Editorial

We apologise for this much overdue issue of Shark News which has been so greatly delayed due to the time constraints of our voluntary editors. Now that we have employed a Programme Officer (see opposite), Shark News will return to circulation on a regular basis of at least two issues per year. As so much time has passed since the last, we decided to make this one a 'bumper' issue: there are so many books and publications to review, several meetings have taken place, and many changes that have occurred since we last produced a newsletter in late 1998. For those of you who have been unable to attend any of the Shark Specialist Group meetings that have been held, we would like to take this opportunity now to update you on the recent activities and progress of our Group.

Coordination of the IUCN Red List assessments

Red List assessments were prepared by numerous SSG experts for over 100 elasmobranch species during 1999 and early 2000 (see p.8 for details). Details of those assessed as threatened were published in the 2000 IUCN Red List, www.redlist.org and provide a sobering perspective on their status. The IUCN has requested that the SSG completes assessments for all chondrichthyan fish species by 2003, in order to provide a full overview of our knowledge of the group.

FAO International Plan of Action (IPOA) Sharks

SSG members have provided advice on the implementation of the FAO IPOA-Sharks, and on the development of national plans by shark fishing States, including USA, Australia and New Zealand. Progress was reviewed by FAO at the 2001 Committee on Fisheries (COFI) meeting, attended by Co-Chair Sarah Fowler on the IUCN Delegation. (See p.13 for more information on the FAO IPOA-Sharks.)

CITES

SSG experts appraised proposals for listing three species of shark on Appendices I and II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, prior to the Conference of Parties in 2000, where the SSG was represented by Co-Chair Sarah Fowler on the IUCN delegation (see page 9). SSG experts have also contributed to the review of the CITES listing criteria and to the FAO review of these criteria with specific reference to aquatic species.

Programme Officer Appointed

The SSG has received a grant of ae70,000 over three years from the Global Wildlife Division of the UK's Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions towards the cost of employing a full-time SSG Programme Officer. In March 2001, Rachel Cavanagh was appointed to this post, on an initial one-year contract based in the Nature Bureau in the UK with SSG Co-Chair Sarah Fowler. Her role will be to coordinate the work of the SSG under the management and guidance of the Co- and Deputy Chairs and the other voluntary officers of the SSG's Executive Committee.

Rachel Cavanagh, SSG Programme Officer. Photo: Jack Musick.

Over the past few years, the SSG's activities in many areas has been hampered by our reliance on volunteer members alone. An array of conservation objectives for elasmobranchs can now be more effectively pursued and the SSG should become far more active and effective a group. The SSG's and Programme Officer's work programme has been discussed at two SSG meetings in 2001: during the IPFC in Durban, South Africa, and at the American Elasmobranch Society meeting in the USA.

Some of you will know Rachel already as a result of her past involvement in elasmobranch research and conservation. In 1996 she spent some months working for Dr. Sonny Gruber on lemon sharks in Bimini, the Bahamas. Later, she became an SSG volunteer with the Darwin Project on Elasmobranch Biodiversity, Conservation and Management in Sabah, Malaysia, and played a key role in the rediscovery of the Borneo River Shark. Rachel later organised an elasmobranch research expedition to Sarawak with SSG volunteer Scott Mycock, and was one of the first members of the UK Shark Trust. For the past three years Rachel has been working on her PhD in wildlife disease ecology and is now delighted to have returned to the field of elasmobranchs, where her main interests and enthusiasm lie.

Status Report for the Chondrichthyan fishes

Editing of the final draft is underway, and we aim to publish later this year. We urgently need to include updated information on management and conservation legislation being implemented for shark fisheries and protected species around the world. The kind of information we are seeking appears in the tables on pp.19 and 20 of the IUCN Occasional Paper Sharks and their Relatives (Camhi et al. 1998 - see p.18 to obtain a copy). The tables can also be viewed on the SSG website: www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Organizations/SSG/SSGDefault.html. Please contact Rachel Cavanagh (rachel@naturebureau.co.uk) if you have relevant information; you will be gratefully acknowledged.

Sarah Fowler & Jack Musick, SSG Co-Chairs.

The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group