Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (SPAW).

The Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena de Indias, Columbia, March 1983), also known as the “Regional Convention”.

Like CITES, it provides varying degrees of protection and regulation to wildlife species according to their conservation status.

Annex I
Annex I of the SPAW Protocol lists plant species that are designated for total protection and recovery. Parties to the SPAW Protocol “shall prohibit all forms of destruction or disturbance, including the picking, collecting, cutting, uprooting or possession of, or commercial trade in such species, their seeds, parts or products. They shall regulate activities, to the extent possible, that could have harmful effects on the habitats of the species” .

Annex II
Annex II of the SPAW Protocol lists animal species that are designated for total protection and recovery. Parties to the SPAW Protocol “shall ensure total protection and recovery to the species of fauna listed in Annex II by prohibiting:

• The taking, possession or killing (including, to the extent possible, the incidental taking, possession or killing) or commercial trade in such species, their eggs, parts or products;
• To the extent possible, the disturbance of such species, particularly during periods of breeding, incubation, aestivation or migration, as well as other periods of biological stress.

Annex III
Annex III of the SPAW Protocol lists animal and plant species. Parties to the SPAW Protocol “shall adopt appropriate measures to ensure the protection and recovery of the species of flora and fauna listed in Annex III and may regulate the use of such species in order to ensure and maintain their populations at the highest possible levels. With regard to species listed in Annex III, each Party shall, in co-operation with other Parties, formulate, adopt and implement plans for the management and use of such species, including:

For species of fauna:

• The prohibition of all non-selective means of capture, killing, hunting and fishing and of all actions likely to cause local disappearance of a species or serious disturbance of its tranquility;
• The institution of closed hunting and fishing seasons and of other measures for maintaining their population;
• The regulation of the taking, possession, transport or sale of living or dead species, their eggs, parts or products;
• For species of flora, including their parts or products, the regulation of their collection, harvest and commercial trade.”