Comment from Tun-Min Poh

I fully support the listing of the Humphead wrasse as Endangered. Although regulated under CITES Appendix II, the demand for this species (i.e. live reef food fish trade) is fuelling IUU in terms of catch and trade of the species. As is the problem with illegal fishing worldwide, insufficient national and international tools for tracking the origin of illegally obtained fish, and prosecuting offenders exists. To recover this species from its depleted levels, multi-stakeholder cooperation is required. Strong government guidance in countries providing the 'supply' and 'demand' for this luxury food fish is especially important to ensure that illegal trade does not drive this fish to extinction. Please see the attached peer-reviewed article which outlines the recommendations for Sabah, Malaysia, which in 2010, banned the export of this fish. The full report is available upon request.