CITES and the ICPS seedbank

[BarryRice]

Hey Folks,

The ICPS currently has permits from the US Fish & Wildlife service that allow the ICPS to distribute the seeds of federally endangered pitcherplants via its seed bank, i.e. S. alabamensis, S. jonesii, S. oreophila.

In order to ship such seeds internationally, we would require CITES permits. This is simplified somewhat by the fact that when the seed bank distributes seeds of such species, they must be from cultivated sources.

I do not know if the seed bank could get a blanket CITES permit that would require only year-end reporting of the activities of the permit, or if it would require permits for each and every tiny seed bank transaction involving listed species.

Obviously, if it were the latter, it would pretty much kill the idea unless we wanted to consider once-annual shipments of a large amount of seed to certain designated partners in other countries.

I don't have time to investigate this. Does anyone want to investigate this, so we can consider expanding the seed bank reach to members not living in the USA?

Cheers

Barry

[Michael]

Hi Barry--I've been pondering how to get a little bit involved in ICPS for a while...haven't been sure how, until now...

So, without committing to a specific deadline, I'd be glad to start snooping about to get up on CITES and see about the in's and out's of CITES permits and the possibility of a blanket permit.

After I dig a bit, I may have some questions for you about the seed bank.

Happy Trails, Mike

[BarryRice]

Hi Mike,

That would be cool. You could post what you find here, and we can all have a look at it.

Barry

[Michael]

barryrice said:

The ICPS currently has permits from the US Fish & Wildlife service that allow the ICPS to distribute the seeds of federally endangered pitcherplants via its seed bank, i.e. S. alabamensis, S. jonesii, S. oreophila.

I'm digging a little bit into the permits/permitting process this morning--what can you tell me about the permits ICPS currently has from the US Fish & Wildlife Service to distribute the seeds within the USA? How many and type (name?)?

Curiously, Mike

[Michael]

I haven't completely sorted through the CITES website, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service site yet, but I did do a little searching through the CPN archives and found an interesting reference in an article by D. Schnell (1988) v17n2 p43:

"One other note from the CITES scene--I received a letter dated 19 June 1987 from FWS along with a memo describing a loophole in the CITES rules (ah, politics!) allowing a commercial shipper to obtain only one permit for a particular species under CITES to be shipped to anyone and to make usable copies rather than having to obtain separate permits for each permit, thus alleviating some stress for commercial dealers."

The memo referenced is almost 20 years old so a lot may have changed with CITES and the US FWS...but it shows some promise. I wonder if that memo is still around somewhere...

I'll keep checking... Happy Trails, Mike

[BarryRice]

Regarding the ICPS permits, we currently hold only one, and that is to distribute seed via the seedbank within the USA. The permit covers all T&E species (S. alabamensis, S. oreophila, S. jonesii, P. ionantha). Technically, since all our seeds are from cultivated sources for these species, we don't need a permit for P. ionantha (it is only "Threatened" and not "Endangered") but I have it listed on our permits anyway.

In the past we also had a permit to distribute live plants of Sarracenia within the USA, as part of a rare plant distribution program. I specifically requested this permit to be short term (to make it more palatable and perhaps more likely to be granted). This permit has long since expired. I'm thinking that in a few years of doing another live plant distribution, but I'm not sure if I will because I haven't been seeing seeds from plants from the last distribution getting donated to the ICPS seed bank.

Cheers

Barry

[Steve]

barryrice said:

I haven't been seeing seeds from plants from the last distribution getting donated to the ICPS seed bank.

Hi Barry, if I recall correctly, that was one of the "requests" made of the growers who recieved the plants. It's unfortunate (to say the least) that growers aren't following through on this.

[BarryRice]

Hey Steve,

Yeah. Well, with any strategic effort at conservation you want to set up some kind of measure to determine if what you're doing makes sense. The point of the distribution program was to get a lot of plants out there to folks. And we distributed them in pairs so that folks were more likely to be able to do crossing. I've been hoping we would be inundated by seeds this last year.

I note that our plants here at UCD from the same donation program were flowering last year. So I'd hope to see seeds being donated to the seedbank this year....

Barry

[Michael]

Hey Barry,
Just checking in. I'm working on getting confirmation from US FWS on the logistics (including reporting requirements)--its looking like some sort of several year blanket type permit is possible, but with individual use permits needed for individual transactions involving the listed species.

