Thu, Sep 27, 2012 -
Over 50 countries have made renewed efforts
to tackle over-fishing and other threats
to migratory shark species as part of a
new UN-backed conservation plan.
Around 17 per cent of the world's shark
species are though to be threatened. Photo:
UN Photo/Shane Gross
Bonn, 27 September 2012-Government
representatives from 50 countries have gathered
in Bonn, Germany, for the first meeting
of signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding
on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks
concluded under the UN Convention on Migratory
Species (CMS)
Further Resources
Convention on Migratory SpeciesMemorandum
of Understanding on the Conservation of
Migratory SharksParticipants adopted a new
conservation plan, which aims to catalyze
regional initiatives to reduce threats to
migratory sharks. Signatory states also
agreed to involve fishing industry representatives,
NGOs, and scientists in implementing the
conservation plan.
Under the agreement,
countries agreed to exchange information
among government bodies, scientific institutions,
international organizations and NGOs. Improved
monitoring and data collection will help
assess the structure, trends and distribution
of shark populations necessary to design
targeted conservation measures.
The MoU on the Conservation
of Migratory Sharks (2010) is the first
global instrument dedicated to migratory
sharks and complements a suite of existing
wildlife and fisheries agreements.
Since migratory sharks
cross the high seas and national waters
of different states, closer collaboration
between countries is needed to tackle over-fishing
and other threats.
"The Convention
on Migratory Species welcomes the continued
cooperation among governments and partners
and challenges participants to take meaningful
actions to promote shark conservation within
their waters and on the high seas,"
said CMS Acting Executive Secretary Elizabeth
Maruma Mrema.
Sharks are under serious
threat around the globe. The International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
has classified 17 percent of more than 1000
assessed species as threatened, according
its 'Red List' criteria. Sharks are caught
intentionally or as accidental "by-catch"
in virtually all types of fisheries worldwide.
The new conservation
plan will encourage fisheries-related research
on incidental and direct shark catches with
the aim to ensure that all shark catch is
sustainable.
In particular, governments
will work with fishing industries, regional
fisheries management organizations, scientists
and NGOs to avoid the capture of two of
the largest sharks in the world: the basking
shark and great white shark. These shark
species are considered endangered migratory
species and are listed in Appendix I of
CMS.
Other species targeted
by the conservation plan include mako, spiny
dogfish, porbeagle, basking, white, and
whale sharks
Countries also stressed
that the accidental capture of sharks in
fishing gear needs to be more closely regulated.
Participants at the Bonn meeting agreed
to encourage catch quotas to ensure sustainable
use of targeted sharks and stricter limits
on endangered shark species. No international
fishing quotas have been established to
date for the short and long fin mako sharks,
which traverse ocean basins, are fished
by multiple countries, and are covered by
the CMS agreement.
The conservation plan
also suggests that sharks should be landed
with their fins still attached in order
to prevent shark "finning" (slicing
off a shark's fins and discarding the body
at sea). The high value of fins has created
an economic incentive for shark finning
, but to date, more than 60 fishing nations,
including the 27 Member States of the European
Union (EU), have banned the practice.
However, in the EU and
some other countries, processing sharks
on board vessels is still allowed in some
cases. This means that shark fins can be
removed from carcasses and stored separately
under a fin-to-carcass weight limit that
can be difficult to properly enforce. In
2011, the European Commission proposed putting
an end to these permits and requiring that
sharks be landed with their fins attached.
On 19 March 2012, the Council of the European
Union endorsed the Commission's approach.
The proposal is currently being debated
by the European Parliament.
It is estimated that
26 to 73 million sharks are killed every
year to support the global shark fin market.
Shark fins, used in the traditional Asian
dish shark fin soup, are among the world's
most valuable fishery products. The price
of shark fins reached more than US$ 700
per kilo in 2011, according to the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA).
Sharks are also sought
for meat and liver oil and, increasingly,
their cartilage skeletons are also marketed.
Most sharks are long-living
species that grow slowly, mature late, and
produce few young. These biological factors
make sharks particularly vulnerable to overfishing
and mean that populations can be slow to
recover once depleted.
Representatives from
other UN bodies such as the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as well
as INTERPOL also participated at the meeting
of signatories, in addition to leading NGO
representatives and shark fisheries experts.
CMS is working with
Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES), the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
and Regional Fisheries Management Organizations
(RFMOs) to promote the conservation and
sustainable use of sharks.
Notes to Editors
The Convention on the
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild
Animals, also known as the Bonn Convention,
works for the conservation of a wide array
of endangered migratory animals worldwide
through negotiation and implementation of
agreements and species action plans. The
Convention is administered by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). With
117 member countries, UNEP/CMS is a growing
convention with special expertise in the
field of marine species. The CMS Memorandum
of Understanding on the Conservation of
Migratory Sharks entered into force in March
2010 and has 25 signatories to date. It
is the first intergovernmental treaty dealing
specifically with shark conservation at
a global level.
www.cms.int
