Yahoo News 5 Feb 09;
BRUSSELS (AFP) – The EU Commission on Thursday proposed tighter rules to protect sharks, including obliging fishermen to throw back sharks caught accidentally, but Green groups expressed doubts about the moves.
"Many people associate sharks with going to the cinema, more than with beaches or restaurants. But the latest information we have confirms that human beings are now a far bigger threat to sharks than sharks ever were to us," said EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg.
One of the other key measures proposed is banning fishing boats from hacking off the valuable shark fins on board then throwing the rest of the carcass back in the water.
However fin hacking would be allowed as long as the carcass was kept on board.
The EU plan also includes possible temporary fishing exclusion zones to protect young or reproducing sharks and tightened rules on fishing gear to minimise unwanted catches and ensure such catches are released back into the water.
"Sharks are very vulnerable to over-exploitation and the consequences of depleting their numbers may have very serious consequences not only for sharks but also for marine ecosystems and for fishermen themselves," Borg said.
Green groups were unimpressed, saying the package, which must be approved by member states and the EU parliament, already lacks teeth.
"Sharks are slow-growing and produce relatively small numbers of young. Many of these species are already threatened with extinction," said Aaron McLoughlin, head of the WWF's European Marine Programme.
"The plan lacks a solid commitment to seek mandatory collection of data on shark catch, a critical element if the EU is to succeed in the conservation of these species," he added.
A recent study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature suggests that as many as one-third of the shark species caught in EU waters are threatened by excessive fishing.
The Madrid-based Oceana group saw "big plans but little action" in the proposals.
"We got a vague document which does not contain measures to achieve the goal of conservation and sustainable management of sharks. It appears to have been published out of political obligation," complained Ricardo Aguilar, Oceana Europe's director of investigation.
Sharks are targeted by British, French, Spanish and Portuguese fleets, with the Spanish fishing fleet taking more than half of the European catch of around 100,000 tonnes each year, according to the Shark Alliance, which provided Brussels with data.
Shark meat is served in restaurants across Europe, including at traditional British fish-and-chip shops, according to WWF.
At a press conference to unveil the European Commission's plans, Borg said that between 1984 and 2004, world shark catches grew from 600,000 to over 810,000 tonnes.
Of these, more than half are taken in the North Atlantic, including in the North Sea, and a sizeable number are also caught in the Mediterranean.
Borg highlighted the need to protect other vulnerable species, including related skates and rays.
EU gives shark protection teeth
Richard Black, BBC News 5 Feb 09;
The European Commission has unveiled measures aimed at protecting sharks, many of which are in sharp decline.
The proposals would close loopholes in current shark finning regulations, cut catches of endangered species and set quotas according to scientific advice.
About half of ocean-going shark species are threatened with extinction.
Conservation groups have given a mixed reaction to the commission's proposals, which now go to the European Parliament and Council of Ministers for approval.
"The plan is a great step forwards for the conservation of sharks in European waters and beyond," said Sonja Fordham, policy director of the Shark Alliance, a coalition of organisations representing conservation, science and recreational interests.
"The commitments to science-based fishing limits, endangered species protection, and a stronger finning ban are essential to securing a brighter future for some of Europe's most vulnerable and neglected animals."
The regulations will also apply to sharks' close relatives, skates and rays.
But the Madrid-based conservation group Oceana said the proposals did not go far enough.
"We have got a vague document which does not contain measures to achieve the goal of conservation and sustainable management of sharks," said the group's director of investigations, Ricardo Aguilar.
"Key omissions include a commitment to the precautionary approach, and integration with existing EU and global environmental measures that aim to protect threatened sharks and their habitats."
Among other things, Oceana had been lobbying for a much tighter timescale on the introduction of these controls, some of which may not come into force for four years - and then only if the European Parliament and Council of Ministers agree.
Body of evidence
The most concrete of the commission's proposals concerns the regulations on finning.
European vessels are not allowed to remove fins from sharks and dump the carcasses in the water - a practice that used to be rife as fishermen sought to supply fins to the lucrative East Asian market with the minimum bother.
