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countries, four - Argentina, Guyana, Indonesia and Tanzania - have significantly reduced bird 

 exports by increasingly restrictive quotas. For example, Indonesia reduced its quota for the 

 violet necked lory from over 4,000 birds in 1990 to under 1,000 in 1995, and Guyana reduced 

 exports of the orange winged amazon from 15,000 in 1989 to 9,000 this year. 



Some countries have also taken steps to strengthen their control of the bird trade. 

 Tanzania has developed a management plan for trade in live birds requiring that quotas be 

 established at the species level; that the total number of each species available for export be 

 divided among licensed exporters; that quotas take into account post-capture mortality, and that 

 the number of companies dealing with live birds be limited to around 30. Similarly, Indonesia 

 has sought to improve its monitoring capability to more effectively track trade in wild birds. The 

 country's wildlife department points to a number of steps it has a taken in the past few years, 

 including more rigorous procedures for establishing harvest quotas, an annual review comparing 

 export quotas with capn^re quotas, the establishment of a shipping permit requirement, and the 

 establishment of additional requirements for exporter registration. Although both countries 

 continue to face significant difficulties in effectively controlling the bird trade, positive steps have 

 clearly been taken. 



WWF has supported efforts to generate information necessary for determining the status 

 of populations and sustainable levels of trade. Specifically, we have funded parrot population 

 assessments in Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and Argentina. Additional surveys have been 

 funded through other sources in Indonesia and Argentina. Sufficient biological information is not 

 available, however, for most species, and effective trade controls are not yet in place to warrant 

 reopening the trade. In the majority of range states, field studies have not been undertaken to 

 assess the status of national bird populations. Additionally, almost nothing is known in most 

 countries about the number of birds harvested for domestic use, which may significantiy impact 

 wild bird populations. As a result, most bird producing countries still do not have adequate 

 information on their wild bird populations to determine if a sustainable harvest for export is 

 possible. That being the case, it is clear that the Wild Bird Conservation Act is still very much 

 needed. 



Is the WBCA working? 



Because the WBCA has not yet been fully implemented, it is difficult at this point to 

 judge what its ultimate impact and success will be. However, some initial assessments can be 

 made. Total bird imports - including wild-caught and captive-bred birds — fell from a high of a 

 reported 848,000 in 1984 to 478,000 in 1992 to 102,000 in 1994. The precipitous decline in 

 U.S. imports of wild-caught birds clearly demonstrates that we are not contributing to the 

 depletion of wild populations to the extent we had in the past. The WBCA anticipated, however, 

 that by the time the ban on wild-caught imports of CITES-listed birds took effect, mechanisms 

 would be in place to allow the importation of birds at levels and from sources that do not 

 contribute to the decline of wild populations. Those regulations have not yet been published. 



Key to achieving the Act's goal of wild bird conservation is to ensure that all trade in 

 wild birds involving the U.S. is biologically sustainable. The Act seeks to achieve that goal by 

 allowing the importation of CITES-listed birds only if the country from which they originate has 



