The adoption of Resolution 87 at the CITES Conference of the Parties in Samarkand, Uzbekistan represents an important step towards strengthening the global monitoring of Anguilla species, providing a structured and collaborative framework through which Parties, committees, and the Secretariat can assess existing tools, identify regulatory gaps, and develop guidance that will support more consistent and reliable oversight of eel trade. Although the resolution does not alter listing status, it establishes a practical path for improving the accuracy, transparency and comparability of trade information, reflecting a broad recognition that monitoring challenges require coordinated international attention.

The resolution assigns a series of interlinked tasks to the Animals Committee, the Standing Committee, and the Secretariat, thereby ensuring that scientific assessment, policy evaluation, and administrative considerations are treated as mutually reinforcing components of a single monitoring system. The Animals Committee is asked to review available identification methods, including morphological keys, DNA-based approaches, and rapid testing tools, and to assess their applicability to specimens at different life stages and in different forms, such as glass eels, whole fish and processed meat. This review is intended to clarify which tools can be deployed in routine inspection contexts and which require laboratory infrastructure or specialist training.

Alongside this scientific review, the resolution calls for an assessment of documentation and reporting practices, with the aim of identifying where inconsistencies arise in the way countries describe specimens, record product types, and capture species-level information. The Standing Committee is tasked with considering how these gaps affect the functionality of monitoring systems and how they can be addressed through improved guidance, standardised terminology and clearer expectations for national permitting authorities. The resolution emphasises the importance of ensuring documentation practices are sufficiently detailed to support meaningful analysis of trade volumes and patterns.

The Secretariat is asked to support this work by gathering information, facilitating communication between committees and preparing materials that can help Parties implement any recommendations that emerge from the reviews. This role includes synthesising information on identification tools, documenting national experiences with monitoring systems and ensuring that outputs are presented in a form that can be integrated into domestic administrative processes. These tasks reflect the practical realities that Parties face, particularly those with limited scientific or enforcement capacity.

During the negotiations, several Parties suggested amendments to the resolution, with the twenty-seven Parties of the European Union pushing for stronger regulation (on the understanding that Proposal 35 had been voted down) and others taking the opposite approach. Minor adjustments proposed by the United States, the United Kingdom, and China were unanimously adopted, helping to clarify the scope of the review processes and to ensure that references to available methods, committee roles, and implementation pathways were internally consistent. More substantial amendments were proposed by Japan, which would have altered the structure and emphasis of the resolution, but these were not accepted, allowing the final text to remain focused on technical coordination rather than revisiting broader debates about listing criteria. The European Union was pleased to see a strong pushback from the United States on the Indian delegation’s proposal for taking the issue to a working group, recognising that this would have delayed implementation of the resolution and potentially diluted its impact.

Following the adoption of Resolution 87, attention in the second week shifted to a related discussion on Resolution 102 concerning the look-alike provision. Introduced by the United Kingdom, the proposal sought to initiate a formal review of how the lookalike clause is interpreted and applied across CITES listings. Although framed as a technical assessment, it became a focal point for wider concerns around the balance between conservation needs, enforceability, and the implications for trade facilitation. In Committee II the draft attracted extensive debate and multiple amendments but ultimately did not secure support. When the proposal returned to plenary for confirmation, the UK noted it would not seek to reopen the discussion but committed to preparing two case studies for the Standing Committee to support future consideration of the issue. Several Parties, including Eswatini, Solomon Islands and Congo, called for the debate to be reopened, but the motion received only about 21 per cent of the vote. The exchanges illustrated increasingly defined positions around the lookalike provision, with some Parties viewing it as essential for enforcement where species cannot be distinguished visually, and others concerned about its implications for trade facilitation. This debate is likely to continue through the next intersessional period, with implications for any future treatment of Anguilla species, given the centrality of lookalike considerations in the discussion of Proposal 35.

A notable strength of Resolution 87 is its flexibility, which allows Parties to contribute information on identification methods, documentation systems, and trade controls that reflect their national circumstances while still supporting the development of international guidance. The review processes set out in the text are designed to be inclusive, enabling input from countries with well-developed systems as well as those seeking to expand their capability, and ensuring that the resulting recommendations can be applied across a range of administrative and technical contexts. Although it does not mandate specific training or assistance programmes, its focus on assessing needs and identifying gaps establishes a foundation for future support, whether through bilateral cooperation, partnerships with technical organisations or coordinated initiatives led by NGOs with relevant expertise. The legal scope for the resolution was slightly larger than expected, given the steps taken by the Dominican Republic to include the species A. rostrata in Appendix III and therefore as part of the CITES Convention.

By providing a coherent, committee-linked framework for reviewing monitoring tools and practices, Resolution 87 has established a clear basis for intersessional work that can strengthen global oversight of Anguilla trade. Its adoption demonstrates that, despite differences among Parties on regulatory approaches, there is shared recognition that robust monitoring is essential for understanding trade dynamics, assessing risks and supporting the long-term sustainability of anguillid species.