Color me strange...but checking into all of this CITES and ESA stuff is kind of interesting.... I'm not sure if I should be concerned about that... Happy Trails, Mike

[Michael]

Okay, here is what I have confirmed with a US Fish & Wildlife Service Senior Permit Biologist of the Division of Management Authority (DMA) about CITES permitting for distributing the seedbank seeds internationally.

As we knew, any actions with these three plants (and their seeds) are governed by both the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the CITES (Appendix I). There appear to be three steps...

First, ICPS would need to address ESA concerns. Although, ICPS already has the US FWS permit that allows for the US Interstate Commerce, a new permit for Foreign Commerce would need to be written by the US FWS-DMA. In the application ICPS would need to reiterate their commitment to benefit the species in the wild.

Second, once ICPS has the appropriate ESA permits authorizing Interstate and Foreign commerce, then ICPS would be able to pursue the CITES authorization. Here's where it gets exciting; the ICPS could then pursue obtaining something called a CITES Master-File for the three Appendix I CP's of interest. The CITES Master-File would be good for a 3-year period, and would allow the ICPS to export the cultivated (not wild gathered) seeds to members outside of the USA. It could be renewed upon expiration.

Third, once a CITES Master-File is set up, the ICPS would have to purchase a single use permit for each individual export. Each international shipment needs to be accompanied by a CITES export permit, with the number of seeds being exported noted on the permit. It is possible for the ICPS to purchase a batch of single use permits that would be good for a 6-month time period to distribute the seeds outside of the USA. At the end of the 6-month time period, the purchased batch of single use permits that were not used would expire. At the end of the each 6-month time period, ICPS would have to purchase a new batch of single use permits for the coming 6-month time period.

There would be a reporting requirement along the lines of reporting annually both domestic and international distributions.

Costs involved with the CITES permits:

• The CITES Master-File 3-year application fee is $200.00
  
• The CITES Master-File renewal fee (after initial application expires) is a $100.00
  
• The CITES Master-File Single Use Permit fee is $5.00 per permit.
  

Questions I'm still working on:

• US FWS-DMA asked if ICPS has a written agreement with the FWS--other than the permit? I haven't confirmed why this is important yet, or why it was asked.
  
• The cost of the new ESA permit application to allow foreign commerce.

Any other questions I should add to my list?

[ICPS-bob]

Could you get a detailed definition of the term commerce? Does commerce imply an exchange of money or other consideration of value? Am I correct that plants of the three species can be sent without permit across U.S. state lines if they are a gift and not sold? If so, what are the details and conditions that allow this? Why did ICPS need a permit to distribute alabamensis within the U.S. -- just to be safe? Do these rules apply to international gifts?

[Michael]

Great questions-I've also been wrestling with exactly what "commerce" means. So I'll see what I can find out.

admin said:

Why did ICPS need a permit to distribute alabamensis within the U.S.

I'll have to check to be sure--and Barry may be able to answer this more quickly because he's been the one dealing with the permit, but it is my understanding that a permit would be required for any distribution of S. alabamensis in any manner because it is endangered and protected under the US-Endangered Species Act.

[John Brittnacher]

michael said:

admin said:

Why did ICPS need a permit to distribute alabamensis within the U.S.

I'll have to check to be sure--and Barry may be able to answer this more quickly because he's been the one dealing with the permit, but it is my understanding that a permit would be required for any distribution of S. alabamensis in any manner because it is endangered and protected under the US-Endangered Species Act.

Technically we sold the plants. They were priced to cover shipping and handling and contingency. I think the ICPS made a few cents on the deal in the end.

[Dave Evans]

Dear Bob,

Well, the way the law is written, you cannot even charge people postage to send them Endangered Species by way of interstate movement.

The only legal way to send Endangered Species across state lines, is as a gift. A gift the recipient did not pay postage on.

Federal law only applies to interstate trade or commerce. This specifically means you do not need any permits for endangered species as long as they are shipped within the same state they were purchased from. Of course, you could bring the species with you, and then sell them in another state.

This law was written to protect animals and then co-opted for plants because our representives are (1) too lazy to write environmental protection laws for plants. Also, protecting plant species would require protecting their habitat and that would be (2) harmful to the economy (a folk tale).

admin said:

Why did ICPS need a permit to distribute alabamensis within the U.S.

[John Brittnacher]

dpevans said:

Of course, you could bring the species with you, and then sell them in another state.

Ummmm. This is also a violation: transporting across state lines for the purpose of sale.

But I am not sure about the other way around. If you live in Reno and drive to California Carnivores to purchase a S. alabamensis, it is yours when you drive back home.