Yahoo News 24 Jun 09;
PARIS (AFP) – A third of the world's open water sharks -- including the great white and hammerhead -- face extinction, according to a major conservation survey.
Species hunted on the high seas are particularly at risk, with more than half in danger of dying out, reported the Shark Specialist Group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The main culprit is overfishing. Sharks are prized for their meat, and in Asia especially for their fins, a prestige food thought to convey health benefits.
The survey of 64 species of open water, or pelagic, sharks -- the most comprehensive ever done -- comes days before an international meeting on high-seas tuna fisheries that could potentially play a role in shark conservation.
For decades, significant numbers of sharks -- including blue and mako -- have perished as "by-catch" in commercial tuna and swordfish operations.
More recently, the soaring value of shark meat has prompted some of these fisheries to target sharks as a lucrative sideline, said Sonja Forham, Policy Director for the Shark Alliance, and co-author of the study.
The Spanish fleet of so-called surface longline fishing boats ostensibly targets swordfish, but 70 percent of its catch, by weight, from 2000 to 2004 were pelagic sharks.
"There are currently no restrictions on the number of sharks that these fisheries can harvest," Fordham told AFP by phone. "Despite mounting threats, sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas."
Sharks are especially vulnerable to overfishing because most species take many years to mature and have relatively few young.
Scientists are also set to meet in Denmark to issue recommendations on the Atlantic porbeagle which, despite dwindling numbers, failed to earn protection at the last meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), in 2007.
Canada led the charge to block the protective measure, supported by Argentina, New Zealand and some Asian countries.
Europe is the fastest growing market for meat from the porbeagle and another species, the spiny dogfish.
The demand for shark fins, a traditional Chinese delicacy, has soared along with income levels in China over the last decade. Shark carcasses are often tossed back into the sea by fishermen after the fins are cut off.
Despite bans in international waters, this practice -- known as "finning" -- is largely unregulated, experts say.
The report identified the great hammerhead and scalloped hammerhead sharks, as well as giant devil rays as globally endangered.
The smooth hammerhead, great white, basking, and oceanic whitetip sharks are listed as globally vulnerable to extinction, along with two species of makos and three types of threshers.
Some 100 million sharks are caught in commercial and sports fishing every year, and several species have declined by more than 80 percent in the past decade alone, according the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
The IUCN issues the Red List of Threatened Species, the most comprehensive and authoritative conservation inventory of the world?s plants and animals species.
One third of sharks and rays 'threatened with extinction'
The Telegraph 25 Jun 09;
Almost a third of sharks and rays found in the open ocean are threatened with extinction - largely as a result of overfishing, conservationists have warned.
The first assessment of the global fortunes of 64 species of pelagic, or open ocean, sharks and rays found 32 per cent were under threat.
And more than half (52 per cent) the species which are caught in high seas fisheries are at risk of dying out, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned.
Many sharks are caught in high seas tuna and swordfish fisheries, some as accidental "by-catch" of those industries, but increasingly targeted themselves to supply growing demand for shark meat and fins.
The valuable fins are used for shark fin soup - a delicacy in Asia.
To supply the market the wasteful process of "finning" often takes place, in which the fins are cut off the shark and the rest of the body is thrown back into the sea.
Bans on the practice have been introduced in most international waters, but are ineffective and not being properly monitored, conservation group Shark Alliance said.
Despite the threats they face, sharks are "virtually unprotected" on the high seas, according to Sonja Fordham, deputy chairwoman of the IUCN shark specialist group and policy director for Shark Alliance.
"The vulnerability and lengthy migrations of most open ocean sharks calls for co-ordinated, international conservation plans," she urged.
The IUCN shark specialist group is calling on governments to set catch limits for sharks and rays based on scientific advice, protect critically endangered and endangered species and ensure better monitoring of fisheries and an end to finning.
Sharks including the great hammerhead and the scalloped hammerhead, along with great devil rays, are all classified as endangered under the IUCN's assessment.
The great white shark, basking shark and oceanic whitetip are all classed as vulnerable to extinction.
So too is the porbeagle shark - but in the Northeast Atlantic it is critically endangered and in the Northwest Atlantic it is endangered.
Almost a quarter (24 per cent) of the species assessed were classed as "near-threatened", the lowest level of risk, while there was insufficient information to assess another quarter.
