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marine protected area in Australia showed that a large
grouper can be worth much more alive, from tourist dollars,
than dead.
In the Pacific and Southeast Asia, aggregating groupers in
Palau, western Pacific, and the Endangered Napoleon wrasse
(Cheilinus undulatus), were featured in documentaries on their
conservation plight and our work to conserve them. We joined
the IUCN delegation at the 16th CITES CoP in Bangkok in
March 2013, and highlighted the illegal, unmonitored, and
unregulated trade of the Napoleon wrasse under its CITES
Appendix II listing. Relating to this, we conducted two field
surveys in Indonesia, the major exporter of the species, which
contributed to quota-setting under the CITES non-detriment
finding requirement, and showed positive changes in
population status in several areas after the listing.
One member of the GWSG was a major contributor to the
WWF Seafood Guide 2013, released in Hong Kong and was
able to promote a ‘green’ sustainable grouper food option
supplied by Hong Kong’s first indoor farmed giant grouper
(E. lanceolatus). For further details please see our website.
The work of the GWSG was supported by NOAA
(Napoleon wrasse) Science and Conservation of Fish
Aggregations (SCRFA) and IUCN.
Yvonne Sadovy de Mitcheson and Matthew Craig
Co-chairs, Grouper and Wrasse Specialist Group
Hawaiian Plant Specialist Group
The Hawaiin Plant Specialist Group’s (HPSG) mission is to
prevent the extinction of native Hawaiian plants and provide for
their recovery through a cooperatively administered off-site
plant conservation system. This is done in collaboration with
on-site management partners to sample, propagate, and
reintroduce rare plants, and to advance the preservation of
native plants and their habitats through effective
communication and public education. Locally, the group is
referred to as the Hawaii Rare Plant Restoration Group, which
later became the HPSG.
The group has discussed actions needed for ex-situ
collections for the past two years, resulting in the ranking of
the following topics as high priority:
• to identify stored seeds at high risk of decreased viability;
• to identify seeds that need to come out of storage as soon
as possible because they are losing viability;
• to identify taxa with seeds difficult to store; and
• to establish a single entity coordinating collections and
storage for each taxon of concern.
Volunteer committees were established in 2013 for each topic.
In 2013, the Plant Extinction Prevention (PEP) program
initiated by HPSG, implemented recovery actions for a total of
128 PEP species (50 individuals or less remaining in the wild).
These actions include population surveys and monitoring,
propagule (seeds, cuttings, air-layers) collections, in-situ
management, and reintroductions within protected natural
habitats. The PEP program focused on propagule collections
for species with no ex-situ representation over the the past 12
months. The PEP program is currently comprised of 11 staff
(including program management staff), based on Kauai, Oahu,
Maui Nui, Molokai, and Hawaii Island.
Public education efforts include the establishment of the
Hawaii Rare Plant Restoration Group website, as well as oral
Hibiscadelphus giffardianus, one of the PEP species, is now extinct in the
wild. © Marie M. Bruegmann
history videos of four individuals important in Hawaii plant
conservation. The video can be seen here, and features Bob
Hobdy, retired Maui District Manager of the Hawaii Division of
Forestry and Wildlife, Dieter Mueller-Dumbois, retired professor
of ecology from University of Hawaii at Manoa, Steve Perlman,
field botanist at National Tropical Botanical Garden, and Sheila
Conant, retired professor of the University of Hawaii.
Marie M. Bruegmann
Chair, Hawaiian Plants Specialist Group
Heron Specialist Group
The Heron Specialist Group’s goal is to encourage engagement
with heron conservation through communication, guidance and
research. The Group, also known as HeronConservation, is
nearing its 30th year of activity. The group provides a
communication network for its members through its website
and other media. It offers guidance by encouraging
conservation planning, use of standardized methodology and
synthesis. As a research group, its members advance the
knowledge of the biology of herons through their research.
In 2013, the Group reorganized itself, reducing its
membership and increasing expectations for participation. The
Group’s website launched in 2011, continues to provide the
principal means of transmitting technical and biological
information globally.
The HeronConservation website delivers information on
species biology and ranges, heron conservation news,
bibliography, formal action plans, and conservation tools.
Real time information is made available on its Facebook and
Flickr pages.
60 IUCN species Annual Report 2013