Shark countries fail on conservation pledge
A number of nations whose fishing vessels catch large amounts of sharks have been unsuccessful in meeting a pledge made ten years ago to conserve the species, says a report.
The Pew Environmental group and the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic claim that the majority of the primary shark fishing countries fail to manage fisheries well. Governments agreed to a global plan ten years ago to conserve sharks. It is estimated that 100 million sharks are killed every year, with around 30% of the species currently at risk of extinction.
A number of fisheries catch sharks for their fins in order to produce shark fin soup; and many nations, including the US, have passed measures recently aimed at monitoring the trade. The two countries which catch the most sharks – India and Indonesia – have not yet finalised their plans of action in order to protect sharks.
This was a main recommendation when the agreement was made in 2001 under the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) which stated that sharks required international management. Out of the top 20 countries which catch sharks, which together account for 80% of worldwide catch, only 13 already have their country’s plans in place.
The leader of Traffic’s global marine programme, Glenn Sant, said that the world’s sharks’ fate is being controlled by the top 20 shark catching nations, most of which have not yet demonstrated how they intend to save these creatures. He added that they must take action to help prevent shark populations declining and make sure that the endangered list of species does not continue to increase.
Sharks are vulnerable to overfishing due to the fact that they live for a long time and reproduce slowly.Read More ...
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