The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 10: January 1998
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FAO consultation on the conservation and management of sharks
In 1994, the Ninth Conference of Contracting Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) adopted a Resolution on the Biological and Trade Status of Sharks (Conf. 9.17), requesting inter alia that
- FAO and other international fisheries management organisations establish programmes to collect and assemble the necessary biological and trade data on shark species; and
- all nations utilising and trading specimens of shark species to cooperate with FAO and other international fisheries management organisations.
The Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries adopted by the
FAO Conference in November 1995 and the Kyoto Declaration and
Plan of Action of December 1995 both call for the conservation of
biological diversity and the sustainable use of its component species,
as well as the minimisation of waste and discards. In FAO, activities
which intend to promote these objectives are in progress under a
project funded by the Government of Japan. It contributes inter alia to
the study of the biological and trade status of sharks.
At its session in 1997, the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI)
suggested that FAO organise, in collaboration with Japan and the
United States, using extra-budgetary funds, a consultation of experts
to develop and propose guidelines leading to a Plan of Action for
Shark Conservation and Management. The Tenth Meeting of the
CITES Contracting Parties, which met in Harare, Zimbabwe, in June
1997, received the news of this initiative with great appreciation.
Preparations are underway for convening a Technical Working
Group (TWG) of experts to be followed by an open-ended
intergovernmental Technical Consultation. The ultimate aims of this
endeavour are: (1) to determine the specific requirements for
sustainable global and regional management of shark species; (2) to
develop guidelines for such management; and, (3) to develop a Plan
of Action aimed at promoting the widespread use of these guidelines
by appropriate management bodies and arrangements (at national,
and/or regional, and/or international levels).
The TWG, scheduled to meet in April 1998 in Japan, will discuss
draft guidelines and a draft plan of action to be submitted to the
Technical Consultation scheduled for October or November 1998 in
Rome. The results of the Consultation will be submitted for adoption
to FAO's Committee on Fisheries scheduled to meet in early 1999.
It is expected that the Plan of Action would be addressed to
Member Nations and to international fisheries management
organisations or arrangements. It is foreseen that it would contain
strategies aiming:
 | to strengthen the availability of information on shark stocks and shark fisheries globally; |
| to indicate priorities for how to allocate public resources to secure the minimum, essential information required for management of shark fisheries; |
| to develop a global approach (for national governments, regional and international management organisations) in addressing global priority issues in conservation and management of sharks, including the reduction of discards where practicable; and |
| to monitor the implementation of shark fishery management. |
Extracted from FAO Press release. For more information contact:
Mr Hideki Tsubata, Fishery Agency of Japan, email: tsbthdk@s.affrc.go.jp
Mr Dean Swanson, US National Marine Fishery Service, email: dean.swanson@noaa.gov
or Mr Erhard Ruckes, Fishery Industries Divison, FAO, Italy, email: erhard.ruckes@fao.org
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