The international trade in reptiles and amphibians goes back all the way to the roots of international trade itself, when wild animals, skins and furs from Africa, Asia, and Europe were often brought back as commercial goods across the ancient trade routes.

Centuries later, the international trade in animals still flourishes, whether livestock for food or pets, or products such as meat, skins, hides, and furs. To monitor and regulate the trade in species internationally, in 1973 80 countries signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) agreement. CITES is an international agreement between governments whose aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

National Reptile and Amphibian Law Symposium panelist Craig Hoover is the Chief of the Branch of CITES Operations in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Management Authority, which is located in the International Affairs Program in Arlington, Virginia. His office is responsible for developing and implementing U.S. CITES policies, regulations, and procedures, compiling CITES annual wildlife trade reports, and preparing documents and U.S. negotiating positions for meetings of the CITES Conference of the Parties and technical committee meetings.

Hoover has also worked as a supervisory intelligence analyst and wildlife inspector for the Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Law Enforcement, and as a program officer and deputy director of TRAFFIC North America, the wildlife trade monitoring unit of World Wildlife Fund and IUCN—The World Conservation Union. He started his career with the Fish and Wildlife Service as an unpaid volunteer while earning his bachelor's degree in natural resources management from the University of Michigan, and also has a law degree from Loyola University.

Craig Hoover will be a panelist discussing the role of the USF&WS in CITES as well as other import and export regulations and policies at the free National Reptile and Amphibian Law Symposium and Workshop in Washington D.C., November 8-10. For more information and to register to attend, please click here.