Governments combat the overexploitation of sharks as their commercial value increases
UNEP 12 Feb 10;
Bonn/Manila, 12 February 2010 - A new landmark agreement to counteract the alarming decline of sharks was concluded on Friday under the auspices of the UNEP administered Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). Government representatives meeting in Manila, Philippines, agreed on the text of a Memorandum of Understanding on the conservation of migratory sharks.
At the meeting, delegates agreed to include all seven shark species in the CMS appendices under this agreement: the Great White, Basking, Whale, Porbeagle, Spiny Dogfish, Shortfin and Longfin Mako Sharks. They are to benefit from better international protection by fishing nations through reduction of threats, in particular illegal fishing and trade, by enforcing existing laws.
CMS Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema said: "This first global CMS instrument on commercially exploited species is a decisive step forward in international shark conservation. Wildlife Conventions, UN Agencies and international fisheries need to work together to prevent these creatures that roam the world's oceans from becoming extinct."
The goal of the CMS agreement is the restoration and long term viability of populations of migratory sharks covered by the instrument. A conservation and management plan was thoroughly discussed as a first step towards international cooperation on the protection of sharks. By signing this agreement, countries have expressed their willingness to conserve the endangered shark species covered under this agreement.
According to the IUCN Red List 2010, 17% of 1,044 shark species are threatened. At present, our knowledge of about 47% of shark species is too limited to even assess if they are threatened.
Over-fishing, fisheries by-catch, illegal trade, habitat destruction, depletion of prey species, pollution with a high risk of mercury intoxication, boat strikes and the impact of climate change on the marine environment seriously threaten sharks. Sharks have slow growth with a gestation period of up to 22 months. They might reach maturity only after 20 years years and produce relatively few young. Being top predators, their natural mortality is low. Sharks have high life-expectancy: Whales Sharks can live up to 100 years. Some shark species are highly migratory, which makes it difficult to protect the species and its habitat across a global range. These biological characteristics make sharks particularly vulnerable with little chance to recover if overfished.
Some species such as Mako Sharks are targeted for sports fishing, trophy hunting, and as cure in traditional medicine. According to the IUCN Red List of the World Conservation Union, 14 shark species are "critically endangered" and face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
Sharks suffer from overexploitation as both target and non target catch. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), up to 900,000 metric tons of sharks have been caught every year for the last two decades. However, taking into account illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and missing data , the catch figure is expected to be at least twice as high.
Since the late 1980s Whale Shark meat has been increasingly considered as a high-grade product and gained acceptance by consumers as an exotic food, and prices began to skyrocket. TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, reported 2000 kg of Whale Shark meat sold in Taiwan for USD 7,000 (€ 4,500).
Total catches in global shark fisheries are still increasing, while some populations have already crashed. Studies reveal that shark populations collapsed in the Northwest Atlantic by 75% within 15 years, and both in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Mediterranean Sea by 90%. Valuable fish and crustacean fisheries such as high sea long-line and driftnet fleets that target tuna, sword fish, sail fish and marlin claim an unsustainably high death toll on sharks.
Although a shark finning ban was adopted as of mid 2007 by 19 countries, the European Union and 9 Regional Fisheries Management Organizations for fishing vessels in their waters, sharks continue to be hunted. High demand and price of shark fins have triggered increased hunting activities. While the finless bodies are dumped into the sea, fins can be easily stored on board of fishing vessels without competing for storage space with more valuable fish species. This gives a considerable incentive for finning and exacerbates the problem of overexploitation.
A growing number of commercially exploited sharks have been listed on the appendices of CMS and CITES. The Spiny Dogfish and the Porbeagle Shark are being proposed by governments for inclusion on CITES Appendix II to avoid overexploitation by imposing controls in trade.
Short and long-finned Mako Sharks, the Porbeagle Shark and the Spiny Dogfish continue to be seriously threatened by over-fishing despite their indispensable role in the oceans' ecosystems. Their listing on CMS Appendix II encourages range states to conclude international agreements.
