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The Conference on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), held in Panama City, adopted on Friday, September 25, what the host country described as a “historic” decision to protect some 50 shark species threatened by the flourishing fin trade. shark in Asia.
the 19th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), meeting from November 14 to 25 in Panama, decided on its last day to extend the protection of sharks.
As a result of the plan approved by the delegates of 183 States and the European Union, 54 species of sharks and hammerheads are now included in Appendix II of the Convention, which strictly limits their trade.
“We are in the middle of a major shark extinction crisis,” said Luke Warwick of the Wildlife Conservation Society, “the second most threatened group of vertebrates on the planet”. The NGO welcomed the decision, which also includes guitar rays and freshwater rays.
“This will be remembered as the day we turned the tide to prevent the extinction of the world’s sharks and rays,” the NGO said. “This landmark list of 100 heavily traded species will lead to the adoption of urgently needed national conservation measures for these species.
The crucial next step is to put these listings into practice and ensure they are translated into more stringent fisheries and commercial management measures as soon as possible,” the Wildlife Conservation Society states.
A first regulatory action
The motion was approved with 88 votes in favor, 29 against and 17 abstentions in a secret ballot after more than two hours of heated debate. These sharks were included by consensus in Appendix II of CITES, which strictly limits trade in certain species, despite Japan’s reservations about the protection granted to the blue shark, assuring that it is not an endangered species.
During the debate, Japan had pushed to include only 19 of the most threatened species and Peru wanted to exclude the blue shark. Both proposals were rejected.
The Japanese delegate expressed his country’s “deep concern” about the consequences of this decision, which he considered “harmful from the social and economic point of view” for his country’s fishermen.
The plan, which covers 19 species that are already endangered or critically endangered, marks a first regulatory action for the global trade in requiem sharks, fished primarily for their fins used in shark fin soup, a delicacy in Asian markets. .
The CITES morning plenary also endorsed the adoption of proposals 34 and 35 to list glassfrogs and lemur frogs in Appendix II, respectively.
The most discussed measure of the summit
The protection of these sharks, requested by the EU and fifteen countries, including Panama, was the most discussed decision of the summit that opened on November 14. It became a signature measure of the conference, and several delegations had stuffed sharks on their desks.
Shirley Binder, delegate from Panama, argued that the sharks that will now be protected by CITES represent “approximately 90% of the market” for shark fins.
This market, centered on Hong Kong, exceeds 500 million dollars a year. The fins can sell for $1,000 a kilo in East Asia to make soups highly prized in traditional Chinese cuisine.
100 million sharks killed each year
“Sharks and rays are now the most threatened group of species, more than elephants and big cats,” according to the director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the NGO IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), Joaquin de la Torre.
“International demand for their fins and meat […] It has caused a significant decline in their populations around the world: it is estimated that more than 100 million sharks die each year in fisheries, twice as long as it takes to preserve the species, he told the AFP press agency.
The only dissenting voice among environmental organizations, the French NGO Brigitte Bardot Foundation, denounced in a statement “a great mass (which) has shown once again that CITES is not intended to protect wild animals, but to orchestrate their international trade to try to repair, with a few band-aids, the ecological disaster that it causes” .
With AFP, Reuters and EFE
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