Google – AFP, 30 July 2013
 |
Carcasses
of finless sharks are being unloaded in Benoa, on Indonesian
resort island of
Bali, on February 25, 2013 (AFP/File, Sonny Tumbelaka)
|
PARIS —
Indonesia and India on Tuesday were named as the world's biggest catchers of
sharks in an EU-backed probe into implementing a new pact to protect seven
threatened species of sharks and rays.
Indonesia
and India account for more than a fifth of global shark catches, according to
the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.
They head
the list of 20 countries that together account for nearly 80 percent of total
shark catch reported between 2002 and 2011.
The others,
in descending order, are Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, the United States,
Malaysia, Pakistan, Brazil, Japan, France, New Zealand, Thailand, Portugal,
Nigeria, Iran, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Yemen.
The report
was requested by the EU's executive European Commission following the listing
of seven species of sharks and rays by the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES) in Bangkok last March.
 |
Shark
catchers (AFP Graphic)
|
The
regulations will take effect in September 2014 to give countries time to
determine what is a sustainable level of trade in these sharks and how their
industries can adapt to it.
Shark
numbers have been decimated by overfishing, caused in great part by a demand
for shark fins in China.
The absence
of this apex predator has a big knock-on effect on the main biodiversity chain.
Some scientists believe that one of the consequences has been an explosion in
jellyfish numbers.
TRAFFIC --
an alliance between green group WWF and the International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) -- said it had identified other countries that
were major hubs for the trade in shark meat or shark parts.
 |
A truckload
of sharks is seen in Calcutta,
India, on May 19, 2005 (AFP/File,
Deshakalyan
Chowdury)
|
The report
also gave a red-flag warning about the need to unravel a trade as complex as it
is lucrative.
Some of the
species are specifically targeted by fishing operations, but others end up as
accidental, but valuable, catch when trawlers are looking for tuna.
"Key
to implementing the CITES regulations will be the establishment of
chain-of-custody measures, to facilitate enforcement and verification that
harvest is legal," said Victoria Mundy-Taylor, who co-wrote the report.
The CITES
controls will cover the ocean whitetip shark, porbeagle shark, three species of
hammerhead shark and two species of manta rays, which are all classified as
endangered on the IUCN's Red List.
These
species are all slow-growing, late to mature and produce few young, which make
them highly vulnerable to overfishing. The decision in Bangkok moved them to
Appendix II of CITES, which covers species that are threatened by trade or may
become so without strict controls.
Related Articles:
