If enough support for the idea is found from trade stakeholders and governmental agencies, OFI will organize a one-day meeting of all stakeholders (trade, governmental agencies, nature conservation organizations and other relevant parties) in the last quarter of the year. This meeting should take place in one of the range states: Malaysia, Indonesia, or Singapore. We suggest Singapore for the convenient location between the range states and easy accessibility. This meeting could have the following content:
1) OFI CITES specialist Svein Fosså can share his views on this topic with the stakeholders and come with suggestions for the way forward. Together we can decide at the end of the day what will be the route to take, if this is the wish of the stakeholders.
2) The financial consequences for the industry will need to be addressed, as the project will cost a lot of money. OFI can play a role as an initiator. It is the Dragon fish industry that will have to finance the project. There will be costs involved in the producing of the reports for data collection in the range states, for working out the results, for meetings with relevant authorities, for setting up a basic structure of a management plan, etc. An estimation of these costs and the model to structure the finding will be presented.
3) The basic structure of a management plan for wild populations of Dragon fish will be discussed. This is of course not the detailed plan but those basic issues that have to be addressed to be acceptable for the CITES CoP.