Crocodile farmers in Thailand are suggesting a novel approach to saving the country’s dwindling number of endangered wild crocodiles. They want to relax regulations on cross-border trade of the reptiles and their parts to boost demand for products made from ones raised in captivity.

With only about 100 Siamese crocodiles estimated to be living in the wild in Thailand, the species is technically teetering on local extinction. Crocodile farmers, meanwhile, are raising millions of the animals in captivity, but also not faring so well. The coronavirus pandemic devastated sales of their products due to an almost complete halt in the lucrative market of visiting tourists.

In response, Thailand’s crocodile industry, whose $200 million in annual sales plunged nearly 90% during the pandemic, is promoting a two-track solution it hopes can benefit itself as well as the reptile species. In addition to seeking a relaxation of tight regulations on international trade of their products, they are spearheading an effort to restock Siamese crocodiles in the wild.

Although the industry had its roots in the capture of wild crocodiles, breeders and traders argue that a successful and well-regulated farming business can help rebuild the wild crocodile population.

Advocates of easing trade rules believe the successful breeding of Siamese crocodiles on farms means it’s no longer cost effective to hunt them in the wild, and a thriving commercial industry will help fund conservation projects.

Thailand will propose a relaxation of the rules on the trade in Siamese crocodiles at next week’s meeting in Panama of the 184-nation CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

The Thai proposal seeks to change the current listing of Siamese crocodiles from Appendix I, a category with extremely strict trade rules for species under threat, to Appendix II, with more relaxed rules that place less regulatory burden on buyers who import the products.

Yosapong Temsiripong, the head of the Thai Crocodile Farm Association and owner of the Sriracha Moda Farm, said this would help revive the battered industry, allowing easier export of meat to countries such as China and, more importantly, crocodile skins to big overseas fashion brands for handbags and shoes. Relaxed rules would help Thailand compete with the United States, Zimbabwe and Australia, which are major exporters of crocodile species that are not in the category of most endangered.