The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 8: December 1996
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Elasmobranchs Listed Under Barcelona Convention Protocol
Basking Shark Cetorhinus maximus. © Sid Cook 1995. All rights reserved.
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The Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea (1976) Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean was signed in Barcelona on 10 June 1995. There are three Annexes to the Protocol. Annex 1: Common Criteria for Choice of Protected Marine and Coastal Areas, Annex II: Endangered or Threatened Species, and Annex III: Species whose Exploitation is Regulated. Annex II lists three elasmobranchs: the white shark Carcharodon carcharias, basking shark Cetorhinus maximus and giant devil ray Mobula mobular. Mobula was originally included in Annex III, but was transferred because of its endemicity, limited range, rarity, low reproductive rate, and vulnerability in fishing gear. Annex III lists shortfin mako Isurus oxyrinchus, porbeagle Lamna nasus, blue shark Prionace glauca, white skate Raja alba, and angelshark Squatina squatina. Malta filed a reservation on most of the Annex III species (including Mobula prior to its transfer to Annex II), pending a re-evaluation of the implications for Maltese fishermen.
The Mediterranean was formerly part of the range of two, possibly three, species of sawfish (family Pristidae). The omission of these globally threatened species from the Protocol suggests that they may now have been extirpated from the region.
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