According to the IUCN, sharks are particularly sensitive to overfishing because they generally take many years to mature and have relatively few young.
Many sharks 'facing extinction'
Victoria Gill, BBC News 24 Jun 09;
Many species of open ocean shark are under serious threat, according to an assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The Red list gives the status of 64 types of shark and ray, over 30% of which are threatened with extinction.
The authors, IUCN's Shark Specialist Group, say a main cause is overfishing.
Listed as endangered are two species of hammerhead shark, often subject to "finning" - a practice of removing the fins and throwing away the body.
This is the first time that IUCN Red List criteria, considered the world's most comprehensive inventory of the conservation status of plants and animals, have been used to classify open ocean, or pelagic, sharks and rays.
The list is part of an ongoing international scientific project to monitor the animals.
The authors classified a further 24% of the examined species as Near Threatened.
Sharks are "profoundly vulnerable" to overfishing, they say. This is principally because many species take several years to mature and have relatively few young.
"[But] despite mounting threats, sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas," said Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group and one of the editors of the report.
"[We have] documented serious overfishing of these species, in national and international waters. This demonstrates a clear need for immediate action on a global scale."
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization recognised the potential threat to sharks over a decade ago, when it launched its "International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks" in 1999.
But the "requested improvements fisheries data from member states... have been painfully slow and simply inadequate", according to this report by the IUCN.
Many pelagic sharks are caught in high seas tuna and swordfish fisheries.
Although some are accidentally caught in nets meant for these other fish, they are increasingly targeted for their meat, teeth and liver oil, and because of high demand, particularly in Asia, for their fins.
Discarded bodies
"The hammerheads are special because they have very high quality fins but quite low quality meat," explained Ms Fordham. "They often fall victim to finning."
She told BBC News that, although finning is widely banned, this ban is not always well enforced.
"The EU finning ban is one of the weakest in the world," she said.
"The best, most sure-fire way to enforce a ban is to prohibit the removal of fins at sea.
"But in the EU, you can remove them, providing the fins you bring ashore weigh less than 5% of the weight of the bodies."
This rule was designed to prevent finning, but it provided "wiggle room", said Ms Fordham.
"The IUCN has estimated that, under these rules, you could fin and discard two to three sharks for every shark you keep, " she explained.
'No fishing'
Species listed as Vulnerable included the smooth hammerhead shark, the porbeagle shark and the common, bigeye and pelagic thresher sharks.
Fisheries have fought to keep their right to fish porbeagle sharks because their meat is so valuable, according to Ms Fordham.
"Yet we've already had recommendations from scientists that there should be no fishing of these sharks."
For certain species - that are considered particularly vulnerable - the authors have recommended their complete protection.
"The big-eyed thresher shark, for example, is very slow growing," explained Ms Fordham.
"Fishermen can very easily identify it, because it has a very big eye. So if they catch it accidentally, they can throw it back.
"These sharks tend to survive well when they're thrown back."
By the end of this year, the Shark Specialist Group will publish a complete report, outlining the status of all 400 species of shark, and closely-related skates and rays.
Endangered sharks unprotected on high seas: report
Reuters 24 Jun 09;
GENEVA (Reuters) - Sharks, among the most endangered species of fish, are effectively unprotected in the world's oceans, the IUCN environmental organization said on Thursday.
Its report urges governments to halt shark "finning," the slicing of fins from captured sharks which are then tipped back into the sea to die, which it says is a growing industry providing ingredients for the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup.
Although finning bans have been declared in most global waters, little effort is made to enforce them, said the IUCN.
A third of shark species and their evolutionary cousins, the rays, are at risk of extinction due to overfishing, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature said.
The body's experts say sharks are especially sensitive to over-fishing because they take many years to mature and have relatively few young. It is vital for governments boost monitoring of boats catching them, they said.
"Sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas," IUCN shark specialist Sonja Fordham said in a statement.
Its report, "The Conservation Status of Pelagic Sharks and Rays", says that some of the best-known sharks -- the Great Hammerhead, the Great White and the Basking -- as well the Giant Ray are either endangered or vulnerable to extinction.
