Sharks do not win CITES protection
Sharks do not win CITES protection
mongabay.com
June 8, 2007
Two endangered species of sharks failed to win protection at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in The Hague.
The proposal to list the spiny dogfish and the porbeagle shark, an initiative that was widely supported by environmentalists as well as Germany and the United States, failed to get the two-thirds majority needed for listing. Trade in CITES listed species are regulated by the international body.
The listing was supported by more than half of countries at the conference, but was opposed by fishing nations including Japan, Norway, Korea, China and several South American countries according to Reuters. There is still a chance the listing could win approval next week.
WWF says that unsustainable fishing has lead to a 95 percent decline in North Atlantic spiny dogfish populations over the past decade, while porbeagle populations have fallen by 89 percent over the past 40 years.
Attempts to restrict trade in cedar and rosewood also failed.
This article used information from a Reuters report.
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