CITES CoP15

13-25 March 2010

It Is estimated that between 26 and 73 million sharks – including the distinctive hammerheads – are killed each year, often solely for their fins for Asian delicacy shark fin soup, or incidentally as bycatch.

Vulnerable sharks such as the porbeagle and spiny dogfish are killed in large quantities for their meat. A number of other shark species are threatened, with declines of more than 90%.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will meet from March 13 – 25, 2010 in Doha, Qatar. CITES, with 175 member countries, limits or prohibits international trade in endangered and threatened plants and animals. This is the first CITES Conference of the Parties to be held in the Middle East.

Four proposals to list shark species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have been offered for consideration at this 15th Conference of the Parties (CoP). The proposals aim to add eight species – spiny dogfish, porbeagle, oceanic whitetip, scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, dusky and sandbar sharks – to CITES Appendix II.

All eight of these shark species are:
• subject to persistent demand that drives targeted fisheries and retention of bycatch
• traded internationally in substantial quantities
• included in the lowest productivity category (intrinsic rate of population increase <0.14) under criteria developed by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) for CITES listing of commercially exploited aquatic species
• inadequately managed by most countries, and
• not subject to fishing limits under any regional fisheries management organization (RFMO).

Listing these shark species under CITES Appendix II is:
• essential for ensuring that international trade is held to sustainable levels
• complementary to fisheries management efforts
• key to improving data on the nature and extent of fisheries and trade
• supported by the CITES Secretariat, TRAFFIC and IUCN, and
• consistent with the FAO International Plan of Action for Sharks.