The CMS Secretariat is pleased to announce that comments have been provided to the CITES Secretariat on the marine species proposals for listing on CITES Appendix I or II at the forthcoming 16th Conference of the Parties in Bangkok, Thailand, from 3-14 March 2013.

CMS Parties may find the attached comments useful in process of developing their positions on each of these listing proposals. The CMS Secretariat would encourage CMS Focal Points to share these comments with their National CITES Management and Scientific Authorities, or other personnel attending the CITES COP.

The comments were provided on 11 January 2013 at the request of the CITES Secretariat and in accordance with Article XV of the CITES Convention. The comments will be made available to CITES Parties shortly, in their working documents for the COP. The proposals to list these species will be considered under Agenda item 77 of the CITES COP16.

The CMS Secretariat would like to draw your attention particularly to three of the species covered in this report, which are listed in one or both of the CMS Appendices or CMS MOUs. The species concerned are:

• Manta ray Manta birostris:
     o CMS Appendices I and II
• Porbeagle shark Lamna nasus:
     o CMS Appendix II, Sharks MOU Annex I
• West African manatee Trichechus senegalensis:
     o CMS Appendices I and II; Western African Aquatic Mammals MOU