Posted on 23 March 2010
Doha, Qatar – Governments
of a United Nations meeting on wildlife
trade today voted against better international
trade controls for five shark species, which
are in severe decline because of overfishing
for their high-value fins and meat.
The Convention on International
Trade and Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES) governments voted against
proposals to list three hammerhead sharks
(scalloped, great and smooth), the oceanic
whitetip and the spiny dogfish on Appendix
II of the Convention, which would enforce
better management of the fishery for international
commercial trade and allow their declining
populations to recover.
However, governments
did vote to include the porbeagle shark
– overfished primarily for its meat and
fins – on Appendix II.
“Once again CITES has
failed to listen to the scientists. The
decision not to list all of these sharks
today is a conservation catastrophe for
these species,” said Glenn Sant, Global
Marine Programme Co-ordinator for TRAFFIC.
“Populations of these
sharks have declined by more than 90% in
some areas, many of them caught illegally
and destined to end up in the shark-fin
trade. They are targeted because of their
high value.”
“The current level of
trade in these species is simply not sustainable.”
The proposals’ rejection
follows the failure of other proposals at
CITES last week to introduce stronger trade
restrictions for red and pink corals, and
an outright ban on the international commercial
trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna – both despite
overwhelming scientific evidence that additional
protection for these species is needed.
“These marine species
are in dire need of stronger trade protections
and sound management. We will continue to
fight for this,” said Carlos Drews, Director,
Species Programme, WWF International. “The
vitality of our oceans upon which millions
of people depend, relies on healthy populations
of species such as sharks and corals.”
The sharks discussed
at today’s meeting are particularly vulnerable
to overfishing because they are all slow
growing, late to mature, long-living and
produce few young, which means it is difficult
for populations to recover from overfishing.
TRAFFIC, the wildlife
trade monitoring network, is a joint program
of WWF and the International Union for Conservation
of Nature (IUCN).
The 15th meeting of
CITES governments began March 13 and ends
on Thursday, and will consider proposals
related to dozens of species and species
trade issues.
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Portugal shows the way
on high seas protected areas
Posted on 24 March 2010
Funchal, Madeira – WWF today praised Portuguese
authorities for announcing the establishment
of four marine protected areas on the extended
continental shelves of the Azores as well
as mainland Portugal.
The four sites – on
the southern Mid Atlantic Ridge, Altair
Seamount, Antialtair Seamount and Josephine
Bank - together cover an area of 120,000
square km rich in vulnerable deepwater communities,
including cold-water coral reefs, sponge
fields, coral gardens, and deep sea bony
fish, sharks and rays.
The announcement of
marine protected area status was made at
an international North Atlantic environmental
commission (OSPAR Convention) meeting attended
by UN fisheries and seabed agencies in Funchal,
Madeira. It follows three of the four sites
being declared being declared off limits
to the use of destructive bottom fishing
gear just under a year ago.
“This is ground breaking
progress on ocean governance”, says Stephan
Lutter, International Marine Policy Officer
with WWF Germany.
“It comes at a time
when the political and economic boundaries
in our oceans are shifting. We would wish
that all Coastal States who have submitted
claims for an extended continental shelf
beyond the limit of 200 nautical miles were
taking their obligation to protect the marine
wildlife out there as seriously as Portugal.”
All four of the new
marine protected areas will be unique in
legal terms, with the coastal state in charge
of protecting the natural resources of the
seafloor, and international bodies to protect
marine biological diversity in the corresponding
High Seas waters.
This new legal arrangement
opens up possibilities of improving protection
to the first pilot marine protected area
in international waters of the North Atlantic,
the so-called „Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone“
located on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which
was agreed by contracting parties to the
OSPAR Convention on the in 2008.
“These joint mechanisms
of protection should be feasible in the
largest proposed High Seas marine protected
area, the pilot protected 313,000 square
km 'Charlie-Gibbs' marine area, where Iceland
claims part of the seafloor under its sovereignty,”
said Lutter.
“The legal provisions
and management tools for such a mixed protection
regime are there. The majority of threatened
species, habitats and dwindling fish stocks
occurs in international waters of our blue
planet. There is no excuse for not taking
conservation action.”
WWF is now confident
that the upcoming Ministerial Meeting of
North-East Atlantic Coastal States under
the OSPAR Convention on the Protection of
the Marine Environment, to be held in Bergen,
Norway from 20-24 September 2010, will be
able to proclaim the world's first network
of marine protected areas on the High Seas,
consisting of six sites.
