The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 11: July 1998
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Basking shark protection extended again
The basking shark Cetorhinus maximus has been strictly protected for
several years in a small area around the Isle of Man, Irish Sea, UK. This
extremely limited protection has (unsurprisingly for a migratory species)
not prevented a steady decline in recorded summer sightings around the
island over the past decade. However, the area of protection for the
species has gradually been extended during the past three years.
The first significant move was the addition in 1995 of Mediterranean
basking sharks to Annex II: Endangered or Threatened Species, of a
Barcelona Convention Protocol, albeit meaningless until ratified and
implemented ( Shark News no.8, p.7). This was followed by the April 1997
listing of this species and several others in a rule protecting them from
directed fishing in US federal Atlantic waters ( Shark News no.10, p.8).
A few months later, in August 1997, the States of Guernsey (an
independent group of islands in the English Channel) voted unanimously
for a law sponsored by the Department of Fisheries giving total protection
to the species in their waters. The Department recognised that the
protection provided would not significantly reduce the species' vulnerability
in European waters. This would require legislation from coastal powers
with greater sea areas under their jurisdiction.
A move in this direction took place in December 1997 when the
listing of the Mediterranean basking shark population on Appendix II
(Strict Protection) of the Bern Convention on Conservation of European
Wildlife and Natural Habitats was agreed, albeit with a reservation from
the European Union. Once this reservation is lifted, the species will
automatically also become listed on the European Habitats and Species
Directive, and Member States will be required to prohibit the killing,
capturing and keeping of basking sharks from the Mediterranean. Most
recently, in April 1998, the UK government announced the full protection
of the basking shark in British waters (out to the 12 mile limit).
Further protection in Europe will require similar conservation legislation
on the part of other range state countries, or action on the part of the
European Union as a whole. The latter might be achieved by lifting the
Bern Convention reservation and extending the listing, or by establishing
a zero Total Allowable Catch for basking sharks under the Common
Fisheries Policy. New Zealand, for example, banned target fishing for
the species in 1991 (although bycatch may still be landed here).
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