You may remember from our discussion of the Endangered Species Act that non-U.S. animals and plants can be protected under the Act. An article that I read this morning describes a change in how some of the regulations implementing those provisions will be implemented.
Section 10(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act allows the Fish and Wildlife Service to grant exemptions to the law's ban on endangered species imports in order to "enhance the propagation or survival of the affected species." Invoking this section, the administration proposes to permit the importation of wildlife from countries with effective conservation programs.The administration claims that importation of live members of endangered species or importation of their parts can produce income that will enhance conservation of the species in their native range.
I'm skeptical. The article summarizes my feelings well:
In the end, what the change does is allow Fish and Wildlife Service officials to gamble with the future of foreign wildlife stocks. It substitutes a speculative weighing of incentives for a bright line rule.
You can read the Federal Register notice of the proposed change in regulations on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's web site. If you'd like to submit comments on the policy, they are due by this Friday, October 17.
Posted by Kent at October 14, 2003 7:21 AM | TrackBack