TRAFFIC Oceania

Region: Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific island countries and territories
Office: Australia
Founded: 1984
1st Director: Frank Antram
Contact Details

Regional overview
The Oceania region embraces a broad range of countries, with diverse cultures, economic circumstances, population sizes and natural resources It is also home to a phenominal number of endemic species, many of them threatened through habitat loss, and increasingly through over-harvesting for trade, partly owing to much improved transport infrastructure within the region, allowing easier access to overseas markets. TRAFFIC works closely with enforcement officers in the region, and with key institutions involved in fisheries and timber management in particular.

Office history and key wildlife trade decisions in the region
Initially established as TRAFFIC Australia in 1984, TRAFFIC Oceania became the regional office in 1987.

1988-9: studied trade of Australian insects to Europe
1991: published a review of Australian parrot trade
1992: reviewed illegal tropical timber trade in Asia-Pacific
1995: reviewed trade in marine invertebrates (Marine invertebrates of the South Pacific: An examination of the trade)
1996: published an overview of the region’s harvest of sharks (The Oceania region’s harvest, trade and management of sharks and other cartilaginous fish: An overview). Subsequently involved in drafting FAO’s International Plan of Action for Conservation and Management of Sharks
1997: published report into Southern Bluefin Tuna industry (A Review of the Southern Bluefin Tuna fishery: Implications for ecologically sustainable management)
1999: organized symposium on traditional Chinese medicines in trade in Australia (after an earlier one in 1997), evenutally leading to Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Wildlife Protection) Bill 2001
2001: published two influential toothfish reports (Antarctic Toothfish: An analysis of management, catch and trade) and Patagonian Toothfish: Are conservation and trade measures working?); published key document on Agarwood use (The final frontier: Towards sustainable management of Papua New Guinea’s Agarwood Resource)
2003: report on Orange Roughy published (Managing risk and uncertainty in deep-sea fisheries: lessons from Orange Roughy)
2004: documented IUU “pirate” fshing activities (Using trade and market information to assess IUU fishing activities)
2006: paper presented to key CCSBT meeting (The use of trade-related measures in the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT)); published report into shark trade (World shark catch, production & trade 1990 – 2003); report into Pacific fisheries published (Conservation Implications of allocation under the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission)