Only one out of eight purportedly endangered shark species won protection at the ongoing UN CITES meeting in Doha, Qatar.
The porbeagle sharks were included in Annex II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Annex II comprehends some 32,500 species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but may become so unless trade in specimens of such species is subject to strict regulation.
Those species for which the two-third majority needed for CITES inclusion was not reached were oceanic whitetip, dusky, sandbar, spiny dogfish, as well as scalloped, smooth and great hammerheads.
According to the Oceana marine protection organisation, many shark populations have declined by up to 99 percent in recent decades. These shark species are threatened by the international consumer demand for shark products including fins, skins, meat and liver oil
The international shark fin trade is a multi-billion dollar business where the fins, including those of hammerhead and oceanic whitetip sharks, are mainly sent to China for use in shark fin soup. Trade in shark meat, particularly to European markets, is also a major threat to spiny dogfish and porbeagle sharks.
Oceana welcomed the protection grated to the porbeagle sharks, but called the failure to include the seven other species “a disaster”.
“Without trade restrictions, these shark species will be pushed towards extinction. The oceans, livelihoods and local economies depend on these species”, Rebecca Greenberg, marine wildlife scientist at Oceana, remarked. “It appears that science no longer matters. CITES is not fulfilling its obligation to protect species threatened by international trade. When will we realize that short-term profits will not last?”
A press release from Oceana expressed some hope that, as with the decision not to stop international trade in bluefin tuna last week, “some of these bad decisions on shark species could be reversed during the plenary session during the final two days”.