Regulatory Tools for the Management of Fish and Timber Species Through Cites

This article addresses the growing body of work within the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) on the management of commercially valuable timber and fish species. The article reviews the types of regulatory tools CITES has adopted to manage fish and timber species subject to high levels of commercial international trade. Tools identified are described through examples from the CITES acquis, and assessed according to two criteria: their normative content to determine the strength of the tool within the CITES regulatory context; and their proactive potential to determine whether the tool is mainly used to achieve the Convention's traditional supportive role towards national management authorities, or for a more modern role as a generator and driving force for sustainable management decisions.