor and quantify the wildlife trade. Conservation Biology (early view) https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13675
Sy, E.Y. (2018). Trading faces: Utilisation of Facebook to trade live reptiles in the Philippines. TRAFFIC, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, 44pp.
Sy, E.Y. (2021). Wildlife from Forests to Cages: An Analysis of Wildlife Seizures in the Philippines. Prepared for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Biodiversity Management Bureau by the United States Agency for International Development, 56pp.
Symes, W.S., F.L. McGrath, M. Rao & L.R. Carrasco (2018). The gravity of wildlife trade. Biological Conservation 218: 268–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.11.007
Uetz, P., P. Freed & J. Hošek (2020). The Reptile Database. http://www.reptile-database.org. Viewed 18 January 2021.
Vall‐Llosera, M. & S. Su (2018). Trends and characteristics of imports of live CITES‐listed bird species into Japan. Ibis 161: 590–604. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12653
Vincent, A.C., Y.J. Sadovy de Mitcheson, S.L. Fowler & S. Lieberman (2014). The role of CITES in the conservation of marine fishes subject to international trade. Fish and Fisheries 15(4): 563–592. https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12035
Vinke, T. & S. Vinke (2015). May illegal be legal within the European Union. Schildkröten Im Fokus Online, Bergheim 1: 1–6.
Wakao, K., J. Janssen & S.C.L. Chng (2018). Scaling up: The contemporary reptile pet market in Japan. TRAFFIC Bulletin 30(2): 64–71.
Wickham, H. (2016). ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis. Springer-Verlag, New York (USA), viii+213pp.
Wirth, M. & F. Riedel (2011). Drachen im Aquaterrarium: Haltung und Nachzucht der Philippinischen Segelechse, Hydrosaurus pustulatus. Draco 12(46): 69–77.
Yunrui, J., L. Ye, L. Fang & L. Diqiang (2020). Assessment of current trade of exotic pets on the internet in China. Biodiversity Science 28(5): 644–650.
Zeileis, A., D. Meyer & K. Hornik (2007). Residual-based shadings for visualizing (conditional) independence. Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 16(3): 507–525.