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Shark Alliance Applauds Tentative Adoption of International Trade Safeguards for Porbeagle Sharks at CITES
Parties fail to accept proposals to list threatened hammerhead, oceanic whitetip and spiny dogfish sharks under the CITES Appendices
23 March 2010
Doha, Qatar: The Shark Alliance welcomes Committee approval of a proposal to list the porbeagle
shark under the Convention for the
International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) made today during a day-long debate on sharks. The proposal to
add the species to CITES Appendix II was offered
by the European Union
and co-sponsored by the Pacific island nation of Palau.
“We congratulate the European Union for its tenacity and extraordinary
efforts to ensure that international trade in |
Porbeagle shark. © Andy Murch
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the exceptionally vulnerable porbeagle shark is held to sustainable levels,” said Heike Zidowitz, President of Europe’s leading association of shark scientists and the head of the Shark Alliance delegation to the CITES meeting.
Parties voted on three other proposals aimed at listing spiny dogfish, oceanic whitetip sharks, and three species of hammerheads under Appendix II, but all failed to achieve the required two-thirds majority.
“While we herald the porbeagle decision, we are deeply dismayed that the other vulnerable and heavily traded shark species have been denied the global safeguards that are so urgently needed,” added Zidowitz.
The porbeagle proposal received 67% of the votes, with 86 Parties in support, 42 opposed, and 8 abstentions.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), all the shark species proposed for listing are classified as Globally Threatened under the IUCN Red List and meet the criteria for listing under CITES Appendix II.
Appendix II listings result in requirements for export permits and determinations that trade in a species is legal and not detrimental to the species’ survival.
The Conference of the Parties to CITES continues through Thursday this week. Committee decisions can be revisited in final Plenary discussions over the coming days.
Notes to editor
The Shark Alliance is a coalition of 85 conservation, scientific and recreational organisations dedicated to restoring and conserving shark populations by improving shark conservation policies.
The Shark Alliance was initiated and is coordinated by the Pew Environment Group, the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a non-government organisation that is working to end overfishing in the world's oceans. www.Sharkalliance.org.
Currently, 175 countries are party to CITES – and more than 30,000 animal and plant species are afforded protection through the CITES Appendices. CITES Parties convene every two to two-and-a-half years to amend the Appendices. Proposals to list, down-list or de-list species are proposed by Member governments and require a two-thirds majority for adoption.
For the International Union of Conservation’s definitions of the terms Endangered and Vulnerable please visit http://www.iucnredlist.org/documents/redlist_cats_crit_en.pdf
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