Nearly 100 species of shark are expected to be awarded increased protection in what would be a “game changer” in shark conservation.
Fifty-four requiem sharks including the grey reef and blue sharks; as well as six from the hammerhead family and 37 guitarfish species which is a ray – a species closely related to the shark – are set to be given enhanced protection.
They are expected to be added to the list of species protected under global trade rules and would bring most unsustainable global shark fin trade under regulation.
Both the requiem and hammerhead shark families make up more than 50 per cent of the trade in shark fins and many species are threatened with extinction.
The enhanced protections were proposed at the 19th Conference of the Parties (CoP19) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Panama this week.
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Listing them on CITES would mean that a country seeking to trade products will need to meet more stringent thresholds: it will have to issue a permit to exporters and produce a document certifying that scientists have shown the trade does not damage wild populations, the BBC reports.
While the proposals, voted on by nearly 200 countries, have been supported at the committee stage, the final decision will be made next week on the concluding day of CoP19.
Luke Warwick, director of shark and ray conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) told i: “This will be a landmark moment and herald a new era for shark conservation. It’s a game changer.”
He added that the proposals “will forever change how the world’s ocean predators are managed and protected.”
Shark populations have plummeted worldwide driven largely by the unregulated trade in shark fins and meat.
Sharks on the high seas have suffered a 70 per cent loss in population in just 50 years.
Also in trouble are coastal species, with “20 per cent of reefs surveyed globally had shark populations that were functionally extinct,” according to CoP19.
Countries have been meeting over two weeks at the CoP19 event which runs until 25 November to debate new proposals to protect a raft of species including sharks, turtles and songbirds.
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