Parrot trade

Illegal Trade Within Mexico

The regulation of the parrot trade in Mexico has proven to be a problematic process. Until 2003, the parrot trade was authorized on a species by species basis. The number of species that could be legally trapped and sold had steadily declined since 1979, and in 2003 the Mexican government banned the trade of all Psittacines. However, in 2006 permits were once again issued for the capture and trade of select species. Although some trade in Psittacines was legal between 2006 and 2008, the absence of law enforcement for wildlife crimes meant that even trade in authorized species was usually perpetrated illegally. Before 2008, many parrots were captured and sold by bird trapper and salesman unions. These unions were often registered with the state, and agreed to terms that attempted to protect parrot populations in return for official trapping authorizations. Although these stipulations aimed to protect Psittacine populations, they proved to be largely ineffective in practice. For instance, federal law mandated that capture of authorized parrot species had to be performed inside UMA's, or Wildlife Conservation, Management, and Sustainable Utilization Units, which are areas of land registered with the federal Office of wildlife regulated under a specific species management plan. The law also set quotas and other specific rules for trappers within these UMA's. However, the Mexican wildlife law enforcement agency, PROFEPA, was too understaffed and underfunded to enforce these laws. It was not capable of monitoring each UMA for illicit activity. Instead, it visited a select group of predetermined UMA's each year, and performed inspections of UMA's where illegal activity had been reported. In 2005 only 54 out of the 6,446 UMA's in Mexico received visits from wildlife regulatory agencies. An absence of a concrete body of knowledge regarding Psitaccine populations and the activity of trappers within these areas meant that quotas were often exceeded and authorizations were bypassed. Consequently, it has been demonstrated that as much as 75% of the parrot trade, even in authorized species, was being perpetrated illegally.