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12 March 2020 (Kyiv, Ukraine) – As part of the LIFE for Danube Sturgeon Project, WWF- Ukraine and the State Customs Service of Ukraine brought together 34 Customs officers from across the country for a 1-day training aimed at preventing the illegal traffic of CITES-listed species (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), with a particular focus on sturgeons. 
 
The training provided Customs officers with a more in-depth understanding of the CITES’ requirements and its practical application. The event is linked to the project partners’ commitment to combat the illegal export of black caviar and sturgeon products. The trainers included Volodymyr Domashlinets who is in charge of implementing CITES at the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and Environment, and Tetiana Yakovleva, who is responsible for implementing the CITES Convention on Sturgeon at the Ukrainian Agency for Fisheries. Both stressed the importance of applying CITES for nature protection in Ukraine, since Ukraine is both the country of origin and a transit point for illegal wildlife products.
 
Inna Hoch, the project’s coordinator in Ukraine, spoke about WWF-Ukraine’s main objective to contribute to halting and reversing biodiversity and habitat loss in the EU and worldwide by 2020. Their efforts will be supported by strengthening the capacity of law enforcement, and implementing the EU Strategy for the Danube Region and “Sturgeon 2020,” the EU’s programme for the protection of Danube sturgeons. Topics included how to recognise the different sturgeon species that can still be found in the Lower Danube, and how to correctly read the CITES code for legal caviar.
 
The other part of the training was led by Belgian Customs Investigation Officer Paul Meuleneire, whose involvement in the project with law enforcement agencies from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Ukraine has been invaluable. Through a series of national trainings, he has contributed significantly to updating operational protocols as per the newest advancements in the identification and prosecution of wildlife crimes. During the training in Ukraine, he elaborated on the legal framework for import and export of sturgeon products in the EU, the EU requirements for labelling sturgeon caviar and meat, and presented examples of how the EU-TWIX information exchange system helps customs services in their daily work. The TWIX database contains centralised data on seizures and offences reported by all 27 EU Member States and the UK. Examples were given of cases involving hand bracelets made of elephant hair, ashtrays from rhino horn and scales of pangolins that were declared as plastic components.
 
European customs are often a gateway for illegal goods from Africa, but consignments of illegal wildlife products from Ukraine may also cross the border in the other direction. As Paul Meuleneire pointed out: “More often, it is black caviar, ordered on the Internet before the Christmas holidays. It has no CITES marking and is therefore illegal.”
 
WWF-Ukraine will continue to assist and support Ukrainian Customs officers in their fight against illegal wildlife trade and trafficking. A significant step to safeguard endangered species from extinction will be the adoption and implementation of clear action protocols for seized animals and products in Ukraine, and for the country to adhere to the European wildlife protection and sturgeon initiatives as much as possible.
 
For more information:
Inna Hoch
Senior Project Officer,
WWF-Ukraine
ihoch@wwf.ua
Tel: +380974902219
 
Background
WWF is engaged in sturgeon protection measures in most Danube countries, most recently through the Life for Danube Sturgeons Project. Sturgeons used to be present in almost all European rivers, but today seven out of the eight species of sturgeon on the European continent are threatened with extinction. Sturgeons have survived the dinosaurs, but now teeter on the brink of extinction. The Black Sea Region is crucial to the survival of these species in Europe. The Danube and the Rioni River in Georgia are the only two rivers remaining in Europe where migrating sturgeons reproduce naturally. The main reasons are overfishing and loss of habitat through dams that block migration routes or in-river constructions, facilitating navigation. These are often detrimental to the feeding and spawning habitats, necessary for sturgeon survival. Within the EU the only river with naturally reproducing sturgeon populations remains the Danube. Crucial but no longer reproductive stocks are left in the Po River in Italy and the Gironde in France. Restocking activities take place in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, France, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands. Our priority is to identify and protect the critical habitats of the remaining four sturgeon species (Huso huso, Acipenser stellatus, A. ruthenus, A. gueldenstaedtii) in the Lower Danube and north-western Black Sea, as well as to reduce pressure on their remaining populations by addressing poaching and ensuring protection.