The study was released on the eve of a conference in Madrid of managers responsible for high seas tuna fisheries. In these operations, as in swordfish catching, sharks are taken without limit, said the IUCN, based near Geneva.
(Full text of the report)
(Editing by Laura MacInnis)
Third of open ocean sharks threatened with extinction
IUCN 25 Jun 09;
The first study to determine the global conservation status of 64 species of open ocean (pelagic) sharks and rays reveals that 32 percent are threatened with extinction, primarily due to overfishing, according to the IUCN Shark Specialist Group.
The percentage of open ocean shark species threatened with extinction is higher for the sharks taken in high-seas fisheries (52 percent), than for the group as a whole.
“Despite mounting threats, sharks remain virtually unprotected on the high seas,” says Sonja Fordham, Deputy Chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group and Policy Director for the Shark Alliance. “The vulnerability and lengthy migrations of most open ocean sharks mean they need coordinated, international conservation plans. Our report documents serious overfishing of these species, in national and international waters, and demonstrates a clear need for immediate action on a global scale.”
The report comes days before Spain hosts an international summit of fishery managers responsible for high seas tuna fisheries in which sharks are taken without limit. It also coincides with an international group of scientists meeting in Denmark to formulate management advice for Atlantic porbeagle sharks.
IUCN experts classify the Great Hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran) and Scalloped Hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) sharks, as well as Giant Devil Rays (Mobula mobular), as globally Endangered. Smooth Hammerheads (Sphyrna zygaena), Great White (Carcharodon carcharias), Basking (Cetorhinus maximus) and Oceanic Whitetip (Carcharhinus longimanus) sharks are classed as globally Vulnerable to extinction, along with two species of Makos (Isurus spp.) and three species of Threshers (Alopias spp.).
Porbeagle Sharks (Lamna nasus) are classified as globally Vulnerable, but Critically Endangered and Endangered in the Northeast and Northwest Atlantic, respectively. The Blue Shark (Prionace glauca), the world’s most abundant and heavily fished open ocean shark, is classified as Near Threatened.
Many open ocean sharks are taken mainly in high seas tuna and swordfish fisheries. Once considered only incidental “bycatch”, these species are increasingly targeted due to new markets for shark meat and high demand for their valuable fins, used in the Asian delicacy shark fin soup. To source this demand, the fins are often cut off sharks and the rest of the body is thrown back in the water, a process known as “finning”. Finning bans have been adopted for most international waters, but lenient enforcement standards hamper their effectiveness.
Sharks are particularly sensitive to overfishing due to their tendency to take many years to mature and have relatively few young. In most cases, pelagic shark catches are unregulated or unsustainable. Twenty-four percent of the species examined are categorized as Near Threatened, while information is insufficient to assess another 25 percent.
The report is based partially on an IUCN Shark Specialist Group workshop funded by the Lenfest Ocean Program. Fifteen experts from government agencies, universities, non-governmental organizations, and institutions around the world took part. This and other regional workshops have contributed to the development of the Shark Specialist Group’s Global Shark Red List Assessment, supported by Conservation International and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.
“The completion of this global assessment of pelagic sharks and rays will provide an important baseline for monitoring the status of these keystone species in our oceans,” says Roger McManus, Vice-President for Marine Programs at Conservation International.
The IUCN Shark Specialist Group calls on governments to set catch limits for sharks and rays based on scientific advice and the precautionary approach. It further urges governments to fully protect Critically Endangered and Endangered species of sharks and rays, ensure an end to shark finning and improve the monitoring of fisheries taking sharks and rays.
Governments should invest in shark and ray research and population assessment, minimize incidental bycatch of sharks and rays, employ wildlife treaties to complement fisheries management and facilitate cooperation among countries to conserve shared populations, according to the group.
Notes to editors
* The full report, The Conservation Status of Pelagic Sharks and Rays: Report of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group Pelagic Shark Red List Workshop, can be downloaded here http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/ssg_pelagic_report_final.pdf. It was compiled and edited by Merry Camhi, Sarah Valenti, Sonja Fordham, Sarah Fowler and Claudine Gibson.
* This week, scientists from the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) are meeting in Copenhagen to assess all Atlantic porbeagle populations and formulate recommendations for fishery managers.
* Next week, San Sebastian, Spain will be the site of the second Joint Meeting of the five Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) for tuna.
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