Instead they have to land detached fins and carcasses in a ratio of weights that is supposed to ensure that everything makes it to port - one carcass for every fin.
Activists have long held that the use of relative weights is a loophole that fishermen can and do manipulate, allowing them to discard up to half of the carcasses.
They have urged the EU to mandate that all sharks must be landed with fins still attached, as the US does for many of its shark fisheries.
The commission has now accepted this argument, and is proposing that "fins attached" becomes standard across EU fleets, although there might be exceptions.
Other elements of the proposals include:
* for commercially targeted species, setting catch limits in line with scientific advice
* banning fishing in areas important for reproduction and rearing, and on threatened species
* placing observers on boats reporting large amounts of bycatch ("accidental" catches)
* collecting more data through the supply chain
* applying these restrictions to all EU-registered vessels, wherever they operate
Bycatch is a particularly thorny issue. Sharks regularly become impaled on hooks dragged by boats targeting high-value species such as tuna, or entangled in nets.
The commission envisages developing types of fishing gear that allow fishermen to target more specifically what they want to catch.
In recent years, it has become clear that sharks, rays and skates are inherently vulnerable to overfishing because they reproduce slowly and live long lives - a factor that EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg recognised as he unveiled the new proposals.
"Sharks are very vulnerable to overexploitation, and the consequences of depleting their numbers may have very serious consequences not only for sharks but also for marine ecosystems and for fishermen themselves," he said.
"That is why we have set out a plan of action today which will both establish a more precautionary approach to managing fisheries where sharks are caught, and support the substantial research still needed to understand fully the role sharks play in the life of our oceans and the impact which fishing may have on them."
European shark plan needs more teeth
WWF 5 Feb 09;
Brussels, 5 February 2009—The European Commission today announced a new Action Plan to protect sharks in European waters, which has been broadly welcomed by WWF and TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
The plan includes provisions for more observers of trawlers, prohibitions on discarding most sharks as by-catch, a tighter prohibition on shark finning and catch limits for sharks in line with advice from fisheries management organizations.
However, the plan needs rapid implementation and strengthened actions such as mandatory recording of catch data if it is to be effective in arresting a rapid decline in shark populations in European waters where roughly one third of the shark species are already threatened with extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
“The commitment to shark conservation is to be commended, although TRAFFIC and WWF are deeply concerned that some of the measures will not be implemented for considerable periods,” said Steven Broad, Director of TRAFFIC.
Although the Plan calls for countries to collect information on sharks caught, this will be on a voluntary basis.
TRAFFIC and WWF also called on the EU to allocated adequate resources to ensure the Plan could be properly implemented, and for the Council and the European Parliament to adopt the plan without diluting the proposed measures or extending the period of implementation.
“Although we fully support the adoption and speedy implementation of the plan, we believe it contains major gaps that do not take a sufficiently precautionary approach to shark conservation, as recommended by the United Nations and others,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, WWF International’s Species Programme Director.
“Many of these species are already threatened with extinction. WWF and TRAFFIC are dismayed that the plan lacks a solid commitment to seek mandatory collection of data on shark catch—a critical element if the EU is to succeed in the conservation of these species,” Dr Lieberman added.
Sharks are targeted by UK, French, Spanish and Portuguese fishermen; shark tails and meat are used to prepare “caldeirada” or “Schillerlocken” and shark meat is served in restaurants across Europe, and in the UK in traditional fish-and-chip shops.
In December 2008, European Fisheries ministers agreed to reduce total allowable quotas and committed to a zero catch for certain deep water sharks by 2010.
However, TRAFFIC and WWF believe that the acceptable bycatch in these regulations is still too high, and although shark finning has already been prohibited in EU and adjacent waters, control and enforcement of this ban is currently too lax and needs to be tightened up.
“Sharks are slow growing and produce relatively small numbers of young,” said Aaron McLoughlin, Head of WWF’s European Marine Programme.
