Governments endorse greater protections for sharks amid concerns about overfishing

Governments at a wildlife business conference have adopted greater protections for over species of sharks and rays amid concerns that overfishing is driving a few to the brink of extinction The measures approved Friday at the Convention on International Pact in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in Uzbekistan bans the business in oceanic whitetip sharks manta and devil rays as well as whale sharks It would strengthen regulations for gulper sharks smoothhound sharks and the tope shark which means they can be traded but there must be proof the sources are legal sustainable and traceable Governments also agreed to enact zero-annual export quotas for several species of guitarfishes and wedgefishes meaning the legal international exchange will mostly be halted This is a landmark accomplishment and it belongs to the Parties who championed these protections Luke Warwick director of shark and ray conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society reported in a report Countries across Latin America Africa the Pacific and Asia came together in a powerful show of leadership and solidarity passing every shark and ray proposal Conservationists argued the measures were necessary to address overfishing of a great number of species for fins and meat as well as oil and gills They argue the billion dollar agreement is unsustainable noting that more than of shark and ray species are threatened with extinction For too long sharks that have roamed our oceans for millions of years have been slaughtered for their fins and meat Barbara Slee senior operation manager at the International Fund for Animal Welfare disclosed in a message People may fear sharks but the truth is we pose a far greater threat to them with more than million killed every year These new protections will help shift that balance and recognise and honour these sharks as more than just fishery commodities Particular of the treaty s greatest successes of late have been around sharks At the last conference in Panama in governments increased protections more than shark species including species of requiem sharks the bonnethead shark three species of hammerhead shark and species of guitarfish Multiple had never before had bargain protection The international wildlife commerce treaty which was adopted in in Washington D C has been praised for helping stem the illegal and unsustainable deal in ivory and rhino horns as well as in whales and sea turtles But it has come under fire for its limitations including its reliance on cash-strapped advancing countries to combat illegal bargain that s become a lucrative billion-a-year business This year conservationists declared that governments had rejected efforts to weaken business regulations for elephants and rhinos though they did agree to relax regulations in the commerce of saiga horn from Kazakhstan Conservationists had opposed the move over concerns it could lead to increased poaching in neighboring Central Asian countries But the move to allow the arrangement comes as the antelope was reclassified from critically endangered to near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to increased law enforcement and habitat protection That has led to dramatic increase in its numbers