The Shark Alliance

CITES 2007
Proposals to list spiny dogfish, porbeagle and sawfish

The EU proposed listing spiny dogfish and porbeagle sharks under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix II in order to limit trade in their meat and fins. Although narrowly defeated in Committee in The Hague where CITES parties voted on the proposals on Friday, 8 June 2007, conservationists expressed hope that the two proposals would be resurrected and adopted during the plenary session.

The proposal for spiny dogfish was brought back for reconsideration in the CITES plenary, but after a week of intense lobbying on both sides, the dogfish proposal again fell short of the required two-thirds majority needed for adoption. Many countries opposing the EU CITES listing proposals for sharks expressed concern over lacking shark fishery management in European waters and used this as a reason to vote against the listings. During the debates, EU representatives underscored previous commitments to development of an EU shark plan by 2008.

A further proposal submitted by Kenya and the USA, aimed to list all species of sawfish (Family Pristidae) on CITES Appendix I, reserved for species threatened with extinction. The proposal was weakened slightly by an annotation from Australia to allow limited trade in live specimens from one Australia species for conservation purposes, but the amended proposal received at least 69% of the vote (66.67% is needed for adoption) and was successfully adopted in the plenary session.

The Shark Alliance was on the ground in The Hague. On this page you will find background materials regarding the proposals together with updates straight from the meeting.

Latest news from the Shark Alliance