Wildlife Trade

Workers in a private rainforest reserve discover illegally cut, highly valued mahogany tree.
© WWF-Canon / André BÄRTSCHI

Regarded as a global expert on wildlife trade, TRAFFIC works closely with governments, informing decision-makers about the impacts of trade on species and motivating efforts to guarantee the ecological sustainability of trade in wild species. TRAFFIC also addresses wildlife trade issues in a broader context, including focusing on major commercial sectors such as fisheries and the timber trade, and a wide range of regional and local issues. 

Recent examples of engagement with business, to crack wildlife trade crime include: 

Airlines

TRAFFIC NA has engaged international airlines on the need to reduce the trans-boundary smuggling of endangered wildlife through airports by building the capacity of airlines and law enforcement authorities to detect and confiscate illegal shipments. Strengthening the rule of law at these key ports of trade is critical to reducing trans-boundary trafficking of wildlife as well as arms, drugs, and people, and is an important factor in reducing the spread of infectious animal-borne diseases across the region. This new project specifically focuses on disrupting illegal wildlife trade at its critical transport points. Rather than directing limited resources to cracking down on smugglers at extensive and porous land border crossings, it focuses on the more tractable problem of high value illegal trade moving through priority wildlife trade hubs. .

Cruise lines 

Every year millions of tourists travel to the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. As the cruise ships pull up to port, tourists head into gift shops to buy jewelry and decorative items as souvenirs from their vacations abroad. What most of them don't know is that what may look like plastic is actually the shell of the highly endangered hawksbill sea turtle. TRAFFIC's undercover investigation recently exposed a thriving trade in over 50,000 marine turtle products. 

The Hawksbill turtles live on coral reefs where their favorite foods, sponges, are most plentiful.
© WWF-Canon / Cat HOLLOWAY

Some of the wildlife trade used in souvenirs includes:

• Hawksbill turtles
• Green turtles
• Birds of prey
• Corals
• Conch shells
• Crocodiles
• Caimans

Some of these items, though perhaps legally traded, are produced in volumes that are not sustainable and further threaten already imperiled species. TRAFFIC NA is in the process of working to develop a massive public education campaign on ships and in ports to raise public awareness among tourists.

Learn more 

• Cruising with a Conscience
• We need your help - Halt the Trade in Turtle Shells

Salmon industry

In February 2007, TRAFFIC NA launched a new report, The Great Salmon Run: Competition Between Wild and Farmed Salmon. The report is the first comprehensive look at competition between wild and farmed salmon. The report identified two important trends that have remade the salmon industry in the last 25 years: farmed salmon has grown from just two percent of the world supply in 1980 to 65 percent in 2004; and about three-fourths of the fresh and frozen salmon consumed in the United States is now farmed. 

In response, the value of the wild fishery has plummeted from more than $800 million in the late 1980’s to less than $300 million. The report found that the rapid growth in farmed salmon has dramatically increased total salmon supply, changed the kinds of salmon products that are available, altered the timing of production and raised market quality standards. The swift rise of salmon farming has created environmental and social issues that must be closely studied and that can be addressed with strict standards. 

One of the report’s core recommendations is for producers to expand the use of certification and labeling provided by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) which enables wild salmon to command a higher price in the market.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

TRAFFIC is continuing to develop a conservation textbook for students in China’s traditional medicine (TCM) universities. The goal of the project is to conserve animals and plants used as traditional medicines by reaching out to community-based medicinal practitioners in China and educating them on TCM’s impact on conservation. The textbook has been developed over the past three years with the assistance of an editorial committee composed of leading professors at traditional medicine universities, and has been reviewed by experts in China, Hong Kong, and the United States.