The first global instrument on sharks is expected to complement existing international wildlife conservation agreements, fisheries agreements and regional fisheries management organizations. CMS Appendix I lists migratory sharks that are threatened with extinction. Member states to the Convention shall prohibit their hunting, fishing and deliberate killing and implement comprehensive conservation activities. In the view of overall declining marine biodiversity and overfishing of top predators in particular, the CMS Sharks agreement renews efforts during the International Year of Biodiversity to counteract the global loss of biodiversity.
113 Governments Agree to Conserve Endangered Sharks
Environmental News Service 17 Feb 10;
MANILA, Philippines, February 17, 2010 (ENS) - A landmark agreement to protect shark species threatened with extinction was reached Friday as 113 countries signed up to a United Nations-backed wildlife treaty to conserve migratory sharks.
Government representatives signed the shark protection agreement in Manila at a meeting of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, CMS, a treaty administered by the UN Environment Programme.
They agreed to include seven shark species in the agreement - the great white, basking, whale, porbeagle, spiny dogfish, shortfin and longfin mako sharks.
The sharks are to benefit from better international protection by fishing nations by reduction of illegal fishing and trade through the enforcement of existing laws.
"This first global CMS instrument on commercially exploited species is a decisive step forward in international shark conservation," said UNEP/CMS Executive Secretary Elizabeth Mrema.
"Wildlife conventions, UN agencies and international fisheries need to work together to prevent these creatures that roam the world's oceans from becoming extinct," she said.
According to the 2010 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 17 percent of world's 1,044 shark species are threatened with extinction. At present, human knowledge of about 47 percent of shark species is too limited to even assess if they are threatened.
UNEP cites studies showing that shark populations collapsed in both in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Mediterranean Sea by 90 percent, and by 75 percent in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean within the past 15 years.
The human appetite for shark fin soup and shark meat has led to the collapse of shark populations.
By signing the agreement, the delegates recognized that sharks are at risk of over-fishing, fisheries by-catch, illegal trade, habitat destruction, depletion of prey species, pollution with a high risk of mercury poisoning, boat strikes and the impact of climate change on the marine environment.
Delegates discussed a conservation and management plan that would serve as a first step towards international cooperation on shark protection.
Sharks are particularly vulnerable because they grow slowly and live as long as 100 years. Their relatively low reproductive rates and low natural mortality give sharks little chance to recover if over-fished.
In addition, whale shark meat has been increasingly considered as a high-grade, exotic product since the late 1980s. Prices have risen to $7,000 for 2,000 kilograms in Taiwan, according to the WWF/IUCN wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.
The UN Food and Agricultural Organization says up to 900,000 tons of sharks have been caught every year for the last two decades, and calculating for illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing and missing data, the actual catch figure is estimated to be at least twice as high.
Nevertheless, Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett says his government will not adhere to the protection of the porbeagle, longfin mako and shortfin mako species under the CMS treaty, but instead would pass a law to remove these sharks from the country's list of protected species.
Garrett said there is a "lack of evidence suggesting that Australian populations of these shark species face the same threats as other parts of the world."
"The government will ensure that recreational fishers, including charter boat operations, are not unfairly impacted by this international decision, which was driven primarily by concern about northern hemisphere populations of these sharks," Garrett said.
Garrett acknowledged that it is a requirement of Australia's national environment law, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, that species listed internationally under the Convention on Migratory Species are automatically included on Australia's national list of migratory species to be protected.
But he said, the law was passed by the previous administration under Prime Minister John Howard, and a recently completed review of the legislation by the current Rudd Government identified "the inflexibility" of the EPBC Act when it comes to the listing of species under the international convention as "an issue needing correction."
Until a new law is passed, Garrett said, catch and release fishing of these species is unlikely to be subject to enforcement action.
Shark conservationists are worried about Australia's new shark policy.
"Australia is a longstanding signatory of the Convention for Conservation of Migratory Species and has committed to protect listed species with Australian legislation - applying the EPBC act to those species as they migrate through our waters," said Glenn Sant, who serves as Global Marine Programme leader of TRAFFIC and a vice-chair of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group.
"We are deeply concerned that the Australian Government has decided not to offer these species any increased protection despite the fact that they have been internationally listed under the CMS and recognized as globally Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List."
Sant says changing the EPBC Act could potentially remove protection from other migratory species that pass through Australian waters. "The Government must explain clearly to Australians what the implications of any such change would be," he said. "This is no trivial matter."
