The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 10: January 1998
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Sharks and CITES - the outcome
The following subjects were debated at the 10th meeting of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, in Zimbabwe in June 1997.
(The last issue of Shark News (9)
gives the background to the Conference's discussions on international trade in sharks and related species.)
1. The CITES Animals Committee report Biological and Trade Status of Sharks
Shark Specialist Group co-chair Dr John Musick presented an
intervention at the CITES meeting on behalf of this report, which was
adopted in full by the Parties. Its detailed recommendations were set
out in full in the last issue of Shark News (9)
and are not copied
again here. They mainly concerned the need for improved species-specific
fishery, trade, and biological data by all Parties and UN
FAO, and an increase in research and management efforts for
elasmobranchs. Many of those relating to FAO's work programme
have already been taken up (see below), although the Shark Group
is extremely concerned over the apparent absence of the preparation
of the batoid catalogue from the current FAO work programme.
The concluding recommendation was for the CITES Secretariat to
communicate the relevant recommendations to FAO and other
management and/or research organisations and establish liaison with
these bodies to monitor implementation. The new information derived
from their research and monitoring programmes will be submitted to the
11th Conference of the Parties at the end of the century.
2. Proposal to list sawfish on Appendix 1
This proposal for the listing of all species of sawfishes (Pristiformes)
on Appendix I (which would prohibit international trade in the
group) was unsuccessful. The status of sawfish populations is
considered to be threatened worldwide, because of their extreme
vulnerability to bycatch at all ages in net fisheries. Additionally, their
high value fins and saws do enter international trade. However,
population and trade data are scarce. The Conference considered
that trade in sawfish parts was not the major factor driving the
population decline and that an Appendix I listing was not warranted.
3. Marine Fish Species Working Group
The US proposal for the establishment of a Working Group to
prepare an analysis of implementation concerns associated with the
inclusion in Appendix II of marine fish species subject to large-scale
harvesting and international trade, and to develop recommendations
for the 11th Conference, was defeated after hot debate.
FAO activities arising from the CITES resolution
FAO commenced work on the collection of biological and trade data
on sharks following the 9th CITES meeting in 1994. A special enquiry
was undertaken to countries on shark fisheries in the autumn of 1996,
and a consultant reviewed all available biological and shark fishery
data. Additionally, FAO is reviewing the trade status of sharks and
shark parts; has commissioned a study on species identification using
DNA analysis, and the preparation of case studies on shark fishery
management; and is updating the 1984 shark species catalogue and
its technical paper on shark utilisation.
Finally, the 1997 Commission on Fisheries meeting in FAO HQ
in Rome proposed to organise an expert consulation with Japan and
the US on conservation and management of shark populations.
The above section was extracted from Visser, T. In press. FAO
Initiatives for elasmobranch fisheries research and monitoring. In:
Proceedings of meeting on Elasmobranch biodiversity,
conservation and management, Sabah, July 1997.
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