Export Quotas
The CITES website (click on the image below) includes information on annual export quotas, by country and by species.
For example:
1) Export quotes for 2001-2003
On 31 January 2003, CITES published the first quotas authorised for 2003 (the figures are incomplete for some countries, as quota definitions were still under preparation).
The following figures represent the official annual export quotas for the three African psittacidae species.
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Export quotas for African grey parrot / Timneh parrot / Senegal parrot in 2001 and 2003 |
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Country of origin |
Species |
Quota in 2001 |
Quota in 2003 |
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Cameroon |
African grey parrot |
12,000 |
12,000 |
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Dem Rep of Congo |
African grey parrot |
10,000 |
8,000 |
|
Gabon |
African grey parrot Timneh parrot |
250 (in preparation) |
|
|
Guinea |
Senegal parrot Timneh parrot |
9,000 750 |
9,000 |
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Guinea-Bissau |
Senegal parrot |
7,000 |
|
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Liberia |
Timneh parrot |
3,000 |
|
|
Mali |
Senegal parrot |
19,000 |
19,000 |
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Senegal |
Senegal parrot |
16,000 |
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Togo |
Senegal parrot |
900 |
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Sierra Leone |
Timneh parrot |
2,000 |
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2) Analysis of 2001 figures
In 2001, the export of a total of 78,750 African grey parrots / Timneh parrots / Senegal parrots was officially authorised.
Seizure is not without its difficulties: crippled and unsellable birds, birds killed by stress, illnesses caused by wholesaler’s often dangerous storage conditions, etc. To arrive at those 78,750 birds actually exported, how many were actually seized? By what factor should the export total be multiplied to determine the actual number of birds taken? Applying a coefficient of 1.4 — considered reasonable by specialists from protection agencies — gives us 300,000 birds removed from the wild.
This figure does not take into account trafficking and illegal trade which lead to illicit exports.
What species of animal can survive such high annual levels of removal?
3) Additional information
The following additional data shed an interesting light on the situation:
a) Certain African countries are major exporters of "straight bills", essentially Mozambique: 69,000 specimens authorised in 2003, solely for Estrildid Finches (mainly Euplectes, Lonchura, Amadina).
b) For the Americas, the first quotas that CITES published in 2003 are the following:
Argentina:
Blue-fronted amazon: 5,980 (The
specimens are required to have a ring.)
Pacific parrotlet: 20,000
Nicaragua: (Exported birds will come from breeding farms)
Red-fronted amazon: 2,158
Mealy parrot: 500
White-fronted amazon: 1,625
Paraguay:
Blue-fronted amazon: 2,051
Source: CITES