The Washington Convention was adopted on 3 March 1973 in Washington, D.C. and entered into force on 1 July 1975. Its overall aim is to protect certain endangered species from over-exploitation by means of a system of import/export permits.

CITES contains import-export restriction on species of rare animals and plants, living or dead, and on products from these animals. Species are listed in three appendices according to their conservation status. Appendix I covers endangered species, trade in which is to be tightly controlled; Appendix II covers species that may become endangered unless trade is regulated; Appendix III covers species that any party wishes to regulate and requires international cooperation to control trade; and Appendix IV contains model permits

Marine mammals are found on all three appendices. Other listed marine animals include sea turtles, dolphins and sharks.

Recently, the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Nairobi, Kenya; 9 - 20 April 2000) voted to reject proposals by Japan and Norway that international trade in four populations of whale be resumed.  Read the full press release.

The Parties also adopted a proposal from Australia to uplist the Australian dugong population to Appendix I, eliminating the split-listing of the species. Other proposals dealt with the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin, the hawksbill turtle, great white shark, whale shark, and introductions from the sea.

For more, see the websites of CITES or TRAFFIC. The Analyses of Proposals to amend the CITES Appendices submitted to Conference is available from IUCN.

Read a UNEP summary or the full text of the Convention from ENTRI.