The IUCN/SSC Shark Specialist Group
Shark News 9: June 1997
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Recommendations of the CITES Animals Committee Report
Biological and Trade Status of Sharks
It is recommended that the Conference of the Parties endorse the
following actions directed towards full implementation of Resolution
Conf 9.17.
1. Improve methods to accurately identify, by species, record and report landings of sharks from directed fisheries and sharks taken as a bycatch of another fishery.
2. Parties which operate a shark fishery and/or trade in sharks and shark products should establish appropriate species-specific recording and reporting systems for all sharks that are landed as a directed catch or a bycatch.
3. In an effort to improve trade statistics of sharks and shark products, the Secretariat, in collaboration with FAO, should consult the World Customs Organisation to establish more specific headings within the standard 6-digit Customs tariff headings, adopted under the 'Harmonised System' tariff classification to discriminate between shark meat, fins, leather, cartilage and other products.
4. FAO should, as a matter of urgency, initiate a work program involving:
- the manner in which it requests members to record and report data on shark landings;
- a consultancy to design and undertake an inquiry on the availability of biological and trade data on sharks (commenced in 1996);
- update the Shark World Species Catalogue and the 1978 Shark Utilisation and Marketing Monograph, and
- finalise and publish the World Catalogue of Rajiformes.
5. FAO should transmit the results of the consultancy to the CITES Secretariat for circulation to and comment by the Parties to the Convention.
6. Parties which operate a shark fishery should initiate research and management efforts to:
- collect species-specific data on landings, discards and fishing effort;
- compile information on life-history and biological parameters such as growth rate, life span, sexual maturity, fecundity and stock-recruitment relationships of sharks taken in their fisheries;
- document the distribution of sharks by age, sex, seasonal movements and interactions between populations;
- reduce mortality of sharks captured incidentally in the course of other fishing activities, and [sic.]
7. Parties are encouraged to initiate management of shark fisheries at the national level and develop international/regional bodies to coordinate management of shark fisheries throughout the geographic range of species which are subject to exploitation in order to ensure that international trade is not detrimental to the long-term survival of shark populations.
8. The Conference of the Parties to the Convention should urge the FAO to encourage its member States that operate a shark fishery, or a fishery that takes sharks as a bycatch, to subscribe to and implement the principles and practices elaborated in:
- the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries;
- the FAO Precautionary Approach to Fisheries, Part 1: Guidelines on the Precautionary Approach to Capture Fisheries and Species Introductions; and
- the FAO Code of Practice for the Full Utilisation of Sharks.
9. FAO in collaboration with the CITES Secretariat and the CITES Animals Committee should convene a consultative meeting comprising FAO representatives, fisheries biologists/managers, intergovernmental fisheries organisations and non-government organisations with expertise on shark management to develop a program for further implementing Resolution Conf 9.17.
10. The Secretariat should communicate the relevant recommendations to FAO and other intergovernmental fisheries management and/or research organisations and establish liaison with these bodies to monitor implementation.
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