The Environment Agency has supported the inclusion of a fish species in the revision of an annex to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Between 3-4 December 2024, the Environment Agency participated, in a hybrid format, in the 103rd meeting of the CITES Scientific Review Group, organized by the European Commission in Brussels. Following the consultations held with the parties participating in the meeting on the side of a complex work agenda, the Environment Agency, as the CITES management body for the Republic of Moldova, strongly supported the subject of including the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in Annex I of the Convention on the international trade in wild species of fauna and flora in danger of extinction (CITES) of March 3, 1973, reports MOLDPRES.
This decision, taken following an in-depth analysis and consultations with the Institute of Zoology of the State University of Moldova and the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, the CITES scientific authority of the Republic of Moldova, aims to protect this fish species.
The European eel is part of the ichthyofaunal diversity of the Dniester River basin, especially in its lower course, being classified as critically endangered. Inclusion in CITES Appendix I generally involves the prohibition of international trade in wild specimens, thus contributing to the conservation of aquatic biodiversity and the maintenance of the ecological balance of natural ecosystems.
The Environment Agency is responsible for issuing the permit for the import, export, re-export and transit of objects of the plant and animal kingdom, their parts and products, regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
