Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

Importance of CITES for Marine Species

Many marine species that are traded internationally are highly migratory—meaning they swim long distances, often crossing national boundaries. Their conservation can only be achieved if nations work collaboratively. That’s where CITES comes in. The agreement provides a legal framework to regulate the international trade of species, ensuring their sustainability and promoting cooperation among CITES members, also known as CITES Parties.

NOAA's Role in CITES

The Endangered Species Act designates the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to carry out CITES provisions. We support the Fish and Wildlife Service by providing guidance and scientific expertise on marine issues.

We are also responsible for many marine species that are listed under CITES. We draw on the expertise of our regional offices and science centers to provide guidance in the implementation of CITES for species under our jurisdiction.

How CITES Works

Species covered by CITES are listed in different appendices according to their conservation status:

• Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction and provides the greatest level of protection, including a prohibition on commercial trade.

• Appendix II includes species that are not currently threatened with extinction, but may become so without trade controls. Regulated trade is allowed if the exporting country issues a permit based on findings that the specimens were legally acquired and the trade will not be detrimental to the survival of the species or its role in the ecosystem.

• Appendix III includes species for which a country has asked other CITES Parties to help control international trade. Trade in Appendix III species is regulated using CITES export permits (issued by the country that listed the species in Appendix III) and certificates of origin (issued by all other countries).

CITES members can make changes to the lists of species in Appendix I and II and to CITES resolutions and decisions at meetings of the Conference of the Parties which convene every two to three years. Countries may list species for which they have domestic regulations in Appendix III at any time.

19th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES

The nineteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP19) is scheduled to be held in Panama City, Panama, November 14 to 25, 2022. More information can be found at Conference of the Parties CITES | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The United States put forward several documents to help ensure the conservation and protection of marine species that are included in Appendix I of CITES that will be considered at the meeting.

To address the illegal harvest and trade of totoaba, which is causing the demise of the critically endangered vaquita, the United States submitted a decision document for Mexico and other CITES Parties to take strong action to protect the totoaba and vaquita. Both species only live in the Upper Gulf of California, where the vaquita faces a significant continuing threat from accidental drowning in illegal gillnets for totoaba. The failure to implement and enforce bans on this illegal fishing has brought the vaquita to the brink of extinction, numbering now as few as ten animals.

The United States also proposed a resolution on marine turtles—along with Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru—to help combat the illegal trade in these protected species.

To address the ongoing significant levels of trade in seahorses and to ensure any trade is legal and sustainable, the United States, along with the Maldives, Monaco, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Togo, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, submitted decisions that call on CITES Parties with ongoing illegal and/or unsustainable trade in dried seahorses to develop national or regional plans of action to ensure future trade complies with CITES provisions, and asks the Standing Committee to address the large volumes of illegal trade in dried seahorses.

The United States also co-sponsored a proposal to include three species of Indo-Pacific sea cucumbers (from the genus Thelenota) in Appendix II of CITES to ensure sustainable, regulated trade in these species.  

Marine Species in CITES

The lists below highlight some of the species listed in CITES Appendices I and II.

Appendix I (hundreds of species):

• All beaked whales

• Almost all great whales (species subject to International Whaling Commission management)

• Marine turtles

• Coelacanth

• Dugong

• Irrawaddy river dolphin

• Shortnose sturgeon

• Six fur seal species

• Totoaba

• Three marine dolphin species (Australian snubfin dolphin, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, and Atlantic humpback dolphin)

• Two porpoise species

• All sawfish species

Appendix II (thousands of species):

• All antipatharian (black coral) species

• All dolphins not listed in Appendix I

• All giant clam species

• All stony coral species

• All seahorse species

• Basking shark

• Chambered nautilus

• Devil rays

• Great white shark

• Hammerhead sharks

• Humphead wrasse

• Mako sharks

• Manta rays

• Most sturgeon species

• Oceanic whitetip shark

• Porbeagle shark

• Queen conch

• Silky shark

• Thresher sharks

• West Greenland stock of minke whales

• Whale shark

More Information

• CITES: Introduction from the Sea

  • Also available in Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Arabic (PDFs, 2 pages)

• Shark and Ray Conservation in West Africa

• Guide to West African Shark and Ray Species Listed in CITES (PDF, 52 pages)

• CITES Secretariat Website

  • Meetings

• International Affairs

For more information or with any questions, contact Laura Cimo, Office of International Affairs, Trade, and Commerce.